Dismantling seat rails

[hrepo]

What's the official method of dismantling the seat rails? I cannot, for the life of me, get the slide away from the rail. Or, however one calls them.
There must be a magic way...

(Apologies if there is already a thread, I couldn't find jack with the search.)

Edited by hrepo on Monday 29th August 12:54

[Number 7]

Is the seat out of the car already. If not, it will be easier if it was - just 4 bolts through the rails and the floor.

[hrepo]

Yes, the rails are out of the car and disconnected from the seats.
I am trying to split the rails into rail and slide for sandblasting.

The ball bearing ball that acts as a stop (with the punched indentations) is beating me. I drilled out the outernmost indentations, but cannot get the ball out. And without the ball gone, the rails won't split.

[Wedg1e]

I nipped out and had a look at a spare pair of seat rails and concur that drilling out the 'indentations' should in theory free the rail parts... but my guess is you haven't allowed for the amount of deformation on the inner face of the pressing, so the balls are still catching on it.
What puzzles me is how you intend to reinstate the end stops once you've drilled them out?

I devised an upgrade to the seat runners a few years back in which I replaced the originals with those from a Maestro. The beauty of these is that both slides lock rather than just one as per original; to release the lock there's a crossbar at the front of the seat which is both easier to find and easier to handle than the sideways-operated original.

First installed on my Tasmin, then the S3 Esprit and subsequently used on the 390...

http://www.wedgeneering.co.uk/Lotus%20Esprit%20p8....

Edited by Wedg1e on Tuesday 30th August 00:44

[hrepo]

Wedg1e said:

What puzzles me is how you intend to reinstate the end stops once you've drilled them out?

I only drilled the ones at the end. They should not have an active role in operation, and was going to cut threads to the holes I drilled and use a tiny screw to act as a stop - since the only purpose for the outernmost ones is to keep the ball from dropping out.

Which seems like a daft worry now, seeing that I can't find a way to get them out now no matter how I try.

[RCK974X]

Not sure if mine are original, but they have indents pressed on BOTH the outer AND the inner rails......I can see this with a torch.

Yeah probably too obvious, but let's face it, we all make dumb mistakes, so I've added this just in case.

[hrepo]

RCK974X said:

Not sure if mine are original, but they have indents pressed on BOTH the outer AND the inner rails......I can see this with a torch.

Yeah probably too obvious, but let's face it, we all make dumb mistakes, so I've added this just in case.

Amen... But, yes. The indentations on the outside, and inside, are what hits the ball bearing thing and creates the travel limit. Without the metal ball, the indentations will slide over eachother.

Getting the bloody marble out is causing me to lose my marbles. Balls.

After the terrible puns - surely somebody has done this? How?

[v8s4me]

Unless they are rusty, my question would be; why? To slide freely the two inner parts need clean and well lubricated metal to metal contact. If you powder coat all the surfaces I'd say they will be very "sticky" until the powder coat has worn off the sliding surfaces. I just painted the outer parts of the rails. Anyway, who's going to see them?

[hrepo]

v8s4me said:

Unless they are rusty ...

Dingdingding.

The rails sat against wet carpet for months, it seems. The car I bought had been off road for years, and there are places it shows.

The rails are NOT going to work as-is. Since I already have several other bits going to blasting, thought to add these in. And I am not worried about rails sticking - it's not like I plan on having anybody else beside me driving, so once the seat is adjusted it'll be left there. But unless the rails are "done" they'll rust solid.

I could get better ones (already have one pair from Mr. Zig), but as said, already have bits going to blasting. Might as well throw these in.

[RCK974X]

Ok - wild (or silly) idea....

You know how they make ball bearing races ? They shove all the ball bearings tight around the bottom of outer race, set inner race on the top, and press it in.. it's amazing how much the outer ring will flex before the inner slips down with a BANG, and hey presto, one assembled ball bearing set...after they clip in the plastic spacer...

I'm wondering if they do that with the seat rails - I wonder how much the outer will bend and spring back ? Could they just be
pressed in ??

yeah, a stupid idea.....