Seat Fix

rip-cord

Founding Member
Jan 12, 2002
162
0
0
Alberta, Canada
Hello folks just looking for some quick help. I got my front seat apart to try to fix the gangster lean I had going. I wanted to confirm where I should be fixing the seat. See the attached pix it looks like these are the two places where the seat is broken. Should I get the seat welded, or rivet or bolt it up? I don't have a welder so I don't want to pay a ton just to do a little welding if I can just rivet or bolt it up.

Thanks
:)
 

Attachments

  • DSC00748.webp
    DSC00748.webp
    20.9 KB · Views: 187
when my seat was doing that me and my dad just welded it up where the cracks were. first we had to do a little bending to get it straight again but the welding route seems to have worked. 5 years and no breaky.
 
the reason it bends/breaks the way it does is because one side of the seat hinge is really thick and beefy while the other side is thin metal with a bolt going through it. All the stress is transfered to the one side...

In my case I just bought new seats from Corbeau.
 
Welding is probably the better way to deal with the frame if it already has cracks in it.

If it has just separated the two layers of metal, then solid rivets are a good choice. Get out the pencil and draw out a symetrical pattern for the rivets. Drill the holes according to your layout. Then get out the pneumatic rivet gun and rat-tat-tat-tat away: that's what I did. When you are done, it won't ever break again.

Stop drill any cracks with a 1/8" drill at the end of the crack. That prevents the crack from speading any further.

Do not use pop rivets since the stem pulls out and the result is a weak rivet. Aircraft cherry rivets or cherrylocks are the only suitable rivet besides a solid rivet. They retain the stem in place and make a joint as strong as a solid rivet when stressed in shear mode.
 
jrichker said:
Aircraft cherry rivets or cherrylocks are the only suitable rivet besides a solid rivet. They retain the stem in place and make a joint as strong as a solid rivet when stressed in shear mode.
JRichker, I have seen you post this before. I have to say I have not looked for them, but do you know where a layman can get such rivets (preferably locally - though I doubt hardware stores carry such items. :shrug: ).
 
The lack of cracks was my main reason for the question. To be honest I figured I would see cracks when I opened it up but it just looks like the two metal pieces separated slightly. In that case I might rivet them back together.

Thanks