The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Seat Adjuster disassembly

As a part of my restoration, I am trying to disassemble the seat adjusters so I can remove the rust. Does anyone have experience here, and can help me understand how to take these apart? My original 1950 frame has a screw holding these together, but uses the cable system. I would like to use the later design with the rod, but these adjusters are assembled differently. Am I missing something obvious here?

They aren't really designed to be taken apart, but if you bend a tab back on the ends, you could get the rollers out and the two parts of the rails apart. I'm not sure I'd recommend that though, as you may never get them back together.
I'd be more inclined to soak the whole assembly in Evaporust, which will get the rust off, then rinse them in water and dry and spray some light oil on them.
If you do decide to disassemble them, post up some pics.

I've learned two things about these:
1. Even a rather thick monkey can disassemble them. In many cases they virtually fall apart, in fact. You may have to use a screwdriver to pry one side of the top piece out to release it, but maybe not.
2. Re-assembling them is no fun at all, but it can be done. Sorry I didn't take a bunch of images as I normally do. I made the grave mistake of greasing mine before I re-assembled it and got grease from fingertips to elbows in the process of figuring out the solution. My digital camera is so old it still uses floppy disks, but it still does a decent job and I'm trying to keep it nice. For what it is worth, the stick lube I was going to use didn't turn out to be the best choice. Too thick. I used wheel bearing grease. Seemed to be the best common ground between oil and thick goo.

When re-assembling you may see things that look like clues. Har de har har. They aren't, but sure do look look like they could be. Let me show you a couple. First and second images below, you'll see a slot in the top piece which might look like a place where you could drop in the roller after getting the thing put back together with only the cage and ball bearings. I don't know what that slot is for, but the rollers won't fit. Too wide.

Then, on the front end of the lower piece, you'll see a sloping ramp-looking part. You may (as I did) think "oh, that's nice. A clever engineer added a way to roll the cage and roller up so you can easily get it back in." You can try this like I did for half an hour or so. You may create some brand new profanity, but you won't have any success. Image 3 below.

Kevin mentioned above you have to bend up the tang on the ends of each mechanism. That's good advice and a nice starting point. Here's what else you have to do: screw a nut onto the screw on the top half, set it on a socket and smack it, knocking it out. You can replace it later, but you'll need to remove it to have any chance at all of getting these back together. Image 4 below.

From this point on it becomes sort of a complex Oriental puzzle but with a bit of patience you will figure it out and feel good for it. You may have to use a screwdriver to pry on the top piece...I did. I'm waiting on a 3/8" ball to repair my other one and if I think about it I'll try to take some images of the re-assembly procedure.

Yesterday I mentioned I'd try to take images of the re-assembly procedure of the AD seat adjuster. And here they are, along with comments. My ball bearing arrived today, so I can fix the remaining adjuster. Whoopee.
First, make yourself a tool like the one shown in image 1 below. Any old screwdriver will work. Cut the end off and file or grind it even.
Now, when you get your adjuster apart (and believe me, this is the easy part), you'll have several parts to clean. A top half, a bottom half and two sets of bearing cages and rollers. Get the rust off and make these look good again. Then on the top part there will be at the end a bolt pressed in place. Screw a nut on this, set it over a proper sized socket and knock this bolt out. See the second image below. If you don't do this, your chance of getting this back together goes downhill fast. Then take an adjustable wrench and bend both the area where that bolt was and the tang at the back outward...like I'm doing in image 3 below.
At this point, take a moment to think about the design of your seat adjuster. The bearing cage and roller are limited two ways. There's a notch and there are two dimples. Please see image 4 below...the yellow pointers. These limitations exist for the front and rear rollers.
Now set your bottom piece up as you see in image 5 below...the roller and bearing cage at the front.

And please move to next post...

Ok, now please turn your top piece upside down and feed the bottom piece in as shown in image 1 below. Please ignore the bit of masking tape. One of my bearing tabs had been broken off by somebody sometime in the past. Be certain your roller is between the two dimples which exist in the bottom piece.
Now work the bottom piece and top piece together...hold the roller/cage in place with your left hand as you see me doing in image 2 below. This sounds easier than it is, trust me. You need to work the top and bottom pieces together keeping the roller between the dimples until the stop piece gets even with the cutout. Please see image 3 and 4 below. Image 5 shows how you'll probably need to do this...by tapping gently with a small hammer.

And please move to next post...

Ok, if you've made it this far, you're doing well. Get a cup of tea and smile. Now get a screwdriver and wedge the tip between the top and bottom at the back as you see me doing in the first image below. Make certain the retaining tab will clear the slot it fits into and use the screwdriver to bend out and get these top and bottom pieces back in place...as you see in the second image below. Now you will discover you can sort of move the two halves back and forth a bit, but you need to use that tool I told you to make and adjust the front roller/cage affair. It is easier to tap gently on the roller with the tool and a small hammer until you get it to about 1/4" from the rear stop piece as you see in image 3 below--the purple pointer shows the stop piece. Tap gently and take your time. Now slide the seat adjuster forward to reveal the bottom piece as shown in image 4 below and set your cage and roller in the bottom slot...between the two stop dimples as shown by the red arrow. Now move the top piece forward as shown in image 5 to get the cage and roller up inside. But you're not finished...

Please go to the next post...

You'll need to adjust the position of the cage & roller for the rear just like you did for the front. The seat adjuster must be able to move between the two stop positions as shown in the first image below. You can move the cage and roller forward a bit by gently tapping on the tool you made with your small hammer. Position your tool on the roller and not the cage. And don't push it too far forward. Move the two pieces back and forth from time to time to gauge whether you need to adjust any further. It is easier to push the cage in than it is to move it backward, obviously. When you've finished and have everything as you need it to be, use a screwdriver tip or bamboo skewer to push some wheel bearing grease anywhere the roller or bearings will travel. Work your adjuster back and forth and you should see it gets much easier to move now that it is lubricated. Wipe off any excess grease with a rag and some mineral spirits and your adjuster is ready to go and work like it should. Hope this is helpful.