The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Seat Upholstery Updated Now With Pictures

I don't know the names for the parts, but I'm going to take a shot at describing my problem. There are bars that run from front to back on the seat bottoms that seem to act like large springs as well as tieing together the coil springs. I'm not talking about the frame itself. The bar on the driver's far outside of the seat snapped on the leg heading down to the seat base above where it would connect to the front outside rim of the seat base. It appears that as a result, extra stress was placed on the adjacent springs and they have pulled out-some more than others-from where they attach to the outside rim of the seat base damaging the built-in brackets that would normally hold them to the seat base. Is there anywhere that I can find these springs so I can replace the broken one, and does anybody have recommendations on how to repair the brackets that have been torn apart somewhat? Should I just buy some generic brackets and attach them to the seat base with sheet metal screws? I would still need to fix/replace that support spring that runs along the outside rim on the driver's side, or I'll just end up tearing apart the rest of the seat again, probably tearing up the base instead of just tearing apart the brackets. Please respond if you need more info, and I'll try to paint a clearer picture.

Please, has anybody had this happen to them and any ideas? :confused:

One last plea for help, I promise. Here are some pictures of the broken spring.

[img]http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL1720/7560041/14330150/214663968.jpg[/img]

[img]http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL1720/7560041/14330150/214663971.jpg[/img]
Pics of the broken spring itself

[img]http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL1720/7560041/14330150/214663962.jpg[/img]
Image of the unbroken side of the same spring

Where can i find these springs; nobody has them locally.

I haven't had EXACTLY this happen to me, but I had something a little similar with an old car I had in the 80s. I had part of the seat frame break due to stress from repeated "pushing back" on the seat back. You could never sit square-on to the steering wheel, and it was aggravating as all get-out.

I unbolted the seat and took off the back. (It was still covered with vinyl.) I brought it to a guy with some welding equipment, and he stuffed all sorts of wet rags around the break to protect the burlap jute, the foam, and the vinyl from the heat. He was able to weld the steel frame without damaging the heat-sensitive items. This might be the fix for your components that separated.

You'll probably still need to replace the sprung springs, though. You have nothing to lose by trying to heat them into shape, but seldom will the results be like the original.

You might consider contacting Jimbo59Chevy. He has some '50 - '59 stovebolts that he parts out. (I got an air cleaner from him. Nice fella.) He has a torch and could probably cut you a section of the seat springs. Your welder contact might be able to put it back into form.

I hope this info helps. It ain't much, but it's all I have.

Bill