The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors AD SEAT CABLE

Can anyone explain how to install the cable for the seat adjuster, What size cable and how long.
My 1949 3100 has a cable that runs around the back of the seat on a series of pulleys, the cable was missing when I got the truck.

Don't know if this will work on your application but on the 50-54 they used a solid 1/8" rod that connects the two locking devices. If you are not overly critical of the authenticity of the piece, you could use some 1/8" round stock and an 1/8" turnbuckle to make an adjustable rod.

Make your bends to hook into the lever on the passenger side. Take the 1/8" turnbuckle and open up the eye on the "Left-hand threaded side" so it will hook into the driver's side hole. Thread the rod with normal right hand threads and use the turnbuckle body to adjust until you get the proper length to actuate both.

If your application requires cable...a turn-buckle could be used to adjust for the proper length. 1/16" cable is available at Tractor Supply, Home Depot and others with the little crush cable locks.

Don't know if this will solve your specific problem but at least it's an option to give you some ideas. In case you haven't guessed, I love turnbuckles like Alan loves Moose hide!!!!!

Hope this helps!

This will be a little rough because I haven't looked at the seat adjuster in my 49 GMC since the cold set in. But seat adjustment on pre-'50s is completely different from what followed.
There is only one locking device. It's on the seat's driver side. Both seat rails clamp onto a cable that runs from the front of seat-base sides around the back to form a long loop. The loop goes through a couple of pulleys riveted to the seat base to route the cable from driver's side and back. There is an adjusting slide on the driver's side of the seat base so you can snug up the cable once it's threaded onto the pulleys. That done, you clamp onto both sides of the cable.
When you adjust with the driver's side device the seat rides back and forth parallel on the cable.
Problem. If it's a simple loop, the left side goes forward when the right side goes backward. My truck's PO didn't know this, so my seats don't move at all. What you have to do to get the cable running the same way on both sides is to cross it in back, so that the forward-moving inside of the loop goes where what the reverse-moving outside of the loop would be. That way both sides move in the same direction.
Try it with a loop of string and a couple of pencils to see.
The (good-for-nothing) seat cable on my truck is about 1/8" stranded stainless. I haven't changed it yet, but I'm told that Loew's and Home Depot carry it with connectors, etc. Or you could just visit the local hardware.
Good luck.

Thanks Retread.

I have one other question, do you use the drivers side clamp to join the two ends of the cable??

No, on my mis-installed cable, there's a tubular compression clamp that joins the ends. It's like a butt connector for wiring. I guess that way the whole loop could pass through a wide pully, but that's not an issue here. I don't know whether or not there's a special tool for compressing the clamp round or even if you need it, since the join will spend its life at the back of the seat.
One thing I think I missed the first time was that this is a stranded cable, either stainless or galvanized.
You used to see it used in olden days, before automatic dryers, for clothes lines on the second story of houses. I used to wonder what would happen to Mom's drying laundry if the line ever broke reeling it in or out, but it never did.

Installation method is described correctly, and where to get the cable and connector. Your problem is the loop of cable has to be the correct length. On my 49, I took my old rusty cable to Lowes, and made a cable loop right there in the store the exact size of the old one. Even got to use the special connecting clamp tool for free! Given no other option, I would take the seat bottom into Lowe's and use it as a pattern for correct cable length.