Modifying Sierra seats to sit more upright

[Moph]

Trying to adjust stock seat mechanism to allow it to sit a little more upright. As Steve has pointed out in another thread, the mechanism is an absolute prick to get apart (won't budge with all bolts and spring steel removed) so I need to modify it without removing it. This means getting more teeth ground on the ratchet is a no-go.

QUESTION:
Has anyone had the mechanism apart further than this, and can tell me how many teeth there are on the ratchet arm? There would have to be a couple to distribute the load, but how many there are determines whether my proposed mods will work. Two or three teeth and they won't / four or five and they will.

SOLUTION 1:
(preferred as it weakens the seat only at most upright position)
Dremel out the bit of metal shown alongside Location (2). This will allow the seat to sit more upright than stock before the ratchet arm teeth hit the metal stop at Location (2). It will weaken the seat in this position though as one or more of the ratchet arm teeth will not be engaged on the ratchet teeth.

SOLUTION 2:
(least preferred as it weakens the seat in all positions)
Grind off the pressed metal bulge at Location (1). This will allow the ratchet arm to swing down and be modified. Depending how many teeth there are, it may be possible to grind of the last one or two teeth, which will allow the seat to be adjusted more upright than stock before the ratchet arm teeth get to the end of the ratchet teet at Location (2). Then swing the arm back into place and drill in a screw to act as a new rest (ie replacing the pressed metal bulge).

Any ideas?

[want33s]

By the looks of the 100mile/h tape on the side of the squab your best bet would be NEW seats.
Kill two birds with one stone.
Your adjustment issues and the tears.

Jas.

[Gwagensteve]

Just get some new seats from another car.

Modifying the ratchet mechanism so the stops or teeth no longer engage as the factory recommended is, in my opinion, very dangerous, and could lead to serious injury in an accident.

I've seen baleno seats traded for almost free. Really, just find some seats with a better adjustment range.

Steve.

[MART]

I have seats out of a later model and they sit at 90 degrees when locked in first position , maybe you could get new seats or a new mechanism , does you passenger seat do the same , Cheers Paul.

[Gwagensteve]

Vitara and I think coiler seats will lock very upright, but they both have different mounts - they won't bolt in.

Steve.

[Moph]

Yeah passenger seat is the same. Really bugs me because I actually quite like the seats except they lie slightly too far back. If I sit upright with my shoulders about an inch forward of the seat back, the driving position with seat slid fully back is perfect (pedals + wheel).

I might try drilling / filing another tooth on the mount. It only needs 1 or at max 2 teeth for it to be perfect, and modifying the mount by filing another tooth (rather than cutting the entire section out of the mount as per my original suggestion) won't affect strength at all.

I know another set of seats is probably the best answer, but in SA it's an expensive answer. There's only one wrecker that commonly has Zooks and they charge big bucks (eg $550 for an NT diff...). I also want to keep it as stock as possible at the moment as it may have to go over the pits when I move to Perth in December.

[ajsr]

speak to a trimmer
they may be able to repad the back with a high density foam behind the standard to sit you more upright. should be cheap even if a retrim is required

[Moph]

Well against good advice, I have modified the seat by trimming out the ratchet stop as per Solution 1 in my original post. By clicking the seat forward one tooth at a time from original position until I lose engagement completely, I have found that the ratchet arm has 9 teeth.

I am only moving the seat back one tooth forward of factory position, but have also deleted the end stop, so I have effective engagement of 7 of 9 teeth in my preferred position.

This will create a weakness in the mechanism should I have an accident and a load in the rear of the car be thrown forward against the seat back, so I will be ultra careful of securing loads in the rear (not that I carry much weight anyhow).

I will look into new seats once I have it WA registered, but this will at least allow me to get over there in some comfort!