Seats Jammed

[markazzarito]

I'm not sure how standard the seats in the C Model Mooney are compared to other models or other planes for that matter so this may not be a mooney specific issue.. That said i've had my seats jammed now more than once by a shop. I pick up the plane and notice the passenger seat is stuck and won't move. Before you say if it happened at the shop why dont you have the shop fix it know that i've thought of that and at the point i noticed this both times I had already left the shop or i most definitely would have gone that route. In the future i will add "check to make sure seats aren't jammed" to the laundry list of things to look at when picking the plane up from annual.. Having the shop that caused the problem fix it would require me flying back and i'm looking for a solution that is quicker and does not involve a second shop. It seems to me that this happens when the seat is removed and then forced back on the tracks out of alignment. I'm wondering if there are any techniques out there anyone has used to free a badly jammed seat.. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by markazzarito

[A64Pilot]

I’d get a flash light and and an inspection mirror and discover just exactly what’s wrong.

‘My guess is that three points are in the track and one riding on top, but I think you need to know before you start applying force.

[Bartman]

The seat rollers eventually wear out, but most likely 3 points are in the track and one is not and it’s not obvious and you have to look closely. That being said, the rollers do wear out and leave the seat track riding on the rail and hard to move with metal against metal. I replaced all 8 rollers with new ones from LASAR and could not be happier. 

[Jim Peace]

Had the local MSC put my seats in wrong once....left seat was on the right side and right seat left side.  Found this out when I was attempting to put my lap belt on....

[Prior owner]

Sometimes the U-shaped tube that you raise to release the seat track locking pins will crack at the rear where the seat pivot bolts pass though the U-tube and go through the seat frame... if your seat back is floating around even a little bit on one of the side bolts, it is likely that either the hardware is loose, missing, and/or that the holes at the rear of the U- tube have cracked open. If any of these occur, pulling on the tube will not fully raise one of both of the locking pins in the seat track, and the seat won’t budge. You can reach under the seat and force everything up to rectract the pins, but it isn’t always easy. 
 

As mentioned above, bad rollers or not having the seat installed properly in the first place will jam things up pretty good. 
 

All this is assuming you haven’t dropped a pen or other item that has become lodged somewhere.... mirror and flashlight will be needed. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by PilotCoyote

[Rjfanjet]

Beeswax makes a fantastic lubricant for seat tracks also.

[carusoam]

Mark,

See if you can spend some time describing the jam...

We can probably fill in the how to fix it, right after that...

There are parts of the mechanism that fail...

pins and holes that get FOD(?)

wheels that were made in 1960 that are ready for replacement... if they are still there.

the handle mechanism that may become detached...

 

Focus more on your plane’s future, than on your plane’s past...   

Best regards,

-a-

[Nstarbf]

I've had this problem consistently.  It just happened the other day and all I did was slid the passenger seat back to make it easier to get to the pilot's side.  Additionally this was the first flight back from annual where the mechanic told me he had fixed the seat. The seat seems to slide back ok but jams and is pretty much not going move forward.  I have noticed that when ever the seat jams, the seat back is also locked in place.  It is impossible to flip/fold the seat back forward to gain access to the rear seats.  What I've found is that the right pin (as looking forward from the back of the seat) is pretty much stuck in place.  The jamming has become so common that I carry a BFT with me.  I've found that with a combination of pulling on the pull cable attached to the pin and liberal application of the BFT I can pop the pin out of which ever of the 3 seat back adjustment holes the pin is in.  Once I do that both the seat back and the seat itself are free.  I'm going to take a look at the rollers this weekend as suggested above.

[rbridges]

On 3/22/2021 at 9:04 PM, Bartman said:

The seat rollers eventually wear out, but most likely 3 points are in the track and one is not and it’s not obvious and you have to look closely. That being said, the rollers do wear out and leave the seat track riding on the rail and hard to move with metal against metal. I replaced all 8 rollers with new ones from LASAR and could not be happier. 

That's happened to me twice.  It's usually one of the back ones that's on top of the rail.  Hard to see unless you get a good light back there.  

[A64Pilot]

The guys with worn out rollers, how many hours on the airframe when they needed to be changed?

[Bartman]

I changed mine at about 5,300 hrs but in retrospect they were worn out at 4,500hrs when I bought the plane. It was always hard to move the seats but with the new rollers it was easy. Afterwards it was obvious that there was metal on metal contact. While I was at it I swapped the seats to help even the wear and tear on the leather and the seat foam. 

From what I’m reading this may not solve the issues above, but if a repair is necessary I’d consider new rollers while I was at it. 
 

[A64Pilot]

Mine don’t move as easy as I think they should, Acft has 2100 hours. I was going to use zipper lubricant, but think I’ll give the beeswax a try, if that doesn’t fix it, I’ll look into rollers.

‘It’s a PIA to have to lift my butt off of the seat while trying to slide the seat forward, our old C-210 which had a very similar mechanism you didn’t have to

Edited March 25, 2021 by A64Pilot

[Yetti]

Not saying this happened to me but the way to get them unstuck is unbolt the rollers.   It is just a through bolt with a nylock nut.   Sometimes you can just loosen the bolts.   Like others said the shop may have not got the front or rear on the tracks properly.

[Prior owner]

In my limited experience, dry lube such as silicone spray works best, although it must be regularly re-applied. My concern with wax would be the fact that all crud falls to the floor- it’s the filthiest place in the plane...and anything on the tracks that crud will cling to will eventually make things worse. Perhaps beeswax doesn’t get tacky? I might have to try that.