Cost to replace seat tracks

[Jim DelVecchio]

I’m trying to determine the amount of labor hours it takes to replace both seat tracks.

I have a 1983 M20K...

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard Jim…

Tracks are riveted in place to the floor boards…

Access to both sides of the floor by two people is probably required…

Getting access is probably best done at annual time when the belly panels have been removed already…

 

Why are you replacing them?

Some need some hole maintenance that can be done while they are in place…

Some have been worn because the seat wheels disappeared years ago leaving nothing but a steel axle riding on the aluminum rail…

Some seat holes need a vacuum… to clean the dirt out of the holes…

 

So…. What do you have?

Best regards,

-a-

[milotron]

I was told that one of them need part of the gear mechanism removed to buck the rivets and the outer ones may be impeded by part of the outer skin. It is fairly time consuming from what i have been told, but fortunately did not have to to this to my 81 K.

[carusoam]

There is a lot going on in the technical area under the floor boards…

From fuel pumps, to fuel selector hardware, to flap motors, to gear motors, to control rods, and everything they are connected to…

Best regards,

-a-

[Bartman]

Many of us have replaced the seat rollers and have been very happy with the results. Google search LASAR and search for seat rollers. Take a drill bit in your fingers and remove the debris in the locking holes in the tracks. I bet this fixes your problem. 

[kortopates]

it’s a big job requiring 2 people for much of it. I did all 4 a few years back when the right seat holes became elongated enough to allow my seat to slip out (I fly from the right seat). The factory provided pre-drilled rails that worked perfectly but access is an issue with the electric gear. it wasn’t possible to replace all with bucked rivets; especially the inner rails needed some cherry max rivets which the factory approved of.
You do need to drill out a lot of rivets on the lower skin to get access to the outer rails - not a big deal but time consuming.
I have no idea how many hours I I spent on the job as it was slow meticulous work - except for the easy part of pulling the rails out.
If you have worn elongated holes, this is the only fix. Getting the dirt out of elongated holes won’t fix them and seats popping out of the holes and sliding back on takeoff is a serious safety issue.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

Another thing I like about my Comanche, seat rail replacement takes about an hour for all four of them, they’re held down with 4 structural screws each.

Clarence

[Yetti]

3 hours ago, kortopates said:

it’s a big job requiring 2 people for much of it. I did all 4 a few years back when the right seat holes became elongated enough to allow my seat to slip out (I fly from the right seat). The factory provided pre-drilled rails that worked perfectly but access is an issue with the electric gear. it wasn’t possible to replace all with bucked rivets; especially the inner rails needed some cherry max rivets which the factory approved of.
You do need to drill out a lot of rivets on the lower skin to get access to the outer rails - not a big deal but time consuming.
I have no idea how many hours I I spent on the job as it was slow meticulous work - except for the easy part of pulling the rails out.
If you have worn elongated holes, this is the only fix. Getting the dirt out of elongated holes won’t fix them and seats popping out of the holes and sliding back on takeoff is a serious safety issue.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Unless your seat is already back when you fly and then you are already back there. :-)

[Guest]

It may be easier to lengthen the pilot than it is to replace the rails.

Clarence

[PT20J]

Here's what I don't get about Mooney seat rails: Why didn't they put more holes at the aft end. When filling the seats the right front seat has to be in the last hole (or farther forward) or is slides back (plane sits on the ground 5 deg nose up) to the stop and crushes the backseat passenger's legs. But, with the seat in the last hole, it's so far forward that getting in the front seats is difficult. What were they thinking? Pipers are much easier.

Skip

[carusoam]

possible reasons…. Seat rails don’t get extra holes… at the factory….

1) Drilling holes in the pre-cad/cam days were wicked expensive…

2) Doing WnB calculations in the pre-calculator days were wicked complex…

3) Installing rudder pedal extensions required customers to actually know they existed…

4) Without social media… how would a pilot know that extra holes exist…

5) Back in the day… All pilots were expected to be similar shape, size, weight, and age… and smoke Luckys…

None of these five points make any sense…

Times have changed… significantly….

-a-