Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

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Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Bruno2
My son's 91 developed a loss of function in the reclining mechanism of his driver side Captain's Chair. The mechanism had been on the verge of being locked up since he had it. Operating the lever required a prybar or something of that nature. Being a Supercab this had to be done everytime he wanted to retrieve tools. One day the mechanism decided it was through locking making the seat back move freely and not ever locking in a position.

So we had a pick n pull trip in our immediate future. I contacted Gary to see what the MPC had to say as far as interchangeability went. The MPC claimed.it was an F or E Series item only giving the part numbers E8TZ 13617C04-A (or B). So to add a little risk to the adventure I never looked at the part myself and was going soley by my 25 yr old's expertise.  Which is very risky because he isn't as thorough as a lot of us who have been burned at the parts store or spent the best part of a Saturday at the JY in 103° heat in July only to discover we pulled a part that was similar,  but different.

So off we went.  We hit 3 that had some I though could work, but the were in newer Rangers(little truck Ranger not big truck Rangers). At the third JY we found a 95 F150 with the Captain's Chair removed, but still in the cab. He looked at the mechanism and said "that's it!". So went to grab some tools. I was in my work truck and had a slim assortment of mechanic's tools. The part required a T50 Torx. I didn't know if I had one. However, I had an Allen key set which we know will work as a Torx in a pinch. Also, there was a slim chance I had a T50 in my bit box because a couple yrs ago I pulled an upper intake off of a 5.8 which required one.

He began with Allen key accompanied by a Crescent wrench to assist with extra torque.  Using the skill of a Tequila drunken surgeon whom had mild autism the first bolt broke. This made me nervous  because I planned to keep them in case the bolts on his seat broke. The mechanism had 4 bolts which 3 were different.  So I suggested we break them loose hit em with the juicylube and run them back down then slowly remove again. This was working except the Allen key tried to round one.  Still frantically searching the bit box for the T50 I found it. I put it in an apex attached it to the trusty Metabo impact then proceeded to remove the others using the same juicylube technique.  

We got the part home and.luckily they were the same with the exception of his operating lever being chrome and the new one being black. Five minute removal and install the seat was fully functional again.Screenshot_20230222_092715_Messages.jpg

20230222_162427.jpg

Whitey: 1996 F 250 XL CCLB 4X4 7.3 DI ZF5 (The Work Horse) Lots of power mods
Whitey Jr: AKA Jr 1982 F 150 CCLB 4X4 351W C6 (Jr Work Horse) respectable power, but not over the top
The Bronco: 1987 Bronco XLT 351W C6 (needs work) Lots of off road mods and plenty of power mods
The Dodge: 2006 Ram 2500 CCSB 4X4 5.9 HO Cummins (The reliable ride that cant keep an AC in itself) (5th AC go around almost complete)
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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Gary Lewis
Administrator
Thanks for posting, Brandon.  This may help me as well as others over time.  So I'll post up several things here to try to get everything in one place.

First, here's Brandon's screenshot.


But here's where that came from and you can see that the 1980 through the end of the catalog, which is 89, F-Series used the same pivot as the 88/89 E-Series.  But that the other vehicles, like the little Rangers, didn't.  However, when Brandon looked at them in the salvage it looked like maybe they did use the same one, or at least one that would work.

And I also checked the car MPC and they used a pivot with a different prefix, so it looked like they wouldn't work either, but at the salvage Brandon said they look similar, if not the same, as well.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

grumpin
In reply to this post by Bruno2
Success! Always nice at the junkyard with limited tools.
Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona
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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Bruno2
In reply to this post by Gary Lewis
20230222_162415.jpg
Whitey: 1996 F 250 XL CCLB 4X4 7.3 DI ZF5 (The Work Horse) Lots of power mods
Whitey Jr: AKA Jr 1982 F 150 CCLB 4X4 351W C6 (Jr Work Horse) respectable power, but not over the top
The Bronco: 1987 Bronco XLT 351W C6 (needs work) Lots of off road mods and plenty of power mods
The Dodge: 2006 Ram 2500 CCSB 4X4 5.9 HO Cummins (The reliable ride that cant keep an AC in itself) (5th AC go around almost complete)
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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Gary Lewis
Administrator
Brandon - I copied and pasted your link into the "Or copy an image from the Internet" line in the Insert Image popup.  But your pic is bigger than 1MB so I had to select Big in the Resize menu.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Bruno2
20230223_181945.jpg
Whitey: 1996 F 250 XL CCLB 4X4 7.3 DI ZF5 (The Work Horse) Lots of power mods
Whitey Jr: AKA Jr 1982 F 150 CCLB 4X4 351W C6 (Jr Work Horse) respectable power, but not over the top
The Bronco: 1987 Bronco XLT 351W C6 (needs work) Lots of off road mods and plenty of power mods
The Dodge: 2006 Ram 2500 CCSB 4X4 5.9 HO Cummins (The reliable ride that cant keep an AC in itself) (5th AC go around almost complete)
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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

Gary Lewis
Administrator
Brandon is experiencing a weird posting problem that I've not seen before.  So I'm posting pics for him, but not this one.  
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

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Re: Captain's Chair Reclining Mechanism

grumpin
Gary Lewis wrote
Brandon is experiencing a weird posting problem that I've not seen before.  So I'm posting pics for him, but not this one.  
That’s Hi Test in that picture!
Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona