a. “H” bracket
b. Turnbuckle photo
c. Slide mechanisms assembled
Turn the seats upside down on a tarp or something to keep them protected
Get the slides from your package and determine the front and back orientation.
Examine the spring mechanism to determine if it appears that when the slide lever is pushed it will open the teeth on the slide ( I say this because the manufacturer had sent me slides with the springs installed at the wrong end, which could never work. Fortunately the other end of each slide had the same hole and slot, so I removed and placed the springs in the correct places) if it looks wrong-trust yourself-took me a while to figure out the springs were wrong.
Find the “H” bracket. The bracket will bolt to the pedestal and the slides will bolt to the seat and the “H” bracket. The manufacturer sent NO instructions or diagram for this sequence although there was a poor diagram of the slides with a wire connector-which DOES NOT work!
Lay the “H” bracket on the seat pedestal to make sure it all lines up. (It is a major pain to mount the seat on it and then find out things don’t line up! I did that!) You should take one of the bolts that held the factory seat to your local hardware store to make sure you have the right size and thread and buy 6 new hex head bolts (due to clearance issues on the new seats) and appropriate sized washers for each seat. (I heard from the Ram dealer that the bolt sizes can vary widely as they use whatever parts they have on the floor -that are cheap- ) Go ahead and thread the bolts in and make sure the “H” bracket holes all line up correctly. I had to drill out two on the “H” bracket as it was misaligned. Drill press highly recommended to get a straight hole.
Two of the welded nuts on the bottom of the seat rails for the bolts were stripped on my pedestals and so I drilled those out and used 1/4” bolts with new stop nuts. Washers are necessary for all these seat bolts.
Detach the “H” bracket now from the pedestal.
Buy two turnbuckles-4” from HD or local hardware store and stop nuts and bolts that will fit into the holes in the slides -I think they are a #8 -3/4” long and large 3/4” or 1” washers to hold each inner end of the turnbuckle.
Take the hook end of the turnbuckle off and put it in a vice and squeeze it gently down so that it will no longer be a hook but rather an eye. Make sure the #8 screw is in it while you squeeze it down, so that it will work for the attachment. Screw the former hook end back into the turnbuckle.
Retract the turnbuckles to smallest span
You may or may not have received bolts for the slides to attach to the seat. If not go get 5/16”x 1” bolts, washers and stop nuts x 8.
Hopefully your slides are assembled-top and bottom-if not assemble them.
Place slides on the “H” bracket and make sure the holes on the “H” bracket align with the threaded posts on the slides. The “up” side of the “H” bracket is where the curved upward seat belt attachment points are. When slides are mounted in the seat assembly the slides will then be mounted into the “H” bracket.
Mount the slides on the bottom of the seat and bolt slightly loose, teeth mechanisms toward the middle of the seat and align the slides to the same point to prepare for the turnbuckle. The bolts are slightly loose because the threaded posts may not go into the holes in the “H” bracket without some wiggle room on the slides. You can tighten just before you mount the seat onto the “H” bracket.
Now slide the “H” bracket over the posts adjusting the slides a little on the bolts to fit the seat as necessary. When all is in place tighten the slide bolts attaching to the seat in final.
With the seat upside down, now you will assemble the turnbuckle on the slides. Attach one end of the turnbuckle to the end of the lever for the slide with the nut and bolt and large washers to keep the nut and bolt firmly in place. Attach the other end of the turnbuckle to the other slide attach point that will pull the other slide mechanism inward to allow the teeth to disengage. You probably need to slide the “H” bracket over the posts in the slides to have the consolidated unit for these adjustments. (It is just about impossible to work on the slide mechanisms with the “H” bracket in place) (see pictures above a-c)
Adjust the turnbuckle so that the slide tooth mechanism is a clean disengagement and test the lever mechanism several times. (Note: there is almost no clearance for any adjustments once the seat is installed so take care of any issues now.) You should be able to adjust the turnbuckle to make this operation smooth. Use the stop nuts on everything so that nothing comes loose.
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