Z-bed misalignment

[professorplumb]

For the life of me I can't figure out why my Z-bed is now misaligned left-to-right after I pulled it to replace the side panels.

On the passenger side, the bed is too close to the wall, and the bolt that the latch is supposed to catch on scrapes on the side of the seat back. (The bolt of course hasn't changed length; the bed is shifted too far to the pass side somehow.)

The driver's side bolt likewise ends up "short" and doesn't actually catch on the latch. This is easy enough to fix by shimming it out with a few washers, but it fit fine before so I'm stumped. Plus, on the pass side I can't make it shorter, and it's catching on the vinyl and has already torn it a bit.

Close-up of passenger side post scraping the vinyl of the seat back1

This is a 1987 Syncro GL (7-passenger) with the "true" Z-bed which levers out from the upright position (pictured here) and lies flat on its back.

Here's what I've tried so far:
- Shimming out the bottom of the frame on the pass side to push the bed away from the wall.
- Swapping the driver's and passenger side bolts. They're the same size unfortunately.
- Detaching and reattaching the seat back in the hopes that it was too far over (there's not much play in the four bolts which attach it to the frame).
- Swapping in another Z-bed I had around - both the original and the new one have the same fitment issue. This makes me think it's something I'm doing wrongly in the installation, not a problem with the part itself.
- Screaming and cursing at it in an attempt to shame it into fitting correctly.

Has anyone had this happen to them before and know if there's a "wrong" way to put it back in which will cause this problem? I don't really see any other way to do it but I must be messing something up - it fit fine before I removed it and put it back.

[joetiger]

I had similar misalignment problems on one of my vans, and it was because the hinges weren't settling in correctly in the upright position. I lubed the hell out of all of the movement points on the hinges, folded the seat up and back a few times, and it fell into place. Worth a shot if you haven't done that yet.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'91 Wolfsburg Carat "Barchetta"
'02 Baja-ish Beetle "Bubbles"

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Justice for Megan: https://linktr.ee/justiceformegantrussell

[captmatthew1]

I installed a Z-bed in my 1980 this past week. I had a problem with misalignment as well. My problem was with the mounting points for the seat belts. If they are bolted in the wrong position, the seat will hit the seat belt mounts before it is fully nested in the seat position. This will cause the seat to sit to high, or off kilter and be impossible to latch.

Hope this helps!
_________________
Matthew Alig
1980 VW Vanagon Tin-Top Camper Conversion

[IdahoDoug]

Hmm. Ever since I restored my 87 Weekender with Z bed the drivers side latch pin does not engage properly in the upright seat position. I will go take a closer look and see what's happening. I did not have this issue when I retrofitted a new Z bed in my 87 Syncro which came without.

Doug
_________________
1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1993 Toyota LandCruiser, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Slimvest]

Watching this. I'm often jealous seeing folks one-hand their westy beds closed/open. Maybe there's a way to make the z-bed smoother to operate?
_________________
'87 GL w/ Reimo top (sold Aug '21)

[professorplumb]

Glad to know it's not just I who has this issue. Hopefully we can crowdsource a solution with our combined brainpower!

[professorplumb]

I've been driving around with this for a few weeks now, hoping that it'll fall into place after I manhandle it around a bit.

No such luck unfortunately - it's still sitting too far to the pass side and I have to be careful every time I latch it into place or lay it down to keep the latch post from scraping against the side.

Still stumped as to how this could be happening - it's not as if there are a whole bunch of different ways for it to go in....