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chstrass
Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2019
Posts: 1
Location: 80129
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 Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:21 pm Post subject: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| Has anybody converted their pull out back seat with power to make it easier to pull out and push back? We are pretty active people in our late 60's but this part is getting harder and harder every year. Any feedback is appreciated! |
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MrPulldown
Samba Member
Joined: September 08, 2020
Posts: 649
Location: Truckee
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| Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:20 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| chstrass wrote: |
| Has anybody converted their pull out back seat with power to make it easier to pull out and push back? We are pretty active people in our late 60's but this part is getting harder and harder every year. Any feedback is appreciated! |
This is a camper version I take it. When new I recall that the seat was very easy to pull out. Now ours is a bit stiff. I would pull the seat all the way out of the track, and clean and lube it up.
THe pop top takes considerable more effort to lift than the seat to pull forward. Would think that the pop top would be an issue long before the seat would be.
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2002 EVC |
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Zeitgeist 13
Samba Member
Joined: March 05, 2009
Posts: 12115
Location: Port Manteau
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| Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:02 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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Similar to the power poptops, I'll bet a linear actuator could be used to extend or retract the rear seat. It would be maddeningly slow, but could be a viable option.
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Casey--
'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik? |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22665
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:27 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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Time to get under and get some silicone grease on the runners to fix that
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.ssS! |
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TFB777
Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2021
Posts: 35
Location: Camas, Washington
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| Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| The plastic skid strip came loose on mine. I cleaned everything real good and used gorilla glue but it came right off again after a couple of uses. I wound up drilling eight holes, tapping the frame and inserting countersink screws to keep things flush on the bottom. Finished off with a bit of grease - a bit more trouble than I would have liked but it works fine again. |
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volkybus
Samba Member
Joined: November 03, 2013
Posts: 481
Location: CASTLETON VT USA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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Mine is a ,93V Converted to a weekender and the bed is very hard to slide. The older we get the more challenging these these things are
.I leave mine down almost all of the camping season. Getting old sure is a drag
The beds on the Bay window Westy is easier to operate but the bed is small for me and wife.. Good luck and use lots of grease. ...Bill in Puerto inRico |
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MrPulldown
Samba Member
Joined: September 08, 2020
Posts: 649
Location: Truckee
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| Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 9:54 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| TFB777 wrote: |
| The plastic skid strip came loose on mine. I cleaned everything real good and used gorilla glue but it came right off again after a couple of uses. I wound up drilling eight holes, tapping the frame and inserting countersink screws to keep things flush on the bottom. Finished off with a bit of grease - a bit more trouble than I would have liked but it works fine again. |
Pulled the rear bench today. Super easy other than the weight. Cleaned up the track which was filled with grime and sand.
Then took a look at the sliders. Sure enough they were both off kilter. Pull them off and re-glued them. I recalled reading that someone had used gorilla glue so I followed suit. Only to find this thread again and see that the G-glue failed. Oh well. I am going to give it a shot anyways.
I am trying to lube up the release pin cables so there is less strain on the release handle mechanism. Need to remove the ends to really get lube down into the cable housing but I'll pass for now.
Debating if I should lube up the track. On one hand when is lube bad. On the other when grease is mixed with sand and grime it is bad. Plastic sliders are designed to be slippery as is.
I gave the lower sliders a shot of silicon lube and installed the seat. The sliding is a lot easier. But getting the seat to start sliding take a little initial effort. It looks like the there is some metal on metal rubbing of the track in the guide.
The part that made a big difference is the release lever. Lubing up the cables made a huge difference. I positioned the seat at various angles so that I could dribble oil down into the cable housing without disassembling. The lever is now very easy to operate. I suspect that many of the broken levers were due to additional force required to operate the lever. I suggest that this is done ASAP for EVC users.
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2002 EVC |
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druuid
Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2021
Posts: 27
Location: West Coast, Canada
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 11:08 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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I did this as well and used Gorilla glue, I found the glue leaked out but after it completely dried I just scraped off the excess.
then I used silicon spray for lubricating the channels.
it runs much smoother now!
good idea on the oiling the cables and such, what kind of oil did you use?
thanks! |
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MrPulldown
Samba Member
Joined: September 08, 2020
Posts: 649
Location: Truckee
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 11:42 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| druuid wrote: |
I did this as well and used Gorilla glue, I found the glue leaked out but after it completely dried I just scraped off the excess.
then I used silicon spray for lubricating the channels.
it runs much smoother now!
good idea on the oiling the cables and such, what kind of oil did you use?
thanks! |
At first I used the same silicon lube for the cable. But then I just used some motor oil out of a squirt can.
Playing around with the bench some more I noticed that the release pins were not always releasing consistently. I think that the cables have stretched over the years and that the pins are not coming up far enough. With the sliding part so easy not, you can tell that the pins are binding. I think there is a little bit of adjustment that can be made in the housing to get some more pull.
I think this contributes to a lot of the problems related to the bench. Hard to pull out because the pins are not fully disengaged. Since the slides are not working you don't really know the difference in feel and just keep yanking and swearing trying to get this thing to slide. At the same time you keep yanking on the release lever and over stressing the mechanism and breaking it.
I will pull the bench out again soon and try to adjust the cable.
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2002 EVC |
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druuid
Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2021
Posts: 27
Location: West Coast, Canada
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 1:00 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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| MrPulldown wrote: |
At first I used the same silicon lube for the cable. But then I just used some motor oil out of a squirt can.
Playing around with the bench some more I noticed that the release pins were not always releasing consistently. I think that the cables have stretched over the years and that the pins are not coming up far enough. With the sliding part so easy not, you can tell that the pins are binding. I think there is a little bit of adjustment that can be made in the housing to get some more pull.
I think this contributes to a lot of the problems related to the bench. Hard to pull out because the pins are not fully disengaged. Since the slides are not working you don't really know the difference in feel and just keep yanking and swearing trying to get this thing to slide. At the same time you keep yanking on the release lever and over stressing the mechanism and breaking it.
I will pull the bench out again soon and try to adjust the cable. |
Good call on cable adjustment. I'll look at that too and see if it can't be tweaked to also make it easier. |
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MrPulldown
Samba Member
Joined: September 08, 2020
Posts: 649
Location: Truckee
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 10:04 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan back seat conversion to power |
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Found an old thread that had some talk about these release latch. The cable ends on the 97 are different mine. Mine has fixed metal tips with a bend in it that secures to the hole in the bracket. This one loops and fixes the ends. This would make adjustments easier. On mine (and maybe all the 2001 or 2+), you have a little bit to thread on the barrel to play with.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=613264
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