[T3] Have another question on 73 T-3 front seat cable

[Jim Adney]

On 31 Dec 2019 at 8:07, William Jahn wrote:

> There is a knob door side of the seat back purpose is to slid up allowing
> the seat back to tilt forward . The right works , the left does not move
> up enough and since I've had this car I need to use this knob and the back
> tilt knob in combination in order to simply to tilt the seat back forward
> .
> I looked at the right and see a cable with no tube drop down on the
> outside of the backs outer black  frame pivot arm that has a pivot bolt to
> seat back to the seat base . It works yet I don't think I should see the
> cable. One the left seat same deal except the cable is looped around the
> back of the same pivot bolt on the right the cable is not looped . The way
> it's looped around the back of the pivot bolt boss won't allow the cable
> release knob to move fully up on the side of the seat back.

It's been too many years for me to remember exactly how that release cable 
works, but it seems like you've answered your own question: Make the L 
seat a mirror image of the R and it will work the same. Taking the plastic 
pieces off the outside of both seats is a good way to start. Those late seats 
are an awful design, overcomplicated and weak. They don't hold up nearly 
as well as any of the earlier seats. The only good thing about them is that 
they share a lot of parts with Beetle seats of the same era, so parts that 
break are often still available.

CAUTION: I believe you'll have to pull off a knob that comes out thru those 
plastic side plates. That knob is held on its shaft by teeth on the shaft, so if 
you pull the knob with your fingers against the shaft as the knob slides off, 
those teeth will take serious bites out of your fingers. Don't let your fingers 
touch the shaft, or loop some heavy string behind the knob and let the teeth 
destroy that instead of your fingers.

What I can recall is that there's a short cable housing with an anchor tab in 
the middle. The cable itself has a spring in the middle. I bought a new one 
when I was rebuilding some of those seats, about 25 years ago. I had to take 
apart 4 seats to get enough good parts to make 2 good ones, and, in the 
end, I didn't need the cable that I had bought. It's still in the basement.

I may also have a good used cable, I'd have to check the box of seat parts 
that's in storage. But I'm pretty sure I can find that NOS cable assembly.

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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