2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Seat adjuster cable

[SRath]

My '96 extended cab has small cables that are supposed to cause the seats to slide forward for access to the rear when the seatback is tipped forward. The driver's side has always worked, but the passenger has not since I bought the truck in '99.

I removed the seats and tracks to clean, paint, and grease them (they sure get rusty easily!) and examined the cable problem. The driver seat uses an actual steel cable, the broken passenger seat uses a lousy plastic cable from which the end has broken off, and it must have done so when the truck was almost new. I know that plastic cable must have saved Dodge at least 3 cents over the steel cable, but I would like to splurge recklessly and upgrade and replace the plastic cable with a steel one like the driver side has.

Has anyone else replaced theirs? Is it available from Dodge or do they want you to buy an entire slide assembly? Is the replacement plastic or steel? Can it be purchased anywhere else?

While I'm on the subject, has anyone found replacement seat covers they would recommend?

 

[AWallace]

If you are talking about the thin wire that goes from slide to slide I made me one out a metal cloths hanger about 10 years ago still there. We keep a campground directory about 2 1/2 " thick under the passenger seat and the first time the wife put it under the wire broke.

 

[HHhuntitall]

I've seen those, and had to straighten some cable connectors on the rear of the seat, but I've never seen a broken cable. The ones on my '95 and '96 both have steel cables... ? I suppose if there is enough cable sticking out, you could thread it through the bracket at the back of the seat(I'm guessing that's where it's broken?) and put a cable clamp over it. Otherwise, you might could find the same size cable and try to refeed it and make a new one. I'm not sure who would carry some that size..... Home depot, maybe? A good piece of wire might work, too, if you could find one straight enough. Wrecking yard might be a better suggestion than any of the above... .

 

[SRath]

When you put my front driver and passenger seats upside down next to each other, it looks like they came from entirely different manufacturers: same design, but good vs. crappy materials and workmanship.

The little wire AWallace talks about (it connects the two separate release mechanisms to operate together) is preformed with a shepards crook and sliding retainer at each end on the driver's seat. It is just a piece of baling wire twisted at both ends on the passenger seat.

The cable inside the plastic housing that actuates the slide when the seatback is tilted forward is high-quality stainless aircraft-type cable on the driver seat. It is plastic, like weedwacker line, on the passenger seat. That is what is broken.

The metal angle iron that forms the seat fore-and-aft release handle is better quality on the driver seat. It is soft, bent, and broken on the passenger side.

The rollers and tracks are smooth and operable on the driver's seat, and rough and stuck on the passenger seat.

It's like comparing a USA-made tool with a cheap chinese tool.

I have decided to try to make my own cable using bicycle shifter/brake cable. I will be able to take advantage of one preformed lead end and will have to come up with a termination of my own on the other once it is cut to the right length.

 

[HHhuntitall]

I didn't think of bike brake cable. Good idea. From the sounds of it, someone replaced the seats in your truck, or had them rebuilt and someone half assed them. All my of my mid 90's trucks like yours have plastic handles for the seat slide release, and all that are here at the house for me to look at have steel lines that run the seat realease from the seat back control... ... For the cable stop, Try a bike shop and see if they have any cable clamps, or maybe a hardware store. Worse case, try to find a real small, threaded nut, double the cable over if you have to, and smash the nut from the sides with a large pair of pliers or clamps. Home Depot sells small aluminum cable stops, that are crimped down on the cables like a wire splice. I don't know if they'd have anything small enough. Worse comes to worse, PM me and let me know, I may come across a salvage set of seats in a wrecking yard or something. I'd keep my eye out if I knew someone needed something.



Good luck.

 

[SRath]

Thanks, HHHuntitall! If my attempts to fix it fail, I will take you up on the offer to watch for a good one.

I bought the truck less than 3 years old/40k miles from a meticulous guy from Texas who had just moved to Iowa. It was his custom-ordered baby, but his new job required a vehicle that could carry and impress more VIP's than it could hold, so he bought a Ford Expedition (and hated the Ford diesel!). He was very picky, and had the whole truck repainted with some high-dollar stuff after some vandal gave the driver's door a key scratch. His garage wall was covered with buffing wheels instead of tools and the truck was a creampuff that had never been offroad or pulled anything bigger than a 2-wheel trailer.

I remember him telling me the auto tilt 'n slide function of the passenger seat had quit recently, but he had failed to get it back to the dealer for repair under warranty due to moving. So I don't think it has ever been worked on or replaced; it just came with lesser components. It wouldn't be the first time some bean counter switched the assembly line to cheaper materials and vendor parts during production.

Quad cabs replaced X-cabs shortly thereafter, and I doubt the tilt 'n slide feature was needed on front seats anymore, though I can't say for sure. A quad cab owner would know.