228 Seat Upgrade

leeccoll

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After you remove the seats, soak the moving parts in PB Blaster for a day or so. The locking hardware tends to corrode and stick. If you try to muscle off the locking hardware, the parts may snap.
The actual part of the seat that slides runs on two strips of plastic. Hopefully they are intact. The channels they slide in tend to get gummed up with old grease. You can soak those too or try WD40 to soften the grease.

The base attaches to the underside of the seat with 4 bolts and washers. Revoving the base form the seat makes working on it a lot easier.
By the way, if the seat does not rotate right now, it probably will not lift up and off. You will have to try to get the pedestal locking rod to loosen. Do not try using a pliers on the knob, it will break. Try a vice grip on the shatf rod.
Great advice, there is no grease whatsoever on the channels. I'm guessing this caused it to freeze up over time. I'll get a chance to pull the seats off this weekend and bring them home to see what can be done.
Appreciate your input on this seasick!
 

leeccoll

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Pulled the seats today, tensioner broke off one seat, the other was already missing.

Question, is the slide and swivel universal size? The pedestals are standard 2 7/8". The frame measures 9.5x12.5"
I think replacing them both is the easiest route for me to go.20191118_170346.jpg
 
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leeccoll

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And here is a close up of the screw and anchor that attaches the frame to the seat. I am unfamiliar with this type of anchor, was wondering if anyone could fill me in where I can find them, and how to install them correctly if I need to change the hole locations on the seat to accommodate a different sized frame. 20191118_183338.jpg
 

DennisG01

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Yes, those four bolts/holes that hold the slider base to the seat... those are a standard size in the industry. Any slider assembly you get will match up with the seat.
 

leeccoll

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Awesome, thank you DennisG01!!
 

leeccoll

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So, seems that older Grady hulls had a larger width footprint on the original swivel frame. I did some digging and the original manufacturer in '86 was Wise. Called them up and person I spoke to said that slide and swivel in no longer available.

I had already ordered 2 Springfield 2 7/8" Slide n Swivels on Amazon, so I just re drilled and added more screws and bedded them in heavy duty exterior construction adhesive rated for both ABS and aluminum.

As I attempted the install on my boat that's an hour away this morning, I couldn't get the bushing to seat on the pedestal. I was even jumping on it for maximum firepower LOL!

Gave up and tried the other seat, and it went on like a glove. So the bushing (Made in China crap) was out of spec. Drove to West Marine and bought a Todd plastic bushing that works, just a hair more play than the Springfield bushing, so I will chase them down for a free replacement. Over 3 hours of driving today because of that :mad:

But what a great feeling having the seats be able to rotate and slide with ease-very happy with the outcome now.

Also a nice added bonus, a friend of mine will make me new cushions for the front seats from the templates I sent to him. It's all who you know sometimes ;)20191121_165337.jpg20191122_125946.jpg20191122_130045.jpg20191122_141617.jpg
 
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DennisG01

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Lee, sorry about the misinformation. I've been around this stuff for a long time and that's the first I heard of the footprint change.

But... glad you got nice, smooth working seats!

If for some reason that adhesive doesn't hold... bolt a piece of plywood to the old holes and then use t-nuts in the proper spots in the plywoof for the new holes.
 
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leeccoll

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Lee, sorry about the misinformation. I've been around this stuff for a long time and that's the first I heard of the footprint change.

But... glad you got nice, smooth working seats!

If for some reason that adhesive doesn't hold... bolt a piece of plywood to the old holes and then use t-nuts in the proper spots in the plywoof for the new holes.
Hey man, you are always here helping the community out as best you can! Not sure the year the industry abandoned the old footprint, but it's all good my friend.

Pretty sure the new frame will not detach as it is 13" which is half an inch longer than the underneath seat cut out , so I hammered them in to the bottom of the seat using a 3lb hammer and a small scrap piece of 2x4 plywood so I wouldn't bend the new frames.

One of the seats was more unforgiving so I had to use a dremel tool to make the opening a bit larger, then hammered it in.

There are now 12 screws holding the new swivels in place, they were not slipping when tightened down, I just like to bulletproof "in case".
 
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