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Hello All,
I have an 89 Range rover classic. I really don't like the power seats and power windows. I live in New Mexico. The hot dry dusty climate causes switches and motors to go bad. I've been thinking about changing my seats to the old fashioned manual style. Does anyone have and experience or thoughts about this? Currently my driver seat is stuck too far forward. I can still drive but it is a bit uncomfortable and unsafe.
Thanks for any input
Some members have reported taking the drive cable out of the seat motor, and using an electric drill to move the seat to a desired spot. Guess that might be OK. I have also scavenged parts from ripped seats at a salvage yard, a whole seat is about $22, includes the motors and right angle gear boxes, etc. Of course there are dismantlers you can purhase from, they might have a larger variety in stock. The motors look similar to ones in my old Mercedes.
Thank you for the input. I wouldn't mind using a drill to turn it for a short term solution. That would actually help a lot. I have a manual for the vehicle but it doesn't really explain the motors for the seats etc. where is that info available?
Might look in more current versions in the RAVE download. The body repair manual has some stuff on removal of the seat base, etc. But it was not very complicated when I worked on my seats, I think they just unscrewed from the end of the motor, inside the cable looks like an old skool speedometer cable. One other forum I looked at had an owner using a hand drill, certainly use something variable speed, dead slow, and if your drill is so equipped, set the chuck clutch for lower setting.
With respect to dust ingress, if you can identify the sensitive part (example - a motor), perhaps it could be wrapped with a very fine mesh that would still allow some air flow, but hold down the soil. Something like lady's pantyhose.
Forgot to mention - could also be the electric switch set that controls the seat. In the Disco these are open frame switches, not sealed against the environment. The same factory makes the ones for Mercedes. The rocker style have some small ball bearings in them. I took mine apart, but did so in a large plastic pan, the bearings can go everywhere. Clean up the contacts with a brass wire brush, contact spray was not enough.
So you might be able to make the seat move by jumping out the particular switch with a short wire.
Next time I was prowling the salvage yard I got a couple and put on my spares shelf ($3).
Power Seats
