w124 front seat fixing bolt

[millo777]

I'm trying to take the front passenger seat out of my w124 and the rear fixing bolt nearest the door seems to be spinning freely and yet still can't be moved. It feels as though a captive nut has become loose and the two are spinning freely.

There isn't enough clearance to get a nut splitter or even a dremel cutting wheel on it, so was hoping someone might have some other ideas?

If it is a captive nut, is there anyway of accessing the nut to hold it?

At the moment I'm not seeing much option apart from destroying the seat rail and reaplcing it later.

Any ideas welcome.....

 

[Will]

Impact gun. Pull on the seat upwards to create some resistance between the captive nut/fixing and the floorpan and then use a cordless impact gun to spin the bolt out. It will most likely unscrew before the captive nut has a chance to turn

I have done this myself on exactly this scenario (same bolt on an old W201!) with success.

 

[Ian B Walker]

We once had a particularly difficult one to remove. We ended up cutting thought the floor than re welding everything back afterwards.

 

[bolide]

It doesn't have a captive bolt. It has a bolt head on a spring clip which is slipped over the floorpan via a slot. When they come adrift it is a major pain in the 4$$

Probably best to remove it using Will's method, or brute force, and replace the clip when refitting

Nick Froome

 

[millo777]

Thanks for the tips. I'll get a mate around tomorrow and see if we can use will's method, though I don't have an impact gun, and the bolt is a faf which is barely reached with a 3/8 dr socket and universal joint. I'm sure we'll end up using brute force. Hopefully I won't have to cut the floor!

I'm having quite the week for brute force repairs. A wheel nut on the w140 took out 2 Hazet wheel nut sockets and the knuckle on a 1/2 breaker bar this morning.