Rear Jump Seats Stuck

[Shawon]

2001 Discovery II SE7 (68k miles)

I have the rear jump seat option on my Rover. But I'm having a problem stowing them to the sides to make more cargo room.

I'm sure I'm doing it right, twist one of the things forward and then left the seat up and towards the side, but the seat doesn't budge, it's like it's locked to the floor and the twisting isn't releasing the lock or something.

Any idea how I can fix this? I dunno what could've caused it, maybe putting heavy boxes and stuff on top of the jump seats while they were just folded down, but not stowed away?

Anyone have any idea how I can fix this?

[Steph]

Is there a carpet under the seat's feet ??? if so, it causes a binding. I would have someone fairly heavy ( like an adult) sit in the seat and then try turning the handle to release it. When the handle is fully turned,hold it there and have that person get up to see if the seat has released.

[discofacelift]

Hi Shawon,
I guess your rear jump seats are the ones that face forward, if so I have this problem quite often with one of my rear jump seats.

Firstly have you pressed the leaver on the side of the seat, which drops the back down flat? If you haven’t it won’t release the lock, so you will need to do this first.

If steph’s suggestion doesn't work you can over ride the handle you twist to release the seat by going directly to the mechanism under the seat?

If it’s the Right seat the mechanism is on the Left, if it’s the Left seat the mechanism is on the Right.

If you put your hand under the seat you will feel a spring, from memory I think you can actually see it, follow the spring to where it hooks on to a lug, pull the lug towards you and the seat will release, if you can’t pull it with your finger do it with a screw driver.

Hope this helps.

[Shawon]

Steph: Do you mean is the carpet jammed near the lock area on the floor? If so no there isn't.

discofacelift: Yeah my rear seats are the ones that face forward, and alright thanks for the suggestion I will try that out right now.

I guess the locks got really tight with all that weight being on top of the seats from time to time?

[Steph]

I mean like a rubber carpet or any additional tickness that would be under the seat floor rests.

[Shawon]

Steph: Nope, nothing else, just the regular carpet and then nothing else blocking or under the floor latches.

discofacelift: I did what you said, on the left seat on the bottom top right area I see like a metal wire thing that seems like it's getting pulled when you twist the handle thing so is that spring you were talking about? I also see this plastic ring thing around a metal tube like thing, is that the lug you're talking about? I tried pulling on that with a screwdriver, it comes towards me but only so much and it still doesn't release the seat, am I doing something wrong? I tried on the right seat too, but the metal tube on the right side looks rusty and the plastic lug thing isn't moving on that so that one seems like it's stuck, but the one I tried on the left seat moves fine, but doesn't release.

Here's a picture I took of it. The small inset shows how the seat looks with the red circle thing the area under the seat where the bigger picture is. And that yellow square you see is the plastic lug thing I'm talking about and then the picture below it is how the floor latch looks, I see a spring there too, but it's too tight in there to pull on anything and feel around there.

EDIT: On the bottom picture where you see that spring thing near the floor latch, I put in a screwdriver there and sorta pushed it up and after some force the seat came up, but for some reason it's not folding to the side, it just comes off the latch now by doing that, but doesn't rotate and fold off to the side like it should, I couldn't get it to rotate at all. I also tried to pry the right side seat up but that one doesn't budge at all, I guess it's jammed or something I dunno. But any idea why it's not folding?

[discofacelift]

Hi shawon,
In the lower photo you can see the spring attached to the lug, that lug should slide from front to back and in doing so releases the locking latch.
Also when you put the seat up in to its stored position it doesn't lift up as you would think it should. If you look at the smaller photo in the upper picture, after releasing the latch of course, you have to lift the seat up on the left side opposite the red circle you've drawn so that the back of the seat faces to the centre of the truck, the same applies for the other side only in reverse.
The latch that’s stuck on the other seat will need a little more force, I guess the screw driver will be the best option for that, you do actually get quite good at undoing them with practise, once you’ve done it a few times.

I haven’t worked out how to lubricate the mechanism yet but when I do I’ll let you know. I think they dry out over time and get strained.

Hope this helps.

[Steph]

Don't forget that it can be a bit confusing to put up, as the side with the handle to drop the back rest goes down and not up when folding. So you start lifting the seat and then as the seat is coming up, you push the side towards the middle of the vehicle down, while you pull the side towards the window up. Cause once unhooked from the floor, nothing should keep it from folding. But I'll still go play with mine just to make sure.

[Shawon]

Yea I know how the folding part works, the bottom of the seat faces the window and top (after folded) faces the center, it's just the folding part isn't budging at all. But yea I suspect it's just getting a bit dry/rusty so I'll just use some WD-40 on it to lubricate it up and try it again, thanks for the help.

[Steph]

Glad to know that you know how to fold it, since its not obvious to describe. Soooo, I'm done playing with mine and yours must be seize3d in place, cause mine moves as smooth as in butter.