Removal of Rear Seat Headrests?

Hello all,

Is it possible to remove the rear seat head rests on my 98 Mounty ? (without destroying the seat back or using a sawzall?)

I can't find a release hole or thingy...

Thanks - Dan

IIRC, the procedure calls for de-skinning the seat to remove the headrest... Not much fun IMHO...

-Joe

IIRC, there is a clip at the end of the headrest shaft that prevents it from pulling out - I broke mine installing seat covers and was always planning to fix it, but never have gotten around to it.

dogfriend said:

IIRC, there is a clip at the end of the headrest shaft that prevents it from pulling out - I broke mine installing seat covers and was always planning to fix it, but never have gotten around to it.

Click to expand...

That's what I recall from a previous discussion on the topic from several months ago (which, of course, I couldn't find using the search...)

I just removed mine! There is a spring clip facing the outside edges of the posts, i.e., left side of the left post and right side of the right post facing the headrest. I was careful and pushed down the fabric with a screwdriver until I could remove and keep the clip. On the other side, i just forced the screwdriver under the plastic ring and popped the clip. I assume it's still in the seat back somewhere.

Thanks for the replies and info!

JHT, can you post a picture or sketch? This doesn't look very fun - I think I'll go to a wrecking yard and do some surgery. I tried to gorilla mine off - not the right approach... I'll post pic's if I can figure it out.

Thanks - Dan

Dan,

I have a picture, but don’t seem to have the privileges to post it. It’s not that difficult to pull/push down the material below the plastic ring. Relax, take a deep breath, put a medium size flat head screwdriver under the plastic ring and walk it down. You will see more plastic that surrounds the headrest staff. Keep walking down and you will see the darker spring clip.

If you’re still fighting it, send me an email (jt911@pacbell.net) and I’ll send you the picture.

Thanks for the help JHT,

I'll keep you posted.

It is sort of like the clip on a trailer hitch receiver keeper pin IIRC, except I think it clips over the trim piece retaining the headrest shaft in. It's not bad leon... Junkyard dissection is always good. If you find a trashed seat (to save teh good ones for others to have... ) just cut the back open and look in there and you'll know what you're in for... If that doesn't work, I'm sure JHT's pics will help.

JHT- you can always put your photos on a site like photobucket and paste the "IMG" code here- that's what I do...

I'm off to the yards!

I did it! After looking at the rear seat head rests on a '98 X like mine, I could see that the detent spring thingy was only locking on the back side of the rods. So, I cut up two 3-inch pieces of that clear plastic from a cat-toy package, and slipped them between the chrome shafts and the hole. Then I forced the head rest downward to get the plastic "tool" between the shaft and clip. Finally, I worked the head rest upward while keeping the plastic "tools" from rising. Voila! - The whole process only took about 15 minutes, including making the plastic "tools".

My rear seats are now headless, and I can finally have the rear seats folded and adjust the front seat all the way back plus recline!

Btw, what is the easiest way to post a small picture?

You are elite...you have the ability to post pictures directly into a post, and have them upload from your computer to the ExplorerForum.com server.

So instead of using the "Add Quick Reply" down below, click on 'Go Advanced'...and on that page it has another button that says 'Manage Attachments'...and that is what you want to do. It will bring up a window (your computer MAY think it's a Pop-Up ad) that allows you to attach a photo to the post.

Ryan

Here is a picture of the plastic things I made up:

This place is the best. I needed to remove the rear seat headrests in my wife's 99 Sport & I did a google search & got a thread from 2009 on how to do it & it worked perfectly. Thanks again to everyone here who contributes knowledge for the rest of us.