Livnaboard
New Member
- Joined
- February 21, 2011
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Alabama
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2005 XLT
Okay...this will be as short as possible, but explain thoroughly as I can. For starters, my Spousal Unit (SU) is a bit vertically challenged and moves the seat all the way up/forward every time she drives MY Explorer. To that end, she did just that about a month ago and the seat would not go back down. I tried moving it manually (turning the adjusting screw by hand -- it didn't move). After removing the seat for a better look, everything is either welded, pinned, or "peened over" under there. A trip to Ford gave me a $1000 estimate (I retrieved my SUV at that point.) A later call from Ford advised that the entire assy is replaced as a unit (three motors, four worm-and-roller assemblies, etc.) They further advised that the part was obsolete (this is an 8-year-old vehicle!) -- AND -- that no Ford dealer in the COUNTRY had the part. (I verified this with numerous calls and emails to dealers and parts suppliers around the country).
Long story short -- I went to a junkyard and found a 2005 Mountaineer with the similar (it had heated seats, mine does not) six-way power seat in questionable condition. Hauled it back to my garage. I completely disassembled the worm-and-roller assemblies for both front and back adjusters on the used unit. The adjustment motors and gearbox assemblies do not come OFF the assy. but they do come APART. Inside the little black gear boxes I found a metal worm gear (run off motor) and a plastic roller gear (attached to the jack screw). I removed the jackscrew assembly (it is press-pinned to the adjusting lever) leaving the plastic roller gear attached. I then again removed my seat from my vehicle, removed the same screw jack assy. from my seat. Inside the little black gear box I discovered broken teeth on the plastic roller gear as I had suspected. I did a remove-and-replace on the internals of the gear box, put it all back together and tested. It now works as original.
Cost was about $100 for the seat (which was really shot except for the six-way adjuster) and about five hours work. My figuring of the $900 difference over five hours made me happy. I purposely worked slowly and took lots of pictures. If anyone else has this issue, I'm happy to share the pictures and answer questions.
Long story short -- I went to a junkyard and found a 2005 Mountaineer with the similar (it had heated seats, mine does not) six-way power seat in questionable condition. Hauled it back to my garage. I completely disassembled the worm-and-roller assemblies for both front and back adjusters on the used unit. The adjustment motors and gearbox assemblies do not come OFF the assy. but they do come APART. Inside the little black gear boxes I found a metal worm gear (run off motor) and a plastic roller gear (attached to the jack screw). I removed the jackscrew assembly (it is press-pinned to the adjusting lever) leaving the plastic roller gear attached. I then again removed my seat from my vehicle, removed the same screw jack assy. from my seat. Inside the little black gear box I discovered broken teeth on the plastic roller gear as I had suspected. I did a remove-and-replace on the internals of the gear box, put it all back together and tested. It now works as original.
Cost was about $100 for the seat (which was really shot except for the six-way adjuster) and about five hours work. My figuring of the $900 difference over five hours made me happy. I purposely worked slowly and took lots of pictures. If anyone else has this issue, I'm happy to share the pictures and answer questions.
