Stuck 1970 Dart headrests

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NoCar340

NoCar340

The Original Partstitute
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I bought a set of seats from a friend's '70 Swinger 340, already reupholstered with Legendary covers. The headrests on the front bench are raised and will not go down. I've hit 'em pretty hard--as hard as I dare without damaging the headrests--to no avail. I'm guessing he goofed something up during the reupholstering. Has anyone run into this issue that can give me an idea of how to fix it? I'm not keen on removing nearly-new upholstery, but I'd like to be able to raise and lower the headrests.

Ideas?
 
Hard to say without seeing in there but those grooves on the headrest shafts are what hold it to the different positions. There is a spring steel piece that’s attached to the frame that acts as a stop in each groove. There isnt much there to prevent it from sliding all the way unless it was somehow modified
 
Maybe those spring steel pieces got bent over in the upholstery process and its blocking the headrest arms from sliding down into the tube
 
I'm going to have to look more closely at it, maybe get a photo or two. I'm familiar with the grooves you mentioned, but I don't recall seeing those on these headrests (which is not to say they aren't there). Aren't the ends of the headrest shafts tapered to get it past that spring-loaded detent? I asked the previous owner, and he couldn't shed any light on it; he said he never tried to adjust them. For the record, they won't come out either. They're absolutely stuck in their current position.
 
NoCar340 said:
I'm going to have to look more closely at it, maybe get a photo or two. I'm familiar with the grooves you mentioned, but I don't recall seeing those on these headrests (which is not to say they aren't there). Aren't the ends of the headrest shafts tapered to get it past that spring-loaded detent? I asked the previous owner, and he couldn't shed any light on it; he said he never tried to adjust them. For the record, they won't come out either. They're absolutely stuck in their current position.
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Yes, the ends are tapered and those tabs are hard to bend (I had a loose one that wouldn’t stay up and had to bend it to get it to apply more tension). There is supposedly a tool or a way to slide something in along the shaft to release the tab.
 
dd70340 said:
Do you have this kind of bench seat? The lowest the bottom of the headrest can go is about 3 inches above the seat.
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Yep, it looks a lot like that!

Great. So I'm stuck with having two excited E.T.s trying to phone home from my interior? I guess I'll learn to like it. Both seats cost me less than the costs of one seat cover, so I can't really complain.

On to bigger and more-pressing problems. Thanks, @dd70340 and @j_anderson!
 
NoCar340 said:
Yep, it looks a lot like that!

Great. So I'm stuck with having two excited E.T.s trying to phone home from my interior? I guess I'll learn to like it. Both seats cost me less than the costs of one seat cover, so I can't really complain.

On to bigger and more-pressing problems. Thanks, @dd70340 and @j_anderson!
Click to expand...

20200607_162525.jpg
Yep!
 
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