Remove front seats

[Vmax]

I bought a used low time RV-10 and have not been able to figure out how to remove the front seats without taking out the seat rails. The builder/owner has passed away and the seat assembly in the plans are slightly different then the ones in the airplane. Any suggestion on how to remove the seats? Attached is a picture of the adjustment mechanism, it appears that if I remove the forward stop they should slide forward but not enough to get the seats out and I can not see a rear stop.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Richard Connell]

You need to remove the rear stop.
Then the seat slides off to the rear.
Depending on how the plane has been built, removing the rear stop will be either trivial or very troublesome.
Search the forum for the rear stop nutplate mod.
Once the stop is out, you may need to remove the flap torque tube covers in order to get the seat far enough aft to slide off the tracks.
There’s another mod which bevels the front of the seat UHMW sliders which negates this.
If you perform both of these the first time you have the seat out it will serve you well.
Look closely, the original builder may have done both.
Good luck.

 

[Vmax]

Thanks, I will give it a try.

 

[kiwipete]

Tom

I don’t think Richard is quite right. It’s not possible in the standard configuration to remove the stop.

If you move the seat fully forward you should see the rear stop


To get past the rear stop you need to remove the T handle locking mechanism, Unbolt this from the frame and the seat should slide aft. It may or may not clear the flap rod cover in front of the rear seats. If it doesn’t then remove these.

For future ease of removal there are a couple of options.

1) put plate nuts under the rear stop bolts so they can be quickly removed. (So you can remove the stop easily without having to remove the T handle). To do this you would have to remove the seat track, rear stop. Then drill through the seat base and put nut plates on the underside. A more involved modification than the one below but makes seat removal possible in lass than a minute.

See post #14

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=80350&page=2

Or (probably easier to retrofit)

2) put platenuts so the T handle can easily be removed.

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=57756&highlight=rail&page=4


Regards Peter

 

[Richard Connell]

Yes I should have been clearer.
Very troublesome = not possible. I confess to never having done it this way as the moment I looked at the configuration while building I went in search of alternatives and installed the nutplates.
IMHO, the only sensible retrofit option is the nutplates under the seat pan for the rear stop.
With that and the rail mod, I can have a seat out in one piece in a matter of seconds. I’m surprised they haven’t changed the design.

 

[Bill.Peyton]

4 nutplates on the T handle is the simplest mod

 

[lr172]

4 nutplates on the T handle is the simplest mod

I don't remove the the stop. I remove 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the handle to the frame. Didn't do nut plates, but still easy to remove. If the front of the seat frame wasn't beveled or relieved, you will need to remove the flap tube covers in front of the rear seating area in order to get the seat off the rails.

 

[Bill Boyd]

I puzzled over these difficulties during my build. Decided to construct my own lever system to replace the T-handle similar to the Aero-Sport ( I believe) offering. In the photo, your seat adjuster appears to have the same sort of thing in place of the T-handle. Also decided to omit the rear stop altogether after having to remove it once (doable but very challenging). With no rear stop in place and the UHMW beveled as alluded to above, seat removal only requires removal of the bolt holding the lap belt to the tunnel - easily done. I have not missed the rear stop at all.

Yes, I'm aware of the historic issue with Cessna seats sliding backward at takeoff/rotation due to faulty latching mechanism. The way my seats slide on the rails, there is no way this is ever happening in my plane - too much resistance on the rails for whatever reason - and I verify the sliding adjustment mechanism is positively seated whenever I sit down at the start of flight.

I have had the seat back fold back on me when the tilt ratchet pawl wasn't all the way engaged, and that's another checklist item now, but a different issue altogether (friction in the seat back adjusting lever/shaft).

Take it or leave it; my suggestion is to leave the rear sliding stops out altogether unless your adjusting mechanism is such that you cannot verify it is positively in the detent AND your seat glides almost effortlessly on the rails. Neither is true for my build.

 

[BobTurner]

I’m surprised they haven’t changed the design.

The only issue with removing the T handle is that many builders have added thick interiors, making access more difficult. I don’t have that. I pull off the seat cushion, put an open end wrench on the bolt head, socket on the nut, remove. Repeat 3 more times, the T handle is off.
Yes, remove a bit of the front seat slider stuff, or remove the flap cover, to get the seat all the way off.

 

[Richard Connell]

The only issue with removing the T handle is that many builders have added thick interiors, making access more difficult. I don’t have that. I pull off the seat cushion, put an open end wrench on the bolt head, socket on the nut, remove. Repeat 3 more times, the T handle is off.
Yes, remove a bit of the front seat slider stuff, or remove the flap cover, to get the seat all the way off.

I wasn’t advocating for removing the T handle - whether nutplated or not.
The slider stop removal I think is far more elegan, quicker and easier to access.
Who knows what they were thinking when they designed it. Perhaps they thought seat removal was going to be a rare occurrence. It hasn’t been for me.

I’d love to know what the factory demonstrator setup is like. I’d be astonished if it’s as per plans. I don’t know of a single 10 around here that hasn’t implemented one or more of the changes discussed here.

 

[Jesse23]

Cut a 45 off the front UHMW (Nylon) pieces, and the seat removal is a 5 minute job wo removing the rear torque tube covers. Adding nut plates on the T-handle makes it even quicker. I take my seats out frequently for cleaning, accessing the overhead console, etc.