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Seats

Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 7:21 pm
by Bigdougal
Greetings from France,

I have decided to attempt to restore the seats for my Haflinger, which are in a terrible state. Given the number of other jobs I have to do (and the price of the parts) it is not an immediate priority.

Now for the question... What would anyone recommend as an alternative front seat(s) that I could fit temporarily, something that I could find in a breakers yard and maybe modify with some simple welding?

Clearly Citroen, Peugeot or Renault will be easier to find, although I had been wondering about some side facing seats (single as opposed to bench) from a series land Rover.

Cheers

Doug

Re: Seats

Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 7:41 pm
by Goatwerks
Unless you have frame problems, just remove the cushions from the passenger side and rear seats. When the front passenger side ones are done, just use them on drivers side and use driver side cushions on passenger side after recovering.
For fastest turn around, I believe Haflingertechnik sells seat kits or get them done at any boat or auto upholstery shop.
In a pinch a folding stadium seat can be adapted fairly easy and they are usually around $20(US).

Re: Seats

Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 7:46 am
by heinkeljb
Hi Doug,

Have a look at this:-

http://thehaflinger.com/viewtopic.php?f ... eat+straps

I found suitable seat padding in the form of the seat pads that are used on wheel chairs fit well. They have ties sewn on already so you can tie them in place.

John

Re: Seats

Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 6:11 pm
by Bigdougal
Thanks Guys for the ideas.

It is just right now it is not a priority to restore the seats. Probably a job for next year.

That being so would love to hear of some alternative seat ideas that I could fit in place on a short to medium term basis.

Cheers

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:43 am
by heinkeljb
As the seats are only held in place by the two little 6mm bolts at the front, you could probably fit any seat you have available and bespoke make a couple of seat rails that would allow you to bolt them down at the front.

On my '73 the petrol tank filler is under the passenger seat, so it is hinged to allow access. Seems really strange that there is no mechanical catch to stop the seat from tipping.
Also seems strange that there is no rear fastener for my drivers side seat other than the four 6 mm bolts at front which also allow front / back adjustment.
All it would take to provide a rear fastener would be a bar welded across the seat frame and a couple of "U" shaped bits of metal turned on their sides and welded to the platform. You could then slide the seat with the bar into the "U" and do the front bolts up at the correct position and the rear of the seat would be held down.

John

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:07 am
by Julian B
On the early Haflingers - perhaps those with fuel tanks under the rear load bay? - there is ~5cm fore & aft adjustment of both front seats, with a fixing point at each corner (2 with bolts). Looks like moving the tank to below the front seat did have some reduction in function / convenience of the seats.

I too have been surprised at the lack of a clip (at least) to prevent the seat tipping forward.

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 10:31 am
by Bigdougal
I have seen a couple of Haflingers that have had a leather strap with buckle that secures the top of the seat to the bar behind that forms part of the hood sticks. looking into and old parts manual it looks as if it may be a standard part.

Doug
1972 700

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:48 pm
by heinkeljb
Doug,

Post a couple of pictures of your seats, so we can see what you mean about "terrible state" - as you have gathered from the replies, there really isn't much to the seats and so fixing them should be relatively easy.

John

Re: Seats

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:39 am
by Bigdougal
All I have that is salvageable are the frames. There were no hooks, straps or any other hardware. The seat covers were some thin canvas that basically disintegrated in the sun. The seat pads were supported by some springs that look as if they were taken from an old mattress that were attached to the frames with VB chord. The seat pads themselves looked as if they were made from horse hair and glue and are long past it.

Best


Doug

Re: Seats

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:26 pm
by heinkeljb
Hi Doug,

I suppose it is a bit of a toss up as to whether it is less work to have to alter some other car's seats to make them fit the Haflinger or to fix the seats you have.

New seats from some thing else will need some work / thought put in to how to fix them using the 4 holes per seat you have in the platform.

Original seats need wire hooks which can be made quite easily. Some one even made then from the wire used on Grolsch beer bottles. You can buy the rubber band strap but they are quite expensive, You can use the seat straps materials, as shown in the thread I did when I renewed the straps on my passenger seat.
The quickest way to get a seat pad(s) is to buy the ones they use on wheel chairs. They work well being memory foam. You could use Velcro stuck in between where the webbing straps go and then a piece of material with the other half of the Velcro on it, to slap on the underside, thereby stopping the seat pad from moving.

John

Re: Seats

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:33 pm
by Goatwerks
Toss the hooks, weave frames with lawn chair webbing , fasten bottoms at front and rear with original clips.
For the back rest pads, sew a pocket on the back of the pad so the pads can slide over the frame like a t shirt.
This is fast and easy to do.

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:06 am
by AustHaflinger
Bigdougal wrote:Now for the question... What would anyone recommend as an alternative front seat(s) that I could fit temporarily, something that I could find in a breakers yard and maybe modify with some simple welding?

Doug
Resurrecting an old thread.

There were two aspects of Doug's original post - replacement seats and repair of the old seats. Most discussion related to repair of old seats. My seats are fine but the upright backs do play havoc with my back so I am also looking at putting some suitable seats that are more comfortable as a replacement. I am not interested modifying the vehicle to fit these so the original mounts will be used.

Some of our auto parts sellers have some cheap aftermarket seats that might work, likewise boat parts sellers have seats that might also work.

But as Doug had asked if there is another car seat that might work well it may save a bit of mucking around.

So if your Haffie does have seats fitted from another vehicle and it works - please let me know and maybe post up a few pics.

Thanks

Garry

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:28 am
by heinkeljb
Any modern car seat is likely to have fore/aft sliding adjustment via rails. So you would have to at least make some sort of bracket to go from the original Haflinger mounting points of two holes up to a single hole at the appropriate spacing for the replacement seat you are putting in.

I don't know of any car that had reclining seats that didn't have seat rails underneath. Obviously it would probably be possible to ditch the sliding rails and just weld suitable mounting brackets directly to the seat base, but that would mean taking all the seat padding off whilst you do the welding.

I wonder if a Kit car parts supplier would have a suitable seat?

John

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:29 am
by Julian B
Deford Rascal or Suzuki Carry vans are similar in size to a Haflinger, so their seats might work. Something like this? http://www.euro-nova.co.uk/vb/showthrea ... scal-seats

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:44 pm
by AustHaflinger
Thanks for the comments - was hoping someone may have already done it so I don't have to get the tape measure out and be searching through wreckers yards - afterall I live in Canberra which is more about politicians, gardens and museums rather than car stuff, so I will have to travel across the border into feral country, risking life and limb to find any wreckers.

We do have the best road system in the country though - 15 minutes to anywhere in the city any time of the day.

Cheers

Garry

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:50 pm
by kerry460
Gary , just bare in mind that installing different seats may void your legality/roadworthiness and insurance , unless the installation is engineered .

kerry

Re: Seats

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:27 pm
by Vampyr
Gary, just a thought. Why not modify another seat frame to the correct angle for back, pad it to your needs. Its only a few cuts and welds. Your not modifying the vehicle just the seat frame, easy to take on and off. It is a task I am wanting to do myself as I have had to many bad Parachute jumps from my Army days resulting in a less the perfect spine. Perhaps something of a project between us. Was looking in the National archives search engine the other day and found stored footage of Haflinger parachute testing down out of Richmond . Hoping to get some copies. Danny

Re: Seats

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:16 am
by AustHaflinger
Thanks for the comments - sure there are other options but was just curious if anyone had put in aftermarket or other brand seats and how they went.

The other option is toput in some mobility scooter seats - small, comfortable and relatively cheap.

Cheers

Garry

Re: Seats

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:07 am
by Bigdougal
Danny,

I take it you are ex 3RAR. My need to change seats is due to 2 bulging discs which is also due jumps.

Re: Seats

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:12 am
by Bigdougal
Garry,

Check out the exmoor trim site you may find some luck there.