Seat Recline Modification update

[El Capitan]

I had an issue on this modification which was on the passenger side of my 01 Tahoe LT. The locking nut was enclosed in a plastic cone surrounded by a spring. I did not recieve any responses on my post about this so today I just went in and investigated and thought I'd do a write up. If you have been wanting to do this mod and you've been staring at this on your passenger side this was my solution....

Tools Needed
-Cut off wheel
-Needle Nose Pliers
-Vise Grips
-Aviation Tin Snips
-18mm socket and rachet

The spring and white plastic cone covering the locking nut. I suggest removing the seat belt bolt from the bracket using an 18mm socket and ratchet and move the seat belt out of the way to prevent any damage.
I also suggest removing the door sill trim panel.

Now using the cut off wheel start cutting the spring and using the vise grips to break the coils off as you go, and using the needle nose pliers to pick up the hot pieces of coils.

Now you use your aviation tin snips and your cut off wheel to remove the white plastic cone, which will reveals the threads with the locking nut on it (locking nut not pictured due to me forgeting to take a picture before I cut it off) and using the cut off wheel remove the locking nut.


The seat still works as normal without those two pieces on there I have know idea what they were for because the drivers side did not have them. But now both of my seats recline fully

Hope this helps.

 

[WHITEOUT]

That is awesome. I have an 01 Tahoe, and wasn't able to do either side of mine cause it wasn't the same as what others had done. Very cool, think I am gonna give it a go again. It didn't affect anything otherwise? Meaning, any movement, or locking out or anything? Just don't wanna ruin anythng. But man, do i really wanna be able to fully recline. NICE

 

[andrewmoore13]

those springs dont serve any purpose?

 

[El Capitan]

To my knowledge no that spring does nothing I have had no issues with the function of my seat since I cut it off.

 

[Dvldogyut]

May have to try this one.

 

[Narco]

im gonna try this later today

 

[chauncey0337]

This is a very cool mod. Might I suggest that you lay down a towel or rag before you cut the spring because if it gets hot enough to where you have to pic them up with pliers, they might be hot enough to burn the carpet.

 

[RedPark]

This worked awesome, thanks for the tip! Pretty easy to do too.

 

[2005yukonxl]

i'll just keep my seats in the proper unghetto upright position.

 

[DenaliAK]

I forgot about this mod. Is removing the locking nut the only thing you normally have to do for this? I remember seeing this a long time ago, but the details are escaping me. Or just link me to the original how-to....

 

[BillBlatt18]

I forgot about this mod. Is removing the locking nut the only thing you normally have to do for this? I remember seeing this a long time ago, but the details are escaping me. Or just link me to the original how-to....

on mine all i did was dremel off the nut. One of the best mods i have done

 

[Nortex]

Why does one need this mod?

 

[DenaliAK]

I do a lot of road trips in the summers, and occasionally need to pull off to take a cat nap. It'd be handy for that purpose. Beyond that, I have no idea why you would need this....

 

[puckhead]

I do a lot of road trips in the summers, and occasionally need to pull off to take a cat nap. It'd be handy for that purpose. Beyond that, I have no idea why you would need this....

Yup. Or the random camping night with too much shit in the back. Woulda been great 2 weekends ago!

 

[BillBlatt18]

plus factory max recline is still like straight up

 

[Nortex]

I see

 

[samtman18]

wish i knew about this 2 weeks ago when the ol' lady and i went to florida, she would have slept alot more instead of b****ing about my driving!
thanks will be doing

 

[Narco]

^ thats exactly why i did mine 2 weeks ago. we are going to FLA next week.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Just did both seats in my denali tonight, that spring and cap setup was in my passenger seat as well, very strange how it was only in that seat but not the drivers!! Took over 30 minutes to do the passenger side, just because i took my time and didn't wanna mess anything up, and the drivers only took 5 minutes!! Great mod, thanks for the writeup!!

 

[Narco]

i barely nicked the drivers thread and so i only get 85 or 90% recline there...the passenger side came out perfect and goes all the way back