Rear seat pivot support

[toylman]

I usually keep my rear seat locked up, but needed to use my truck like a car, so I put the seats down. The next day I went to lock them up again and the pivot arm on the right side (black horseshoe shaped bar) was sticking straight out. I read in some prior posts it was a plastic part that broke. I did take the seat apart and fixed it and the most difficult part was repairing the plastic pulley. Everything I touched was strong and high quality except this one part. I didn't attempt to buy a new one since it was stated that it was part of the seat frame (list price 210.) and not available separately. If it were, it would be a 2.-5. part. I can't see how this repair should cost as much as others said Honda charged them. At the worst it would be 2 hours for a Honda tech plus the frame. If you wanted to try yourself you need a 14mm socket/wrench, 10mm, phillips and a small putty knife to assist in trim removal. Start with the seat bottoms locked up. Remove the plastic trim parts at the bottom of the seat and floor, unbolt the 6 seat bolts, unbolt the seat belts to floor along with 2 phillip screws at the center, prop the seat assemble away from the bottom edge enough to access/unbolt the seat bottom hinges from the seat back. Remove the center hinge 10mm bolts which hold the 2 center hinges together, remove the trim parts covering the hinges, remove the 14mm bolts holding the side hinges to the seat back, remove the seat bottom to a work bench. You will see the plastic pulley, cracked down the center located in the inner hinge with the pivot cable attached to it. I made a large washer out of aluminum and using 4 very small nut/bolts sandwiched it to pulley. Of course you can come up with a different repair method that works, but forget about glue or using a soldering iron to mend it; not strong enough. This pulley should be metal due to the stress on it. After seeing how it works, I don't know why these parts are Not broken on every Ridgeline. I am now expecting the left side to break next.

[shovelhd]

Pictures, please, of your fix.

[meanmachine19]

You may be able to buy individual parts. Check out HondaAutomotiveParts.com

[toylman]

Doesn't show or list them on the exploded view. They are located in the inner metal hinge of the seat frames sandwitched between trim parts 2 & 4 for the right seat and 19 & 21 for the left seat.

[RustyH]

Soon I hope to reinstall my rear seats, which were removed when I purchased my Ridgeline. The bottom seats are currently seperated, so I when the time comes, with your permission, I'll PM you about how you did this, the steps you took, ect. Thanks in advance.

Rusty

[toylman]

Hello, I guess you see that the seat back just hangs on the 2 U shaped hooks near the head rests. I did drop the entire seat off the hooks and removed the small bottom only, but to remove one side it was unnecessary. To re-assemble the entire seat I would suggest you remove the seat back and lay it on a bench, back down. Next attach the seat bottoms. Lay the bottoms on the back and you will see where the hinges line up. The seat bottoms each have 2 separate side hinge brackets, but the center brackets which house the pivot pulleys touch each other and are bolted together with the 3 gold color 10mm bolts. The 2 screw holes are used later for the 2 phillip screws to the center double seat belt After the entire unit is bolted in. The seat back hinges are bolted with 2 x 14mm bolts at each one. Mount the trim covers over all the bottom hinges. If you get this far, you are almost home. Now you need 2 people to put the seat in and hang it in the holes; white plastic bushings go in the holes that the U hangers go in. Next use 6 x 14mm bolts to secure the seat to the truck interior. Next are the seat belt brackets all mounted with 14mm bolts; center is the double with bolts and 2 phillip screws to the bottom hinge, center belt. Last is 4 pieces of bottom trim. Try to use the exploded parts view on the previous reply to the post. Sorry I did not take any pics. Good luck, Lenny

[Hooha12]

Mine broke today. My truck is still under warranty so I will let Honda fix mine.

[chapds]

Mine broke today too. Honda time... Love the warranty.

Thanx
David

[Desert Ridge]

Well, the driver's side pulley broke about a year ago. Truck no longer under warranty. Honda wanted 400 bucks (!!!!!!) to replace this cheezy, one dollar part. After a long set of back and forth "discussions" with the dealership and Honda Central, they did the work for a hundred bucks.

Two weeks later.... the pulley on the passenger side broke.

Honda would not own up to the obvious engineering problem, nor would they grease the repair with the dealer. All they would say was "take the car to the dealer to start the process." Well, taking the car to the dealer and "starting the process" involves a hundred dollar diagnostic fee. I'm not going through that again.

When this truck wears out, it's back to the Ford dealer for this guy. I will not tolerate the scam that Honda calls "customer service." It's a great car, but Honda service has soured me on them and their product. Yup, I see another Ford F-150 in my future.

What a shame that a one dollar part can cause this kind of result in a customer.

[shalbleib]

could this part be machined??? if it's that common, maybe i could have them manufactured out of aluminum, and offer to sell them here...