Either my wife and I are both getting weaker, or the passenger chair is getting harder and harder to turn to face the living room. Before I tear into it, has anyone else already solved this problem? I searched, but wasn't sure exactly what search terms might be successful. It is really getting stiff (after we release the lock) and getting harder and harder to turn around, which we now do often.
Brad,
I have the same problem with mine, so please find a solution!
Trent
LOL. I will wait to see if we have another "trailblazer" out there. My trailblazing with the Train Slide about wore me out! Hopefully, others have run into this. Something must be tightening up/drying up or something.
There is a large stud, nylon washer and nut that the chair swivels on. My driver's chair has a plate with two screws that covers the nut. My passenger chair does not. You get to them from the backside of the chair. I expect you can loosen the nut, clean the swivel surfaces and retighten. You might be able to just loosen it without taking it completely apart to clean it. Mine was too loose at one point (the chair wobbled) and I just had to tighten it.
Hope this helps,
Rich
Rich is exactly correct.
Loosening the large center nut will free it up, but also give some wobble.
The best solution is to remove the seat, then the center nut. Clean the bearings and round "race". Grease and reassemble.
I have seen the round "race" deeply worn-- probably mild steel. Worse case is to replace the pedestal or fashion a new plate on top of the worn one.
Brad
There is a ball bearing swivel plate between the chair base and the pedestal plate. It may need replaced.
Jason
Five years ago just after I bought my 1996 U320, the passenger chair was very difficult to turn, while the driver chair was somewhat difficult to turn. I fixed them both by unbolting the chair from the swivel mechanism, then unbolting the swivel mechanism from the floor. Now, removing the large centre bolt allowed the top/bottom swivel plates to be separated which also allowed the ball bearings to be removed (or fall out). I cleaned and greased the driver side, then reassembled. The passenger swivel mechanism was not fixed by just cleaning and greasing because the top and bottom swivel plates were rubbing together. The ball bearings seemed to be too small, however, the top and bottom plates were distorted and rubbing each other. I used a ball pean hammer to reshape the top/bottom plates, then greased and reassembled. Both chairs still rotate very smoothly after five years of use.
When I was working on the passenger swivel mechanisms, I wondered if the passenger chair had been difficult to turn when the coach was new because it appeared to me that the swivel plates were misshaped during the manufacturing process. Does anyone know if there were dozens of Foretravel motorhomes manufactured during the mid nineties with difficult to turn passenger chairs?
Thanks, all. I made it home yesterday after our summer jaunt to HWH in Iowa and then to Salem, OR to spend some time with family. Now I can leisurely get to it!