Seat track spacers?

[shadango]

We took the front split bench seat out of the Volare so we could work more easily on wiring the tach and gauges....in the process, found that there is what appears to be an aluminum spacer under each seat mounting stud......two or three are crumbling and powdery.

Aside from using some stainless washers as spacers, are the OEM spacers available anywhere?

 

[Aspen500]

Most likely will need to "improvise" on those.
At any rate, the p/n shown (from a '79 parts catalog) is: 3796949

 

[shadango]

Seems like a bad idea to use aluminum spacers where there is steel and water......galvanic corrosion ......which is what we saw. Maybe just some big fender washers will be good enough. Looks like those are $5-6 each if you can find them....

 

[BudW]

I hadn’t had the seats out of my F or M body yet – so can’t comment on those.

In the late ‘60’s, Mopar used a ½” thick black plastic spacer under the seat tracks. It is 1½” diameter with a 3/8” hole.

Mopar 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 Dart Seat Rail Mounting Pad Spacer Kit

If I needed one (or more), I would go to hardware store, get some plastic sheets, glue sheets up to about ½” thickness. Then go get a hole cutting saw and cut 4 (or however many you need) circles out. Take a file to clean up and round off edges.

I think hole saws use a 3/8” drill bit (but could be wrong). The seat track studs are 5/16” (I think).

Then, I would use thread cleaning die to clean the seat track studs before installing and maybe use some Loctite (low strength) on nuts, not to keep tight – but to keep the corrosion factor down.

BudW

Edit: a broken seat track stud, kinda ruins your day – for those are not easy to fix.

 

[Aspen500]

Companies still do things like that with aluminum and steel. Alloy steering knuckles with steel integrated hubs bolted into them. Let's see,,,,,,,take two dissimilar metals, add some salt water in the winter and that makes a battery, which causes corrosion big time. Trust me..................................That's why everyone in the shop has the big whomping $400 Snap-On air hammers.

Anyways, Chrysler must've used the spacers on certain cars or seat types for who knows what reason. Personally, I have never seen a Mopar (or any make for that matter) with any kind of spacer under the seat track.

 

[got job]

This is what was under my bench seat tracks in the wagon when I removed the seat for carpet replacement and buckets.

 

[BudW]

I had seen them often (but don’t recall seeing them on FMJ bodies).

They have that clip that holds them on (see picture above) seat track but sometimes the clips go missing.
If you bolt in a seat with one or more spacers missing, then sit in the seat and it feels real funny. Most of the time the hand meets the forehead and you know what to fix (don’t ask how I know).


I don’t know why they use them - but I suspect they use them so they can use seat track “A” for more than one car line, instead seat track “A” only for one car line.

Another possibility is maybe seat option “A” is ½” shorter than seat option “B” – so they use a spacer to get seat height back up.

Honestly, I don’t have an answer.

 

[Justwondering]

got job --
I had to do a double take when I saw your picture ... it looked like a wintergreen lifesaver.

 

[BudW]

got job --
I had to do a double take when I saw your picture ... it looked like a wintergreen lifesaver.

Now that you mention it . . .