Do you have Fitting instruction for Rear Seat Latching Mechanism ?

When I bought my 2004 TD4 Facelift Freelander it had a missing latch on the big rear seat.

I was able to pull up the red button on the top and unlock the seat but it was always a struggle.

I decided to sort this out when I saw a new latch and cable on ebay, still in its genuine LR bag etc.

Having spent hours dismantling the seat, swearing etc I am stuck and need some inspiration.

I have fitted the new 2 piece latch into the metal seat back and fitted the cable in at both ends but pulling the handle does not pull the cable enough to unlock the mechanism.

I have googled until my fingers started to bleed and just cannot find anything online that helps me work out how to fit it successfully.

I think the issue is the cable routing at the seat latch end, there is a small metal clip and without the old stuff as a guide I can't see how to fit it to get it to work properly.

The metal cable has nipples at either end which are not the same, I presume the smaller one goes into the seat latch as it will not fit very well into the mechanism on the side of the seat.

I have seen the Haynes workshop manual diagram but it is not helpful enough.

Does anyone have any photos of the actual cable in situ or any tips ?

I am reluctant to disturb the other seat in case I break it etc.

Thanks, Karl.

FIXED IT MYSELF !

Will document it later with some photos, suffice to say its really awkward and now its fixed I am not dismantling it to take photos

Here is a short guide to fitting the cable.

• The cable has different nipples on each end, the thin end goes into the latch while the thicker end goes into the mechanism.
• You need to have dismantled the seat and removed the mechanism from the side of the seat before fitting the cable.
• Feed the thin end of the cable into the latch as per photos, making sure to push the sheath up into the hole so it is held in position.
• Clamp the nipple in place using the small clip.
• Place the other nipple on the cable into the latch in the retaining hole, then wrestle the sheath into the brown plastic retaining slot, you will need to pull the sheath back a bit and push it through the soft side wall of the slot.
• Make sure copper coloured wire from the red button is in place as you can't fit this easily when the mechanism is bolted back in.
• Bolt the mechanism back onto the side of the seat.

When I pushed the seat back into the upright position it would not lock onto the bracket, so I had to loosen the 2 bolts that hold it in place and adjust it's position.

I hope this helps, it took me 2 weeks of messing about with this and an awful lot of googling to work it out, nobody has documented this and the workshop manual doesn't cover it.

Regards, Karl.

Well done that man!
They are a ludicrously stupid design and fail frequently. My last Freeby wouldn't release to let you push either seat forwards and I found I was able to reseat the cable on the backrest, but without stripping the seat like you did I couldn't refit the metal tab.

Rocky Ward said:

Here is a short guide to fitting the cable.

• The cable has different nipples on each end, the thin end goes into the latch while the thicker end goes into the mechanism.
• You need to have dismantled the seat and removed the mechanism from the side of the seat before fitting the cable.
• Feed the thin end of the cable into the latch as per photos, making sure to push the sheath up into the hole so it is held in position.
• Clamp the nipple in place using the small clip.
• Place the other nipple on the cable into the latch in the retaining hole, then wrestle the sheath into the brown plastic retaining slot, you will need to pull the sheath back a bit and push it through the soft side wall of the slot.
• Make sure copper coloured wire from the red button is in place as you can't fit this easily when the mechanism is bolted back in.
• Bolt the mechanism back onto the side of the seat.

When I pushed the seat back into the upright position it would not lock onto the bracket, so I had to loosen the 2 bolts that hold it in place and adjust it's position.

I hope this helps, it took me 2 weeks of messing about with this and an awful lot of googling to work it out, nobody has documented this and the workshop manual doesn't cover it.

Regards, Karl.

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I didn't remove any of the seat to replace the tripping mechanism when I changed mine. Just raised the edge of the surround and pushed the plastic lugs with small screwdriver, release the catches on the mechanism holder and twist and lift out. I connected end of cable that was hanging out to new catch and pushed the mechanism into the hole sideways, the foam inside the seat is moulded leaving a hole to do this. Once inside, lift the mechanism and engage the lugs to seat back, push on surround. 10 minute job. The bottom catch section is fiddler but can be done from underneath.

Yes Old diver but you had the old one to work from as a guide

I had nothing and as I said there is nothing on the web to show you.

Glad you fixed yours so quickly.

Old diver said:

I didn't remove any of the seat to replace the tripping mechanism when I changed mine. Just raised the edge of the surround and pushed the plastic lugs with small screwdriver, release the catches on the mechanism holder and twist and lift out. I connected end of cable that was hanging out to new catch and pushed the mechanism into the hole sideways, the foam inside the seat is moulded leaving a hole to do this. Once inside, lift the mechanism and engage the lugs to seat back, push on surround. 10 minute job. The bottom catch section is fiddler but can be done from underneath.

Click to expand...

Hi OD, where did you get the cable ?
Joe

Rocky Ward said:

Yes Old diver but you had the old one to work from as a guide

I had nothing and as I said there is nothing on the web to show you.

Glad you fixed yours so quickly.

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No mate, mine was missing when I bought the car. I went to a dismantlers and stripped one out of scrap Freelander.

Joe_H said:

Hi OD, where did you get the cable ?
Joe

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Out of a scrap Freelander in a dismantlers. I have one in the shed if you want it.

Old diver said:

Out of a scrap Freelander in a dismantlers. I have one in the shed if you want it.

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That is extremely kind mate, many thanks for the offer - I just thought the cable may be available separately - I think mine may be a bit stretched.. - I can get one from a scrappers here no worries.
Biggest issue I have had - apart from occasional latch problems - is the damn seat belt holding the rear seat back down !!! - it wont come out more to allow it to be released. !!! bloody pain ...
Anyone had that issue ?
Joe

Joe_H said:

That is extremely kind mate, many thanks for the offer - I just thought the cable may be available separately - I think mine may be a bit stretched.. - I can get one from a scrappers here no worries.
Biggest issue I have had - apart from occasional latch problems - is the damn seat belt holding the rear seat back down !!! - it wont come out more to allow it to be released. !!! bloody pain ...
Anyone had that issue ?
Joe

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Just found it if you change your mind. I have never had a problem with the seat belts. I often go to the dismantlers to practice taking a bit off before attempting it on mine. I would spend my holidays in there if he let me lol.

Old diver said:

Just found it if you change your mind. I have never had a problem with the seat belts. I often go to the dismantlers to practice taking a bit off before attempting it on mine. I would spend my holidays in there if he let me lol.

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Hi mate, well if you can get me a price I will be happy to buy it off you - only trouble is I am in Portugal so no idea of postage.If you can get a good deal pm me please.
What I would give to spend a day in a good scrappies again I used to go down every Sunday to the main yards in Bury in Lancs. Spend the whole day rummaging about and eat greasy but superb bacon egg & sausage butties from the van outside - no doubt a lot of the health and safety bs is stopping a lot of the climbing all around the yard stuff now ? .. Ain't been back to the UK for over 10 years but that is one thing I really miss...
Might make a list of reasons to go back to the UK for a visit - - go to imperial war museum - science museum - visit scrap yards and eat loads of fish n chips and full english truck stop or scrapyard breckies - bugger the relatives...

Joe_H said:

Hi mate, well if you can get me a price I will be happy to buy it off you - only trouble is I am in Portugal so no idea of postage.If you can get a good deal pm me please.
What I would give to spend a day in a good scrappies again I used to go down every Sunday to the main yards in Bury in Lancs. Spend the whole day rummaging about and eat greasy but superb bacon egg & sausage butties from the van outside - no doubt a lot of the health and safety bs is stopping a lot of the climbing all around the yard stuff now ? .. Ain't been back to the UK for over 10 years but that is one thing I really miss...
Might make a list of reasons to go back to the UK for a visit - - go to imperial war museum - science museum - visit scrap yards and eat loads of fish n chips and full english truck stop or scrapyard breckies - bugger the relatives...

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Didn't cost me anything, send your address to:- [email protected]

Old diver said:

Didn't cost me anything, send your address to:- [email protected]

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Email sent, again really really appreciated. !
Joe

Joe_H - I had that problem with the seatbelt when I refitted my back seat after fitting the new handle and cable.

Turns out its a well known problem caused by 2 things, the little plastic bobble on the belt slipping under the plastic cover and that fact that you undid the seat belt and turned it upside down, apparently it has a mechanism inside that detects if the vehicle has been tipped upside down in an accident.

Took me about an hour of fiddling, pulling and swearing to get the seat belt to feed out.

However the trick is to have the parcel shelf out and seat upright so that you can fit the belt back in the upright position to stop it locking again.

Karl.

I wondered whether this was a common problem: my new purchase (Kilo-Hippo-Delta) has the two-seat rear bench option, but the handles don't release the seat back. I think it is the near side mechanism that has failed?

Or do I have the joyous experience of having something completely different wrong???

rob_bell said:

I wondered whether this was a common problem: my new purchase (Kilo-Hippo-Delta) has the two-seat rear bench option, but the handles don't release the seat back. I think it is the near side mechanism that has failed?

Or do I have the joyous experience of having something completely different wrong???

Click to expand...

If you get a torch and do a limbo in the boot you'll probably see where the lug on the end of the cable has pulled through the slot it is supposed to sit in. I managed to refit mine with a pair of pointy pliers but wasn't able to refit the metal clip which failed to hold it in position in the first place.