Problems Removing Front Middle Seat

Hi - hope this isn't too stupid a question (though I do hope I'm overlooking something obvious - it'll be a lot easier that way!)

I'm trying to remove the middle seat from the front of my landy so that I can fit a cubby box in its place. As far as I can tell it's held in place by two bolts at the front and two screws at the back. I've managed to remove the two front bolts, but the two screws at the back I'm finding impossible to reach with the screw driver due to the seat itself being in the way. So far the only thing I've removed is the seat cushion, is there anything else I can do to help me with this. Any suggestions very much welcomed - cheers.

There's two hex bolts at the front, two hex bolts under the frame at the back, and two cross head screws at the back.

Use a socket attachement with a knuckle or wobble joint for the cross head screws.
If you don't have any of these use a hammer and chisel to start the rotation then use the screwdriver - you can dress the screw heads afterwards with a file & hacksaw.
If you don't have any of these...............................

Cheers - I completely missed the two bolts at the back - will have another go at it tommorrow

try your local tool shop for a Z shaped screwdriver. i had one yrs ago, came in handy sometimes for jobs like this.

or if yer a yank that will be ZEE!!

Well I got the middle seat out (actually I did it quite a while ago) and recieved the new cubby box that I'm putting in it's place - thanks to the suggestion from Ormus (and everyone else) - I'd never heard of a zee shaped screwdriver but I went out and bought one and it did the trick nicely.

The cubby box is currently loosely placed in position, as I'm waiting to get back to university to use the engineering depatment to drill a few holes in the metal plate where I'm mounting it.

I was slightly disappointed with the box, I was expecting it to fill the space between the two front seats, but it doesn't, which in my opinion looks rather odd - maybe I'll get used to it and it won't look so odd, but at the minute I'm considering fabricating a sort of platform to mount it on that will fill the gap between the seats (and also raise it up to a more natural arm rest height).

Been doing a job over my easter holiday to earn a bit of money (to do more things to my land rover with ) - hence why I haven't replied for a while - got a few more things that I want to do - unfortunately I need to replace the front bulkhead (rust damage between the front flaps and windscreen) and I also need to replace the front doors (the bottoms of them have completely rusted away ) - and I want to install central locking as it's a pain having to lock and unlock all the doors individually (plus it looks quite comical trying to reach from the drivers door to open the passengers door). Just a couple of questions on these planned improvements:

1.) Will any door fit the front (it currently has a sort of lever style door handle, but I have also seen push button style door handles) - does it matter which of these I replace it with.

2.) Does it matter which style of door handle I use when it comes to fitting central locking.

3.) Is it a simple screwdriver job to replace the doors, or will it require anything more advanced?

4.) How easy is it to repaint the doors to match the rest of it? (Otherwise I shall wait until I replace the bulkhead and doors at the same time before respraying the whole thing)

Cheers - Barney

Hello,

I have also just fitted a cubby box in the place of the old middle seat, i know what you mean about the gap, does look odd, but i dont even notice it now its been there for a few days.

I had to change the hinges on the drivers door the otherday to get it through the mot.
I bought an impact driver set from halfords, however i ended up just using the screwdirver tip on it and putting it into a breaker bar to release and tighten the bolts on the hinges. using the hammer and inpact bar part was just too much hassle.

Not too sure about the other questions you have, but im sure someone will be along soon to help.

Hope that helps,

Scott.

The gap threw me off at first too. Now I am used to it. Are you more used to it yet?

I've been away for a little while, so not really driven it since I put in the box (and as I said it's only place in position at the minute - not bolted). Driving back to uni tommorrow which'll give me a nice hour and a half to make my mind up. The only other critiscism is it doesn't seem high enough to provide a comfy arm rest - though I guess that'll vary from person to person (one of the (many) reasons I like my landy is the space it provides a person of my size .
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Barney said:

1.) Will any door fit the front (it currently has a sort of lever style door handle, but I have also seen push button style door handles) - does it matter which of these I replace it with.

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Yes - you need left or right for the appropriate side Apart from that either style door will fit.

Barney said:

2.) Does it matter which style of door handle I use when it comes to fitting central locking.

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I'd go for push button as this is the style that has been used to develop c/l.

Barney said:

3.) Is it a simple screwdriver job to replace the doors, or will it require anything more advanced?

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Simple but hard work - the doors are heavy! You'll need to position the door a few times to get the panel gap about right, plus add shims to set the b pillar lock latch plus refit the glass and winder mechanism

Barney said:

4.) How easy is it to repaint the doors to match the rest of it? (Otherwise I shall wait until I replace the bulkhead and doors at the same time before respraying the whole thing)

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Depends on what you are wanting at the end - micatallic or pearlescent will need spraying - solid colours can be brush or roller.

Cheers 8{|> (I managed to work out the whole LH RH thing all by my lonesome ) - doesn't sound too daunting, so I guess I'll start keeping my eyes open (and ringing round) for a new set of doors (any recommendations as to the sort of prices I should expect?) - one of my housemates is doing mechanical engineering - I'm an electronic engineer - so hopefully between us we should be able to sort out fixing it
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Barney said:

any recommendations as to the sort of prices I should expect?

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All depends on how good a door you want - Ebay is usually a good place to start the two links below list complete doors for £120 each
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Landrover-Defender-Passenger-side-door_W0QQitemZ4633147970QQcategoryZ31348QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Landrover-Defender-Drivers-side-door_W0QQitemZ4633147958QQcategoryZ31348QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Alternatively if your frames are repairable you could reskin them.

Barney said:

one of my housemates is doing mechanical engineering - I'm an electronic engineer - so hopefully between us we should be able to sort out fixing it

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So he'll be doing the work & you'll take the credit typical sparky

Oh remember the push handle has a different door catch from the lift handle.

1. Not too difficult to fit a door, but it's best to remove the old door first. leave the hinges on the bulk head b pillar.

2. put the door in place, if you have the lift handle type in the old doors, remove the door catch.

3. now hold the door in place. Use 2 wooden wedges to lift the door slightly till the door screw holes align with the hindge holes.

4. screw it in.

5. mark the position for the new door catch.

6. drill the 3 holes and fit in the catch.

7. done.