I have an 83 Trans Am with black leather PMD seats. I love them but the driver seat is P!55!ng me off. Ever since I bought the car the seat back has been reclined WAY back. I have tried to pull the lever and it is in the up position all the way, so I though maybe the bracket was bent. Today I pulled the seat out of the car and removed the bracket assembly, I inspected the assembly for about an hour and concluded that NOTHING is wrong with it. I dont understand why the seat reclines so far. I literally have to hold my head up to drive the car, so I have to put a baby car seat in the back seat to hold the driver seat up so I can drive it.

Does anyone know how to fix this, or where I could get a new bracket assembly that will hopefully fix the problem? I am tempted to weld my own bracket to the stock bracket that would permanently fix it into one position just so it will be where I want it. But I really dont want to ruin a set of genuine PMD leater seat that are in near perfect condition. Here is a pic of the seats I am referring to:

 

Nice seats man, always loved those and getting harder to get!! I know the driver seat is farther leaned back on those seats, so I'm not sure if it is normal or just worn on yours.

I'd think that you can get any braket to fit, or just try ebay that would be the easiest.

Hope this helps

 

I believe the standard Firebird seats without the moveable headrests have the exact same recliners. I think all Camaros aso have the same recliner mechanisms as well. Its just a few bolts to remove and install so id try that first.

 

How tall are you?

I am 6 1' and my bird seat is reclined all the way back in order for me to fit.

If i were u, i'd try to gain access to the reclining mechanism in the seat. It might be worn a tooth or two.

Good luck


Love those seats.

 

I am 6'3" but I hate being leaned back, I prefer to be more upright which usually puts me around eye level with the r. view mirror. I have t-tops so I am afforded head room. I have the recliner bracket assembly completely removed from the seat right now but like I said it looks to be in perfect shape. The teeth are in good shape too, so thats not the problem.

I have a 90 Bird too, that has tan leather seats from a GTA, and it feels perfect as far as how it sits, but unfortunately the brackets look different, and the tan seats are sown all the way so I have no way to remove the bolts that hold the back on without ruining the seats. If I could I would just swap them around since the 90 is my absolute beater and parts car.

It looks like I'm gonna have to fab up some brackets to relocate the seat. I moved my 90 seats back about 3 inch's this way. I'll just have to do the same thing but add a step up into the rear bracket and a step down to the front bracket to tilt the seat forward and help with the reclined problem. I just hate doing things this way.

I have looked all over the net, but the best I could do was an entire PMD seat set, which the cheapest I found was around $300 up. No way am I gonna pay that just to fix my seats.

but thanks for the replies everyone.

 

Try asking dave, 3rdgenparts he usually has lots of 82-84 stuff. But I just think that is the way the PMDs where back in the day, driver side always far back.

 

There's a car in the local junkyard that has the same style hinge covers as the pmd's, it's an 84 TA, maybe they interchange

 

i dont get why its so far back though. I have my PMDs out of the car and they are actualy rght next to me and it doesnt look anythng liek that. Perhaps the recliner spring is weak or something?

 

no, I even tried pulling the back forward while holding the lever and its in the highest position.

 

I have solved the mystery. I know why my PMD driver seat was leaned back so far.

I decided to pull the seat completely apart, and when I tried to unbolt the floor mount bracket, part of the seat itself that the bracket mounts to busted right off with the bolt. The section of the seat bottom that holds the brackets at the back had rusted out really bad and basically collapsed up into the seat cushion which allowed the seat back to drop down about 2 inch's which is turn leaned it back. So at that point since this is my daily driver and I have school in the morning I had no choice but to pull a spare seat out of my shed and pull it apart and use the cushion. I swapped my PMD seat back onto the spare tan leather seat cushion, which is in good shape. I had to swap a bracket cause the tan seat cushion had a busted bracket. After that I took it out to my ta and put the seat in and bolted it down, and presto, the seat sat up perfect and even matched the passenger seat now. I am thrilled that I can sit up again. Now that I know the weak point of the seats, I am going to take the leather off the PMD cushion and wrap it onto the tan seat cushion and re-stuff it at the same time. Then nobody will ever know I have a mutt PMD seat cushion. But until then I'll be driving around with all black interior except the driver seat cushion which is tan leather. looks kinda funny but at least it cant be seen while I'm in the car.

So if anyone has the same issue with their seat leaning back mysteriously then I suggest they pull the seat and inspect the mounting surface of the cushion where the brackets bolt on at the back, if they are collapsed then I'd suggest pulling them back out, welding some steel stock under them and over them to add strength. that should cure the problem. Just wish I woulda noticed the problem before I busted mine all up....damn, why I always gotta learn the hard way. I'll get some pics of the damaged seat cushion for reference as soon as I get my dig. camera back from my sister.

 

Ah that is good to hear that you found out the problem, sorry to hear it busted all the way but at least yo uknow what it is.

Yes do make pics this would be a good restoration tip as the seast are pretty old, but look so nice And since they are getting more and more expensive it would be a really good tech tip. Also on how you restuff the seat would really interrest me.

Keep us posted!

Thanks
Cedric

 

If it's the actual reclining mechanism that's bad in a seat, are parts still available to replace the mechanisms or would you have to just replace the seat? For example, on my 94 Saturn, you can't get parts -- so I had to get a new (from a junkyard, anyway) seat.