A few passing clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable..

A few passing clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.

In recent months, I’ve noticed that whenever I drive my old Dodge pickup I am sitting lower in the driver’s seat. That drive is usually to the recycling center and back. I searched online for new seat-bottom foam and it is not produced any longer. If you want to replace the old, broken-down seat foam, you need to buy some foam and beef up the seat bottom yourself. I ordered a small amount of dense seat foam. I got some interior automotive spray glue and tackled the job.

Removing the seat from the truck was easy, especially with a high torque electric wrench. To get the seat out of the truck I had to fold the seatback forward. When attempting to reposition the seatback, I discovered that it was locked in place. My wife and I tried to move it, and it would not budge. I disassembled the release lever, lubricated it, and reassembled it. Nothing. We yarned on it, whacked it with a mallet, you name it, we tried it. No luck.

I loaded the seat into the back of my SUV and took it to my friendly local mechanic. Forty-five minutes of two mechanics attempting to manipulate the seatback was a no-go. When I heard my mechanic utter the words I had already considered, I had to concur. Find a new one in a junkyard. He got on the phone and found one in the same upholstery color within 10 minutes.

A few days later, the seat came in. After picking it up, I began reinstalling the seat. The biggest issue was a metal bracket that slides underneath the center armrest. It made it impossible to position the seat correctly over the bolt holes in the floor. I got my trusty (and dangerous) cut-off wheel and removed the offending bracket. Locating the bottom bracket over the bolt holes was a breeze. My wife was also assisting in the disassembly, and when it came down to installing the final bolt, it was nowhere to be found. The bolt is good-sized, maybe four inches long, and heavy. I think we spent a good half-hour looking for it with no luck.

I decided to live with three bolts for now and look for another. We began to put away the tools when my wife exclaims “Oh my goodness, look at this!” I looked, and she was holding my new bright yellow LED trouble light, and hanging from a small, circular magnet built into the back was the missing seat bolt. The magnet is designed to affix the trouble light onto the underside of the hood, to provide light while working on the engine. Laying the light down in a footwell where you keep all the parts and pieces for a seat job presents a problem. The magnet will pick up any metal object and hide it from you. At least we weren’t hallucinating about the missing seat bolt.

The new seat works great. The foam is still somewhat broken down and will eventually require the addition of extra foam to bring it back to factory specs, but, I spent an hour cleaning it with upholstery cleaner. Now it matches the rest of the interior.

I’m determined to make this old truck last as long as possible. It meets all my needs with four-wheel drive and air conditioning. I even had a backup camera installed in it a few years back. It has hands-free Bluetooth phone connectivity and a solid tonneau cover to help preserve the bed. The old thing works the way I like, and if it takes junkyard parts to keep it going, I’m fine with it. There’s nothing like a recycled truck to haul your recyclables.

The Morning Almanac with Arlo Mudgett is heard Monday through Saturday mornings on radio stations Oldies KOOL FM 106.7, 96.3, and 106.5 and over Peak-FM 101.9 and 100.7.

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