removing front bench seat

does anyone know how hard it will be to remove the front beach seat from my 87 cadillac Eureka ? do I need to take out the partition out ( I hope not)

my drivers door latch broke and I can get the door open without taking the inside door panel off....I can't take the panel off until I get the door open



it just keeps going around and around ! lol
 
To get to the rear screws you should be able to feel around once you get the seat all the way forward. Take the back screws out first. Should be 8 total if you have a mechanical bench.
 
Yep, 8 bolts total on a Caddy. The size is ether 9/16 or 1/2 can't remember. There is also a plug under the passager seat for the seatbelt buzzer and dash idiot light. Yours may even have a plug for power seats as well being that new. They are cumbersome and heavy. One man can mule one out after its loose but its better to have a second man around to help remove and re-install the seat.
 
I would suggest that you don't remove it from the car totally, but just enough to get the door panel off. Getting the seat out and back in with the doors on is a bear of a job, since the seat is heavy, and the doors don't open that wide.
 
be willing to bet there 13 mm on that one. could be 3 a side to on the newer one the last one I had out was in the 89 and it was a split bench in it. one in each leg if I remember right. nuts with the bolt coming up from the floor. but like was suggested. slide it all the way up you can only fold on half ahead at a time it's going to be vary awkward to get that left rear one out but fold the right one down an stretch across it to fumble your way.

first get in the car look really hard at the passenger door trim pad. do you think you can get it off with the door closed. then open the door and remove the passengers side so you know how to get the drivers off. I still bet you can pull the panel with the inside lock off , grab the wire for the lock work it back and forth with a pair of pliers and get it to unlock. that door is supposed to open from inside when it's locked. but at least if you take the trim pad off the passenger side you know how to remove the drivers and you can look in at it to see what you need to do to get it open . a little knowledge is a powerful thing. especially when you standing on your head fumbling in the dark.
 
thanks guys...I think what I will do is go to the bone yard and see if they have a 87 deville there that I can look at the inside of the door and maybe take apart a bit so I know what I'm up against.

thanks again
 
I really don't think the door is LOCKED ! yes when u push in the outside door handle it feels like it is locked but when u look inside the door from the top u can see everything move when u lock and unlock. the latch pin seeems to be jammed or broken ? is there a small spring to unlatch the pin ??? HMMMMMMM I just don't know...thats why I thought of going to a bone yard and finding a 87 Deville that already has a door panel off that I can look at and see how the dam thing works.

I really don't want to start taking the seat out ...there must be a way to get the door open ???????? HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You could take the easy way out and take it to a reputible shop and let them deal with it. Sometimes its better to pay them than deal with the headache.
 
nope...its gotton PERSONAL now ..... lol

I'm going to fix this thing myself even if I have to BREAK everything else on the car !!!!! lol
 
Mike, if you do it yourself I'm pretty sure you will have a new definition of "fun" when you're done. You may even have expanded your vocabulary by several new words. Based on previous experience I propose keeping young children far away from this project.
 
but I can see you taking your smart pills. get the price on the door while your at the yard. you may end up cutting the one you have to get into it. if you can see the lock working back and forth and hear a audible click as it goes past center then you know it's unlocked. each and every different body had a little different latch set up. but as a general rule most all of GMs were a gravity drop not a spring. as you closed the door the latch would go over center and drop in place. you pull the handle and it released the sear key allowing you to pull the door open and the striker to roll the latch into the open position. inside remote and out side remote operate off a different leaver allowing you to open the door from inside when it's locked and the out side to by pass the trip when it locked. if you unlock it you should fell the pressure from the outside handle working the leaver. the only thig that could cause the door to not open if the lock is working would be something beiding on the latch. I have gotten pop bottle, beer caps out of them. but if the door has been giving you trouble and is out of adjustment it may just be a tab of steel from the door frame rolled in the latch. OK now we get to were the rubber meets the road. the nascar thing is not in order here. you have had the body guy pick at the thing for a couple hr now. you have tugged and pulled pressed and all most pryed.

we are at the big hammer stage of getting the door open. your sure the lock is working? unlock the door. get in side. slid the seet all the way back. if you can, hold the inside remote open or have some brave soul hold the plunger in and pull as you would to open the door. lay on you back with you feet to the door using both of them kick the SOB with you heels just under the roll of the trim pad as far back as you can. the object is to force the latch past what ever is jamming it. you do a come a long on the out side handle you most likly just pull it threw the skin. you pry, you damage the center door. your risk is braking the glass up or down the risk is the same. I would do it up. you may damage the trim pad but only if you get up to high. trust me trying to get it off with the door closed will damage it more. she has jammed or fell past something that doesn't belong in there and only force will get it open. but it only takes as much force as it did to close it.
 
ok John..... I think I'll do the "force" thing next. this all started when the drivers window fell down into the door, I opened the door got out and got the window out of the door without breaking it. ( it seems it feel out of the track some how) I then got back in ....closed the door as normal ( didn't slam it) and when I got home....it woudn't open ....and that was back in SEPT !!! lol

what you say sounds right

I played around with this all day today ( until the Rolex 24 hr started)

when I look into the door I can see everything moving ( when I lock and unlock ) and when I pull the handle ( both) so I will give it a really good kick ( maybe two or five ! ) and see what happens !

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME !!!!!!!!!! and a bottle of Crown Royal
 
got to love the rest of the story. you got the glass back IN. does it go up and down normal?? 9 times out of ten when this happened you knock a rod off the latch getting the glass out or back in. I'm guessing that the door was open the trim pad off when you got the glass out and back in. this was the point were you should have worked the latch in side and out lock on and off before you shut the door. everyone of us has learned this lesson the hard way. don't bother kicking the door it won't open. do as i said remove the right trim pad and play with the latch till you understand how you can get the shear to trip threw the glass slot. you knocked a rod off or pushed something over so it won't work the leaver. you need to reach in with a rod. stick of gas welding rod, small steel, a old antenna with the end bent into a hook. things like that and trip the shear. a little practice on the right and you know how on the left. but if the rod is off or the leaver can't move you can't kick it open.
 
ok..the glass never went back in after removing it that day and no...the trim pad was never off....the trim pad is part of the inside door panel right ????

I was just about to go out and kick the living "s" out of it but I thought I would come back here and see if there was anything else I should do....good thing I did !

thanks
 
"THE PLAN"
I think what I will do is.tomorrow (monday) get up bright and early drive over to the wreaking yard and see if they have a 87 De Ville ( its the largest wreakers in Ontario) see what it takes to take the door panel off and then proceed to "play" with the locking system and see how it works and how I can get it to open using a rod down the window slot. and if I'm really lucky if I find a door panel the same colour as mine (red) I will buy it just in case. and if all fails....a door but mine is commercial glass so.........

John I think your right...when the window dropped down into the door something has jammed the lock ?

taking the seat out won't do a thing as you can't take the door panel off with the door closed
if this dosen't work and I get another door panel maybe I'll tak a sawsall to the door panel and cut a hole into it and gain access to the lock that way ?? OMG !!
wish me luck !

if this doesn't work....I'll have an 87 Eureka for sale ...cheap ! lol or I'll just pretend i'm in the dukes of hazard.
 
Sounds as if you disconected or displaced a linkage. I would use a slim jim or lock jock to grab the arm at the latch before you resort to and pounding or prying. Somtimes if you take a flashlight and look beteween the weather strip and the window you can see the mechanisim. Just a thought???
 
I have looked down there and can see all the linkage move when I push in the door handle and use the lock. but I also read somewhere that in 1987 Cadillac put a cover over the striker plate and lock so a slim-jim couldn't be used ?? I don't know

at this point..... I'm not sure about anything anymore ! I do know I'm getting a very big headache !!!!!!!!! lol
 
Honest if the glass is out you got it made. sorry I can't drop over a pick it for you. this is a pictures of the 73 S&S were it is not the same as yours it's simile
then I have this U tube of the 63 latch.

what usually happens is some part of the glass track moves over and James the leaver. this lets everything work but the leaver can't move enough to release the catch on the latch. the first thing I would do is make a hook out of a piece of stiff wire like a close hanger. using your flash light to see. slip it over the rear run Chanel for the glass as low as you can and try to pull it forward. if you can move it try the door. if not with your light aid watch the leaver the rods move on the latch. if you need more of a opening slide a wedge in the canter of the glass opening. that will spread the hole so you can see better. the scope it out . you see how the inside leaver is trying to move see if you can help it go father in the direction it trying to go. the inside one is usually a safe bet as it works if it's locked or not and it's usually out in the open enough to see. a wide flat blade tool and a twist motion is usually the way to move it with out damaging it. one may have to get inventive. the sheld you have been told about cover the out side lock and the inside pull knobe nothign you will be trying to do. good luck
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjK-mNV-fhY[/ame]
 

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