1956 Power bench

[Brian Daum]

My front bench is going to the upholstery shop, and I am at the same time trying to get my 6 way power bench up and working the way it should.

Basically I can`t get the fore and aft motion moving, also the up and down rear in not operating properly. The power motor works and the switch works also.

I am studying the shop manual closely, but there is really no troubleshooting section that covers the power seats.

Is there anyone that has worked the power bench recently, and has some good ideas??

[J. Gomez]

Brian,

Section 14 page 73 on the manual has a fair troubleshooting the electrical portion of the 6-way seats with electrical diagrams. In addition, same section page 51 has some basic details on the components.

There is two possibilities a bad ground or switch, I would gamble in say the switch will be my first choice.

Since you know the motor is working you could test each solenoid by applying a direct 12V to each.

The switch although electrically speaking is a good setup the chrome slider to activate the multi-way contacts leaves a lot to be desired.

The switch activates the motor (relay actually) on all the positions and then activates the selective solenoid for that path. Most issues with the switch are contacts would activate the motor and not the particular solenoid or vice versa, depending on the slide direction.

Hope this helps..!

Good luck

[Brian Daum]

Hi Jose,

Thanks for you input and sorry for not getting back to you faster. I`ve been busy working the seats...  I didn`t find the troubleshooting section in the manual at first, but I sure did after you directed me.

Looks like it is the switch like you mentioned. After soaking it liberally in CRC and moving it back and forth I finally got the fore/aft function going pretty good. I guess rebuilts are not available...

Stupid me, I played around with the rear up and down solenoid, and took off the cover of it. Suddenly out popped a small spring and a few pieces which I have no idea how to get back together.

I sure wish I had another solenoid that I could study...

[J. Gomez]

Brian,

If you have a soft copy of the manual figure 14-91 shows the internal parts for the older type solenoid. I know the pictures on the soft copy lack details, so I’m attaching one from my book.

The spring “E” showing was replaced with the small compression spring which goes inside a grove in the coil housing. Your actuator "C" would be similar to the one on this page just slightly different with the regular spring type, and they are keyed so only one way to mount them.

Hope this helps putting yours back together.