removing Chevy seat rails

[christine]

Does anyone know how to remove the seat rails that are bolted to the floor for a Chevy express passenger van? They appear to be awfully tricky. The heads of the bolts appear to be spot welded in place (and wedged inside the rail), and the nuts underneath the van are mostly hidden behind other stuff that I'm not familiar with. TIA!

 

[gymrat]

I spent 2 days  busting knuckles taking those rails out. Bent and cut the crap out of all that aluminum sheeting to find all those nuts 46-48 or something like that. ordered rubber body plugs to fill holes, glued plugs into place. didn't have to like it, just had to do it. All of mine were 15mm, need a deep socket, ratcheting swiveling box wrench. Good luck.

 

[MrNoodly]

Sometimes Chevy seems to assemble things in reverse order. It's like, "Let's start with the seats and then add everything else." But seats are safety items. Can't have them coming loose. So the mounting system needs to be very stout and resistent to coming loose.<br><br>(I had a '72 Chevy pickup once with the jack mounted way back in the corner of the engine compartment. It would have been easier to remove the engine than that jack.)

 

[christine]

Sometimes Chevy seems to assemble things in reverse order. It's like, "Let's start with the seats and then add everything else." But seats are safety items. Can't have them coming loose. So the mounting system needs to be very stout and resistent to coming loose.<br><br>(I had a '72 Chevy pickup once with the jack mounted way back in the corner of the engine compartment. It would have been easier to remove the engine than that jack.)

<br><br>Yeah, I'm glad they're putting safety first. I've always been a Toyota/Honda fan, but I'm liking Chevy/GM better now that I'm taking apart one of their vehicles.

 

[christine]

Thanks for the replies.<br><br>I'm thinking about shearing the top layer of the rail off (akin to taking the lid off a shoe box) with a cutting wheel on a 4.5 in grinder, to expose the bolts. Then I'll use a flap wheel to grind the bolt heads off, and pray that the rest of the rail pops up the headless bolts. And then I'll just leave the bolts in the floor, plugging the hole. Before I go messing up my van, do you guys see any problems with this method?&nbsp;

 

[christine]

Much much work like gymrat said. Safety goggles and gloves are a must. I do not know if there are nuts underneath on the bolts or if the floor is threaded for the bolts or both. Just my opinion, I would get underneath the van and surely get to one set of the nuts if the bolts have them and take them off. If the bolt heads are spot welded then no one has to be on the inside of the van to hold the bolt head. Try to tap them up through the floor with a hammer with goggles on to protect eyes from falling rust particles or debris. I don't know what else you would have underneath the van in the way of the nuts except the fuel tank. This way you will more clearly see what you are dealing with and make your decision from there. Also bolts without the heads will fall through the floor if the floor is not threaded for the bolts. The air conditioner that Jef's uncle correctly said to be careful about can be done. The wires should have plug ins on the end of them. Electrical tape the plugins and if there is a fuse to only that air conditioner and nothing else important take it out and that will kill the electric current. Do not cut those wires unless you cap and electrical tape them very well.

<br><br>Good advice, I will try that. Thank you!

 

[gymrat]

There are sheet of aluminum suspended underneath the regular van floor that conceal the nuts ( yes, there are regular nuts on the bolts). Don't know purpose of aluminum sheets, maybe aerodynamics, heat shielding, weather protection? The bolts are welded to the heavy steel tubes so no back-up from the top is needed. One of the bigger problems is trying to locate where underneath the van the nuts are. I used a coathanger to run into the steel tubes to feel where the bolts were and then measured underneath to locate where to nuts were.

 

[Mobilesport]

There are sheet of aluminum suspended underneath the regular van floor that conceal the nuts ( yes, there are regular nuts on the bolts). Don't know purpose of aluminum sheets, maybe aerodynamics, heat shielding, weather protection? The bolts are welded to the heavy steel tubes so no back-up from the top is needed. One of the bigger problems is trying to locate where underneath the van the nuts are. I used a coathanger to run into the steel tubes to feel where the bolts were and then measured underneath to locate where to nuts were.

On my 1996 Express van i had to have a guy inside with a impact gun and i was under the van with a wrench holding the nut to keep it from spinning , my face was pretty dirty when done .