When I bought my Berlingo, the drivers arm rest was sitting on the floor behind its respective seat, attached to the metal bracket that was once welded (if you can call it that) to the seat frame. I love my arm rests in cars, so a fix had to found that didn't involve the hassle of welding and stripping the entire seat. I came up with the following fix that has worked perfectly and the only purchase necessary was a 35mm Jubilee clip. The only tools used were a Dremel rotary power tool with metal cutting disc and a diamond burr rotary bit plus a flat head screwdriver.
On my seat, the side material panel was already in a mess and ripped, so I had easy access to work with. If your bracket has snapped off inside your seat, you will have to carefully make a couple of incisions to remove it. These can be patched quite neatly afterwards and are a small price to pay for comfort. Alternatively, you could remove the seat back rest covering completely to do the job.
First task was to separate the metal bracket from the plastic outer guide that sits behind the arm rest on the seat. This needs a bit of manual dexterity and patience. The easiest position to work from is the passenger seat with it pushed as far back as it will go, reclining the back rest until good access is obtained. Naturally, the drivers seat (in this case) is moved fully forward.
[Image: 7F5E51C8-B659-4C0B-B4F2-3089D18B6048.jpg]
Looking at the rear of the metal bracket, you can see to the left hand side, the two areas (lugs) where it was welded to the frame.
[Image: 3CC64AAD-FAD0-4CAD-8B19-AF4AC8779F55.jpg]
[Image: 61502AF7-111B-46C2-B9B6-7CB8E3F25265.jpg]
Above, you will notice that I have cut slots near to where the two lugs were welded to the seat frame. I used my Dremel attached with a rotary metal cutting disc. I finished the slots off again using the Dremel attached with diamond rotary file.
The next stage was to fit the Jubilee clip through the two slots
[Image: A3FB7FB4-49EF-4143-9DC8-3BB0F9D3778F.jpg]
It is important to ensures that the screw head is facing the way shown below, otherwise you will not be able to access it when in position.
[Image: 06651BAE-2B2C-4BF1-988B-DF70FD3C9411.jpg]
This image (below) shows the seat frame where the bracket will be reattached. If you look closely, you can see where one of the welds has broken the steel tube.
[Image: 546A690A-D760-4419-9C76-3DF80DA529DC.jpg]
The hardest part is feeding the Jubilee clip around the seat frame and marrying the ends back together to tighten it, but once connected, it is easy to do so.
Keep tightening the Jubilee clip until it starts to feel a little snug. Now start to position the bracket until you feel the broken lugs bite back into their original positions and then keep tightening. The image below shows how easily accessible the screw head is once positioned correctly.
[Image: 8EA8607C-7C15-4385-B57D-D5E6782BFEE5.jpg]
When you reach the point where you cannot tighten the screw any more, insert the armrest itself into the bracket pulling back and forth and you will probably find a surprising amount of movement in the horizontal plain. If this happens, reposition and tighten again repeating the process until there is no rotational movement.
Remove the arm rest and pull the material back over the bracket and ensure that it all lines up correctly. As you can see on my seat, the material has been quite badly damaged and creased with traces of old Gaffer tape and adhesive residue everywhere.
[Image: 57C70438-3639-41B3-BDCC-DDF31A0A815B.jpg]
Once you are happy with the fit, push the plastic guide cover back into the metal bracket, ensuring that it clicks firmly into place, whilst also making sure that the trapped material sits neatly in position
[Image: 29608FE2-1CA4-4D81-9BCE-FC0F653F6AFD.jpg]
Again, due to the previous owners damage to the seat, I will never get a perfect match. The material has stretched out of shape sadly, but I will keep having a tweak here and there.
[Image: F6BA74B9-7515-48C3-8E18-23A02507D87B.jpg]
Arm rest refitted and awaiting my slumbering elbow!
Should the Jubilee clip eventually snap, it will be very easy to replace it which has to make it a winner
On my seat, the side material panel was already in a mess and ripped, so I had easy access to work with. If your bracket has snapped off inside your seat, you will have to carefully make a couple of incisions to remove it. These can be patched quite neatly afterwards and are a small price to pay for comfort. Alternatively, you could remove the seat back rest covering completely to do the job.
First task was to separate the metal bracket from the plastic outer guide that sits behind the arm rest on the seat. This needs a bit of manual dexterity and patience. The easiest position to work from is the passenger seat with it pushed as far back as it will go, reclining the back rest until good access is obtained. Naturally, the drivers seat (in this case) is moved fully forward.
[Image: 7F5E51C8-B659-4C0B-B4F2-3089D18B6048.jpg]
Looking at the rear of the metal bracket, you can see to the left hand side, the two areas (lugs) where it was welded to the frame.
[Image: 3CC64AAD-FAD0-4CAD-8B19-AF4AC8779F55.jpg]
[Image: 61502AF7-111B-46C2-B9B6-7CB8E3F25265.jpg]
Above, you will notice that I have cut slots near to where the two lugs were welded to the seat frame. I used my Dremel attached with a rotary metal cutting disc. I finished the slots off again using the Dremel attached with diamond rotary file.
The next stage was to fit the Jubilee clip through the two slots
[Image: A3FB7FB4-49EF-4143-9DC8-3BB0F9D3778F.jpg]
It is important to ensures that the screw head is facing the way shown below, otherwise you will not be able to access it when in position.
[Image: 06651BAE-2B2C-4BF1-988B-DF70FD3C9411.jpg]
This image (below) shows the seat frame where the bracket will be reattached. If you look closely, you can see where one of the welds has broken the steel tube.
[Image: 546A690A-D760-4419-9C76-3DF80DA529DC.jpg]
The hardest part is feeding the Jubilee clip around the seat frame and marrying the ends back together to tighten it, but once connected, it is easy to do so.
Keep tightening the Jubilee clip until it starts to feel a little snug. Now start to position the bracket until you feel the broken lugs bite back into their original positions and then keep tightening. The image below shows how easily accessible the screw head is once positioned correctly.
[Image: 8EA8607C-7C15-4385-B57D-D5E6782BFEE5.jpg]
When you reach the point where you cannot tighten the screw any more, insert the armrest itself into the bracket pulling back and forth and you will probably find a surprising amount of movement in the horizontal plain. If this happens, reposition and tighten again repeating the process until there is no rotational movement.
Remove the arm rest and pull the material back over the bracket and ensure that it all lines up correctly. As you can see on my seat, the material has been quite badly damaged and creased with traces of old Gaffer tape and adhesive residue everywhere.
[Image: 57C70438-3639-41B3-BDCC-DDF31A0A815B.jpg]
Once you are happy with the fit, push the plastic guide cover back into the metal bracket, ensuring that it clicks firmly into place, whilst also making sure that the trapped material sits neatly in position
[Image: 29608FE2-1CA4-4D81-9BCE-FC0F653F6AFD.jpg]
Again, due to the previous owners damage to the seat, I will never get a perfect match. The material has stretched out of shape sadly, but I will keep having a tweak here and there.
[Image: F6BA74B9-7515-48C3-8E18-23A02507D87B.jpg]
Arm rest refitted and awaiting my slumbering elbow!
Should the Jubilee clip eventually snap, it will be very easy to replace it which has to make it a winner
0 to 60 - be patient, 0 to 100 - not in my lifetime! :eek:
It may be a slow Blue Slug, but it"s the only slow Blue Slug that I own :S
It may be a slow Blue Slug, but it"s the only slow Blue Slug that I own :S
![[-]](http://berlingoforum.b-cdn.net/images/collapse.png)
Nice repair.
I'm not a fan of seat covers, but someone may know of some super duper looking ones?
