Thread: Make a latch for the rear seats of a Defender 130???

I store spare hoses and parts in the box beneath the rear seat as we often travel across the country via remote locations and generally I find if one has the appropriate spare all will be well and it isn't required (!) so I don't need to access it very often. I did find using the bolts to fold the seat was awkward so initially I simply silver soldered a washer into the slot of each bolt. This was not difficult and was used for many years, better than finding a spanner but still a nuisance.


Recently I made a couple of simple 'sockets? that were sized to accept the existing bulkhead mounted bracket. I made a card/foam-board model and sized it to allow for the fact that the seat trajectory curved through an arc when the bracket entered it. The bracket wasn't modified except to remove the trim that was to stop the seat covering from damage and the addition of the latch mechanism (simple 316 ss latch from a boat chandler).


I works well with one simply guiding the bracket into the socket and closing the over centre latch mechanism. The pictures illustrate the outcome.



???.peter

A picture from above.