SR- 1 Bolster Seat Actuators
 

Anyone had any success in getting replacements for the DL Porter Hydroloc Actuators for the Drop Down Bolster seats on the SR-1? Any infor you can provide on who to contact, price etc would be helpful.

A company in California still rebuilds them. Must have exchange. I'll check for name, etc. and post tonight or Sunday. [sorry. best I can do, but someone will probably help you by then.] I thought mine was bad and a friend told me to adjust it. [twist to take out slack] Fixed it right up. It's still doing well.

GRIZ

Thanks Griz- My Driver's side has a little slack in it- I'll try the adjustment. The other one is shot so I'd really appreciate it if you could post the contact info for that co.-

ctuck, what are you considering as shot? Neither of my seats operate as I "think" they should, so I ask to compare. Driver's seat goes down a couple inches but otherwise holds weight until the button is pressed. Passenger side won't hold weight but it will hold position.
I've just eyeballed it under there but haven't gotten into messing with 'em yet.

Ok. ctuck. P.L. Porter was purchased by Crane a while back. Porter still had their website up as recently as last September but as I ckeck today we're re-directed to:

http://www.craneae.com/about_us/plporter.htm

So all I can say, as recently as last Fall their site explained an exchange program costing close to $200 including shipping there and back receiving a rebuilt [good as new] actuator. I recommend contacting 'the experts' there and asking if they can take care of you. I'd bet yes. But, their new 'web' appearance is quite different from the family owned business previous.

Please let us know what you hear.
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handfulz, sounds like you need a few. Your seats should go all the way down by pushing the button and manually pushing the seat bottom down. Should hold at any position returning to upright when you push your button and release any weight or pressure on the seat itself. You might try the adjusting thangy. Just reach up there and start turning the actuator. It'll either loosen or tighten. You want tighten. Good luck both of you.

Thanks Griz. Yeah, didn't explain it well. Driver's seat is working except a little play that might adjust out. Passenger is one I'm worried about since it can be pushed down without pressing button.

Here is a pretty good page they have on the Hydrolock

http://www.craneae.com/Solutions/Cabin/hydrolok.htm

There is also contact info there.

Hydrolok actuactors
 

I e-mailed Crane yesterday, so far no reply but hopefully they still have the replacement option available and I'll hear from them soon. As far as what I consider "shot": before I removed the ram, the passanger side would stay up and hold weight, but once it was pushed down, it had to be manually lifted back into the up position. The drivers side drops a couple of inches when you first sit in it, but otherwise works normally. IU'm guessing that it can be adjusted to take the slack out.

Guys ... sometimes the button will stick and allow "leakdown" ...check that also ...but the rams are suspect for problems ...m

You're on the right track with Crane. I replaced one of mine when I got my 311 because it was doing the 3 inch drop thing. Adjusting it didn't help.

The guy you need to catch up with - at least this was true a year ago - is Ceasar Asentio. He doesn't return emails or voice messages; you just have to keep calling until you catch him at his desk. Probably single items sales don't get him much of a comission. These actuators are used in airplane seats so he's probably used to selling a planefull at a time.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep calling 'till he' sick of clearing my voice-mails

Ok, my port side actuator is going bad - it won't hold position. It'll drop a few inches when pressure is applied. Is there an easy way to take these out of the bolsters? I've looked under them, and have no idea where to start..?

And once you send it in don't be in a hurry to get it back....I almost thought I wouldn't see mine ever again. But I did. It was sure cheaper than buying new ones.

Bringing this back to the top instead of starting a new thread...
So i finally unscrewed the passenger button to see what it looked like in there. I now see why the button doesn't come out as much as driver's side, and why it won't hold weight.
What I'll call the "hinge pin" has rusted and is creating enough friction on the little lever arm to prevent the cable from returning all the way to the released position. The button itself moves freely.
So, the only "adjuster" I see under there is actually for the cable and it's way up at the top of the piston. It looks like your basic bicycle brake cable adjustment. But it looks like there's a locking nut so I didn't try to just turn it.
It also looks like the piston itself might be a PITA to get out up there? I didn't feel any bolt head or nut, just a big pin? That should be fun if it's rusted at all...
If I can replace the hinge pin on the button, I'll be good to go.

The bolster has to come out and be disassembled to get to the piston. I did mine over the winter and I had the seat in my family room for a couple weeks. I'd sit in it and have a beer while thinking about summer.

Sh!t...that ain't gonna happen any time soon. So what's up there, just that pin that needs to be popped out or is there a retaining clip or something? Lucky my pistons are working fine. Hopefully they'll stay that way until it's time to reupholster.
Removing the button looks easy enough, that's my number 1 issue. Hopefully I'll be able to file/grind the rusted pin out and replace it; will be good as new then :D

Hmmmm, both my seats are working great :p :D :D

Hah freakin' hah :p Are you ready to sell that thing yet? :chick:

Everything is for sale :D

I pretty much figured that - looks like this year, the seat is just not going to stay in position.

There is another way. You can't get at the top of the piston w/o taking the seat apart, unless you are willing to go another route. Take the upolstery up on the back and use a hole saw to get through the back of the seat. Then do the piston work, and epoxy the piece you cut out back in. It's in a non load bearing part of the seat so it's not a big deal structurally, and you'll never see it since it is under the upolstery. Much easier and faster than taking the bolster out. Plus I hate trying to squeeze into the storage compartments on the sides to get the bolster bolts out.

My friend sent one of his pistons out to Crane and it took about a month to get it back. It cost around $120.00 to get it fixed.

I replaced my port side last weekend, it took me 15 min. its a mecloud seat and the accuator manufacter is acculift inc. they where great and helped me out, mine new shipped with new motor and accuator was 360.00, the new one is very quite., oh formula wanted to charge me over 1000.00 just for the accuater. 1998 312

hmmm.... wonder if you could retro fit the Mcloed's on a 311 ??

Back to the top again...
I have no idea why I didn't think of this earlier, but I've got a bunch of pilot friends. I'm going to ask around and see if I can make friends with some local A&Ps and see if anyone can service these/offer (used) parts locally. I've already found a few places around the country that offer rebuild of the cylinders; just an alternative to sending back to the manufacturer.
Crane/PL Porter offer an electric device also I think...hmmm...wonder if it would be an easy bolt-in?

Any ideas of what to do with one of these now in 2011???

Baja,
There was a thread here about replacing the hydroloks with electric actuators. I need to do this as well. Mine are shot! My plan is to do it next fall. Who knows though?

Yeah....saw it. Nobody actually ever said how it worked out. And the company in this post does not do anything with these......I am at a loss. Tried Formula...they said "sorry...can't help"

I will e-mail you some info that I have.

Nobody else has thisissue or any idea of what to do about it????

I am going to look into changing over to Electric this year. Just need time off work!!!! I found a place that makes stainless actuators it should be a very easy swap as long as it has the space for the motor.

If some one can tell me the lenght open and the length closed I can probably locate a ram this evening. Also how far in the pins mount but that is not as important as you can just make a new bracket if you need.

Jon

If no one gets you those mesurements by the weekend I will go dig mine out of the shed and mesure mine. I have my bolsters apart to rebuild the frames.

I found a place that rebuilds and also has surplus stock of these. My boat is in storage any one have the part number?

what is the place you found?

I am picking one of these up this weekend....I will let you know when i get it and any info on it

Ok so I braved the cold. Well not to bad we hit 30 today. Feels like a heat wave.

The actuator is 12" open from the top to the center of the mounting hole at the bottem and 9 1/2" closed from the top to the center of the mounting hole. The stud on the top is 1 1/2" long.
I took some pics that I can e-mail you if you like.:ernaehrung004:

Should be enough. Everyone I was going to snowmobiling with this evening called it early. So I am home alone happy to have a good project to work on! :D

So... Now two years later. Anyone have luck replacing the manual actuators with electric ones?
And I think there are part numbers for the originals floating around. Are they from avfab? Any guidance would be a great help!!!