How on earth do you remove the headrest from a lowback seat?

Mine won't stay up, and when they are all the way down I can feel the metal part in the seat digging into my back.

Don't tell me I have to remove the seat cover......

from memory , slide the chrome plastic collet up the headrest shaft , then get a very fine screwdriver and feel around the side or back of the shaft till you feel the catch and press it down . It's been 15 years since I pulled one apart but I remember it being fiddly .

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mine have a little metal L bracket with a screw that locate the height of the headrest

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

collet is part of seat and does not move. no L bracket either.

I am going to saw through the bastards!

If it's the single metal shaft type, remove the clips holding the bottom of the vinyl on the rear of the seat back, and slide your hand up from the bottom. You'll feel the shaft and there is a sping wire (like an umbrella catch) that you have to press in to allow the headrest to slide all the way out. Hard to explain in detail, but once you get your hand up there you should be able to feel what needs to be done.

Watch out because it will be hard to press in due to age, and there is a 50% chance that it will catch your fingure tip when it releases and make a painfull hole.

edit: sorry meant finger tip

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

Cheers for that. I'll give it a go. Would have to catch my tit in it though!

So how do they stay up anyway? What locks then into place?

Anton,

Once you pull the headrest out - as instructed above - a little cylindrical barrel of plastic should fall out. This is what keeps the headrests up - it fits into a horizontal groove in the frame and the headrest 'slides' against it and the friction holds it in place. If your headrest is stuck, this will have rolled out of its groove and is jamming the shaft. Might need a BFH to remove. I recommend taking the seat cover right off as it sounds like the 'elasticated' straps inside the frame have stretched and become 'non-elastic and giving no support. This causes the shaft to stick into your back!

Regards
Gavin

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1971 Clubman GT - Jet Red
1980 Mini 1000 - Bold As Brass
1967 Riley Elf - Red/White
2002 MINI Cooper - BRG/White
2005 MINI Cooper - BRG/White
2022 MINI Cooper SE - BRG/White

Yea I can picture what yo are saying. Mine must have been stuck in the wrong position. Both headrests wouldn't stay up.

Anyway....it's all sorted. Aaron knows what I did

my headrest is still inside, but i managed to get the plastic cylinder thing out, what do i do :S

EDIT:got them out

bung a screw in the bottom of the slidey bit so it doesn't fall down?

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Get some nice 'bling' tube to slide onto the uprights - cut 4 to the size you want, put the head rests back in to the holes.......voila

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Rod
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v607/Rodney/