Power seat track piece broke

[Realism]

My world suddenly tilted and I was half seating it

Sat down the other day and heard this pop followed by my right side kiester dropping a good 2 inches. Looked underneath and it appears the weld for the seat track decided to be cheeky and tell me to lose some weight or take it easier. Snapped at the weld where the seat piece meets the actual track bar.
Anyone else have this happen to them?

I imagine replacing the track is going to be a bill, and I don't have any welding tools. Going to go old school here and try some JB Weld and see if that will fix it up. Tossing this out there in case anyone wanted to chime in with comments or similar situations, or if it happened to you and you're using your Google-Fu to see if JB weld works for quick, cheap fix.

 

[Realism]

Was easy enough to remove the seat. Removed the screws holding trim and seat controls, popped the controls out and disconnected the connectors underneath. It was helpful to get some wiggle room for disconnects by first removing the nuts (13mm) holding the seat to the frame. Had disconnected the battery for this, but had to hook it back up to tilt the back down far enough to easily remove the seat from the frame.
Ran into one issue, curse me for neglecting to put my specs on, the wiring for the seat belt sensor is at an angle that it is damn impossible for me to see how to disconnect it. Thought I had it but accidentally ripped the wires out of the seat belt, so I had to remove that B$&#^*@^ as well (19mm) and a whole lot of oomf or good leverage - Thread-locked Joy! So Now I get to reconnect the wiring after I take the seat belt apart and fix it.

Put a good amount of JB Weld over the old weld spots after cleaning it all up and using a file to roughen them up, also put some in the half moon; tried to keep it off the frame side, not sure if the JB in the small amounts pressed against on that side will prevent it from moving. Good luck trying to find a way to clamp it down while it sets and cures, nothing I had would help me there, so I held it forcefully by hand . . . and then it started to rain . . . hard. . .

Managed to keep about 10 minutes pressure on it before I knew I had to shut doors and stuff due the the rain. When I took my hand off it was holding. I used the quickweld JB type so it says sets in 6 minutes - slipped off a few times in the first minute or so. It was holding when I came in. I'll go check it when the rain lets up and see if its still holding together and didnt separate.

When it rains, it pours. *Looks outside* well no sh . . .

 

[Mooseman]

I would have just got a whole track setup from a PnP yard.

 

[Realism]

I'm a po boy at the moment and not sure how much a yard would charge for one. I had the JB on hand already and figured I would give it a try.
Consensus is that it is possible to work. The top section isnt really connected but the bottom broken weld is on there decent and holding, Probably wouldnt hold up to me sitting down on it, but I could chalk this up to the bloody rain and not being able to clamp anything down on it. I might scrape off some of the JB and have another go at it, before throwing the seat back on broken or not and going to a yard on the weekend.

Soldered the wires back together for the seat belt sensor. So at least there is that.

 

[Mooseman]

Hope it works for you. If it does hold, then it's possible for others to use this method to save some bucks.

 

[Realism]

Barely touched it and it fell apart, like it didnt even have any JB on at all. It was stronger while it was setting and curing than it was in the end. JB weld is not option to go here. Guess it's yard hunting time. Any thoughts on how much you think a yard would charge for.
Why can't my neighbor be a welder lol

 

[16vcabman]

I'm amazed you tried jb quick, gets hot 2 quick. Use the long curing it's stronger and it takes longer

 

[Realism]

Either way I didnt have a way to clamp the pieces together because of the size and position. Holding it there by hand was a pain enough with the pressure kept on it. TBH I haven't been all that impressed with JB weld even the regular stuff. Just seems more brittle once its done than anything else. Reminds me of old plastic that either bends or tears apart. The cardboard I mixed the stuff on was even bendable and it broke apart (the JB that is).
The little things are really starting to irk me the wrong way. For 135k miles on it I shouldnt be having all the wonderful issues I've had currently and in the last 20k. I bought it when it was 109K 6 years ago. I like the platform and the engine, but I'm thinking I should start considering letting this one go

 

[Realism]

Mooseman: any idea how to disassemble it fully? All I need is that top metal rail piece, I'll even take the bottom too if I have to but I dont need or want to replace the mechanisms or electric parts. Found one at a yard here and started taking it apart, couldnt figure out how to full disconnect everything. Didn't take it because I couldnt get the back of the seat to come off it, got flustered after an hour in the heat trying to figure it out. Looks like all the components are permanently attached to it. Yard was wanting $50 for it

 

[Mooseman]

Most I ever did was take the cover off to replace the heated seat element. If you see two other sets of wires, then it's heated. What about just replacing the whole seat? That's if you can find the exact same one.

On second thought, that wholegrain might be one piece with the foams and covers on them.

 

[djthumper]

The bolts holding the rails to the seat will be just inside the seat frame. I tried to find a better picture.

 

[Realism]

Thanks DJ. I got knew the bolts for teh bottom, but face palmed like an hour after my post when I realized that I need to lift up the covering on the one side for the back since it will have a longer frame on that side.
So it looks and sounds like separating the gears and such from the frame is not a possibility. It looked like some of them are riveted in when I was at the parts yard. Also spent a bit going over the GM schematic for it, whoever did them up sure didnt want to make it easy to view.
Short on funds so was needing to go the minimal route. My leather is still in pretty darn good condition so wouldnt want to oust the whole thing, plus that would be more than what I can afford at the moment even if I found a match. Was hoping I could get just the frame and nothing else attached for under $20.

At $50 for the frame or more for a full seat, I might be better suited to take it in for someone to stickweld that tiny spot. Would probably cost less than what the yard wanted for the frame I think