Didn't see any threads about this when I searched, but hopefully someone else has had this issue before. I've been trying to track down a rattle at 45-50mph that's somewhere in the back of the cabin, and as part of that I was trying to flip up my rear seat to see if anything is loose underneath it. Unfortunately, it seems like the release mechanism on top of the seat is seized, as no matter how hard I pull on the latch the seat will not unlock to fold down. I'm afraid that if I try any harder I'll break it. It's always been a little sticky but I've never had issues with it not releasing at all in the past, haven't tried to fold it down in several months though. Does anyone know how you get at the mechanisms relating to that latch, lubrication points, etc?
commodore_dude
Rear seat won't fold down
No, I've just avoided having to haul anything for the past few months. Going to take another crack at it when I'm on vacation in a couple of weeks, and probably end up taking it to the dealer if I can't figure it out. I haven't really found any useful information on my specific issue on any forum, unfortunately.
my brothers 04 rear seat latch on the passenger side was rusted shut too. It made it impossible to remove the seat with one person. I was able to remove it by having him pull on the plastic top lever. I then took a screwdriver and wedged it in the latch beneath the seat to free it. I went at it from the front of the seat. That was the only way we could get the seat out. Then we greased it up and while its not perfect, it is MUCH better. We just used 3 in 1 oil on the mechanism and moved it around a lot to let the oil reach all moving parts.
yea i went to look at it during my lunch break. Seems one of the cables on the latch is busted so only one side is releasing the seat. I haven't found any useful information either. Was hoping to find a schematic or diagram of the seat. I'm gonna dig into it a little more once i get home. I'll let you know what happens and take some pics if i found something interesting.
I have an FSM, but I couldn't make enough sense of the diagram to figure out how to try and release the seat by some other means without first removing it... which of course I can't.
Yea your best bet is to release the fabric at the back and then try to see the problem and how you can join it back together
Took a stab at it tonight. I can feel the retaining strip, but I'm not really sure how it's supposed to detach - just seemed very secure. I felt like I was going to break or tear it if I continued so I stopped...
Well it took a week but I finally figured out how to get that strip undone. The pictures here helped - http://www.instructables.com/id/Rem...ing-Fabric-from-03-Wrangler-for-Washing/step4/Unhook-j-hooks-for-the-seat-back/. Tore it up somewhat in the process, unfortunately. More unfortunate is that I'm not sure what to try next - I can see the bottom bits of the cables that go from the release lever in the top of the seat over to the sides of the seat frame and then down, but I am unable to determine where they're frozen. I cannot pull them manually away from the sides of the frame to try and release the seat, and when I pull out all of the slack that was there I'm still unable to pull the release lever at all - it seems like the mechanism is frozen at every possible point, but since what I've done so far only lets me flip up a couple of inches of fabric at the bottom of the seat back, it's possible more could be done if I could get more of the fabric out of the way, or figure out how to release the seat externally somehow.
You're gonna hate me for this but i was able to fix mine...only problem is i didn't take any pictures. I live in Texas and it's been rainy and humid all week so i was in a hurry cause i needed to get the seat up to remove my sub box. But yea i had to remove the fabric to see what was going on. Luckily the passenger side functions properly so i was able to see how it's suppose to function. I was able to get the other side to unlock even though the cable is busted just by lifting up on the lever. Still don't know how i'm going to replace that one cable but i am able to unlock that side with my finger w/o removing the fabric now that i know where that lever is. if yours is seized up i'm sure a screwdriver will work too. i will try like hell to take some pics this weekend for you to show you what i'm talking about.
To the original poster, just making sure. The post says that the seat won't fold but is it that the back will not fold or the seat will not tumble. There are two actions and two releases. I had a problem with the tumble releasing and fixed that one. If that is your problem, I may be able to help.
My problem is that the seatback will not fold down, even before getting to tumble the entire seat. I look forward to some pics venum because I completely gave up trying to figure it out. May just go to the dealer next week when I get back into town, at least I've already done a little bit of the work so they can't take ALL of my money right 
...
...http://www.wranglerforum.com/f5/back-seat-stuck-257185.html Ther are two links in this thread
Well, I finally gave up and took it to the dealer yesterday. Took em a day and a half to sort it out, but honestly it's working more smoothly than it did even on the day I bought my Jeep new so I suspect something wasn't adjusted quite right from the factory. The explanation I got was that it kept tightening the cables more and more right at the handle until eventually there was no slack left, and it just wouldn't release. They sorted that out and lubricated the mechanisms, and say I shouldn't have the same problem again... hopefully that's the case! I was afraid they'd try to sell me a new seat or something, so I was pleasantly surprised when it ended up just costing me the base diagnostic fee plus a few bucks for materials. Well worth it to be able to haul things again!
Solution found::::::::
Solution found::::: The lever that you pull to lower the rear seats has 2 coils with a metal cylinder shape at the end. This cylinder and coil aligns along the lever that you pull which releases the mechanism so you can lower your seats.
What do you need to fix it?? Grab a pair of tweezers and pull it up into the slot again so it can close.
Solution found::::: The lever that you pull to lower the rear seats has 2 coils with a metal cylinder shape at the end. This cylinder and coil aligns along the lever that you pull which releases the mechanism so you can lower your seats.
What do you need to fix it?? Grab a pair of tweezers and pull it up into the slot again so it can close.
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