# Stuck pedestals#@&



## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I recently bought a 1997 A-S boat. The boat has four seats on pedestals which I'm guessing were never taken out of the boat. I tried to remove the back two pedestals from the flush floor plates. No dice. I can remove the seats from the posts but not the posts from the floor and it gets kinda dicey back there dodging those man-trippers!! I took the six screws out of the plates on each mount and pulled the whole assembly out. The aluminum (tubing) posts go into vinyl bushings and the bushings into two short steel pipe sections that are welded to the floor plates and fit into the floatation under the floor. 
The steel pipe sections have rusted quite badly and the resulting crud is holding the alum. posts from coming out! The buttons that release the snap which hold the alum. posts in the base are loose but King Cong Bundy cannot twist those posts out of the mounts. I tried spraying penetrating oil several times into the bushing/pipe area and leaving it over night. Still won't budge. I really am reluctant to heat them as the vinyl bushing will melt. Any suggestions appreciated.


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## JerryA (Aug 16, 2004)

Welcome to the world of boat seats - don't you think someone could make seats that don't do this - DUH. When mine froze up in the floor, I finally got pissed and just put a pipe wrench to them and twisted them out. I opened the nylon linings up with a flapper wheel, cleaned everything up real good and put Armorall on them. Worked for awhile, and then some of them started to stick again? The nylon tubes seem to just expand with time and use. Anyway, can you mount them in the floor and get them out with a big pipe wrench? It'll chew up the pedestals but at least they're out. You can then smooth them down with emery paper or the flapper wheel. Are you listening Swivel-EZ?


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

mine have always stuck ,being the tapered base. so i put a muffler clamp on the base and use a prybar to get them out. tried all the greases and oils to no avail.


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## roger23 (Mar 7, 2007)

depends if you want to save any of it,,I think you are going to have to remove the base from the boat then try to press it out,,or cut it off at the floor and leave it


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## MikeC (Jun 26, 2005)

bust the rust loose by tapping, spray, hammering around, then spray, beating it then spray. be careful though


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

As already stated, pipewrench


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Thanks for the ideas. I was at BoatMasters in Portage Lakes a while back looking for something else and glanced at the parts for this. You would not believe what the prices are! Posts are in the $20+ range and up, even the little nylon bushings are $5!! The bare-bones floor plates are even more than anything else-like $35-40 if I remember correctly! I didn't buy a "used" boat to spend huge amounts of cash refurbishing it but who knew about this?


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

Thats the joy of owning a boat.
My front pedistal sticks in my Ranger Bassboat. Its not rusted or correoded just sticks
A pipewrench always loosens it


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## center pin daddy (Apr 15, 2004)

I actually keep a pipe wrench in the boat. About a year ago I tried some powdered graphite instead of a spray or liquid lubricant and it seems to be working so far.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

GOT THEM OUT! 18" pipe wrench with the bottom pipes locked in my vise!
They literally "screwed" themselves out and put some hurt on the alum. posts! Cleaned everything but the posts will only go about halfway back in. The rust and corrosion I see on the outsides of the carbon steel pipes, (which are welded to the floor plates and go into the floor) is also on the insides next to the vinyl bushings. The expansion from the corrosion against the vinyl is what makes them tight on the pedestal posts! i just sent an email to attwood about this great design-carbon steel pipe welded to stainless steel plates! Will post their reply(IF they reply)!


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Wow-what a trip! Never heard from Attwood on this but I found a 1-1/2"D. stiff flapper-type sanding tool that fits my drill and 'honed' out the nylon bushings a little til the posts went in nicely. I was careful not to take out too much, or too much from one area, and tried to do it evenly around the inside circumference of the bushing. Sanded and painted the outsides of the pipes and reinstalled the floor plates. For now, will leave the posts/seats out of the back end to leave more room for fishing.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

In case anyone is interested, I got an email from Attwood stating all they could do for me is to provide some new bushings. Recommended I rip out the old ones, sand, clean, paint the insides of the base pipes and insert the new bushings. I guess I was hoping they'd send me new floor plates(yeah, right!) but this is better than nothing! I did try the mounts on the front and rear decks thinking since they were higher(thus drier) than the ones in the floor, they might not be as bad but they are All bad. Anyone with these kind of seat mounts might want to try to pull the posts out of them and spray some WD all over them before they seize up your posts. It might be too late for some already!


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

Throw em away and get a couple of those folding chairs that come in a nylon bad you carry over your shoulder and use them when needed. Not as high tech but more movable.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Man, I'm glad I'm not the only one w/ this problem!

Mine aren't rusted, like Orlando's they just get stuck! lol


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## jeffmo (Apr 7, 2004)

mine use to do the same thing.1st,to get them out i wrapped a towel around the pedestal then used a pipe wrence to twist it out.kept turning the wrench while pulling up on the pedestal.
2nd,i took them to a friends metal shop and he put each one in his lathe and took a small amount off of each one.
why don't they just make them threaded????


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## JerryA (Aug 16, 2004)

C.J. -

You have solved the mystery of why these seat pedestals continue to stick. The tubes are made of carbon steel and they will rust and continue to rust over time. So, even if you open up the nylon bushings with a flapper wheel so that the pedestal fits nicely again, the tube will continue to rust and it will expand the tube and lock up again. Why carbon steel? Maybe strength but most likely cost. What a poor design. We should all wage war on the manufacturers because this is cra...y. There are a lot of things that boat manufacturers do that car manufactures would never get away with nowadays.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Good one, Jim!! That might work in your old 16 Washita but I'm sure next time we go perchin, you'd appreciate these over the cooler!! I plan to sand these out til the nylon bushing is gone, clean the rust out of the insides, put the new ones in they "might" send me and then sand those too!
Based on my experience with these, I'd say anytime these stick to the point they require a great amount of work to remove, they are rusted "under" the bushings. I told the company rep that this is a terrible design and they should "recall" the millions of these they have on boats! Bet they do it real soon too...............


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