Do your seats drag or feel like there is incredible resistance to movement when attempting to adjust them fore and aft?

Well, here's an often overlooked trivial maintenance tidbit for those of us with 20, 30, 40 or 50 year old airframes. I recently learned that the seats in my 1965 B55 are fitted with these little plastic rollers that make contact with the seat rails of the airframe. These little rollers take the full weight of the person in the seat and are responsible for the sliding (or lack thereof) contact with the seat rail.

As you can imagine, after decades of supporting a person's weight and sliding along the metal rails, these puppies have probably gotten pretty tired.

There are two rollers per mounting point of the seat, so a total of six rollers are on the bottom of each seat.

I found mine to be pretty tired, some were in fact not even rolling as they had a flat spot on them. Needless to say, this makes for a very difficult adjustment of the seat position on the rails.

The PN for the roller is: 118641 and was found at RAPID for $1.19 each today (25 Feb 2011)

The little spring that keeps the two rollers spaced properly is PN: 100943ZA016J for $3.65 each today (25 Feb 2011)

This is a relatively easy fix with a 3/8" socket in 1/4" drive and a 3/8 wrench. Be sure to note exactly how your pieces come out and their respective positions AND have your A&P check and approve your work after you're done.

OR

Simply ask your A&P to check these parts out on your plane and have them serviced if they are in need.

HERE is a seat extract diagram showing the roller and spring positions. The roller is #52 and the spring is #55 in the diagram.

NOTE: This is for my B55 Baron. Bonanza's and other Barons MAY be similar, always check your parts catalog for your aircraft and SN to be sure to utilize the proper parts.