Seat Back Removal, 1969 Mooney M20F
The Owner’s Manual for the 1969 M20F said the rear seat backs could be removed:
Note: I had one hiccup where the left side seat recline lever is apparently not hooked up (it’s loose and has no effect on the seat back recline), so Step #1, above, wasn’t possible. I don’t have a great photo of what I’m about to describe, but I’ll try to fix that later... Both bottom back corners of the seat back have little tabs with teeth:
The side lever pulls a spring-loaded rod that has two attached brackets that mate with those teeth to set the different recline positions; the rod itself runs under the seat back, full length. I was able to use a screwdriver to pry the outside bracket (closest to the spring-loaded mechanism) towards the back of the plane just a centimeter or two, just enough to disengage it from the teeth and let the seat back “recline” forward freely, so I could get to the spring-loaded lock pin (#3 above).
Next on the “squawk list”: Getting the left side seat recline lever connected properly.
The rear seat backs can be removed for additional cargo space by pulling the spring-loaded lock pins at the seat back base and sliding the seat back rearward.It was a PITA, but, it’s true; here’s how.
- Pull the seat recline lever on the side panel back (towards the rear of the plane):
- While this is pulled back, “recline” the seat back forward (push the top of the seat towards the front of the plane).
- With the seat back leaned forward, underneath, in the “outside” corner (closest to the exterior of the airplane, i.e., if you’re looking forward from the cargo compartment, lower left corner of the left seat, lower right corner of the right seat), there will be a metal pin with a 90° bend in it; that’s the “spring-loaded lock pin” the manual describes:
- Pull that pin in towards the middle of the plane. When it's about an inch or so pulled out, the corner should pop free.
- The other corner of the seat has a small hole, that mates to a pin in a bracket in the middle of the plane:
- Pull the top outside corner of the seat backwards and towards the center of the airplane; the other corner will pop off the pin.
- You can now remove the seat back from the airplane.
Note: I had one hiccup where the left side seat recline lever is apparently not hooked up (it’s loose and has no effect on the seat back recline), so Step #1, above, wasn’t possible. I don’t have a great photo of what I’m about to describe, but I’ll try to fix that later... Both bottom back corners of the seat back have little tabs with teeth:
The side lever pulls a spring-loaded rod that has two attached brackets that mate with those teeth to set the different recline positions; the rod itself runs under the seat back, full length. I was able to use a screwdriver to pry the outside bracket (closest to the spring-loaded mechanism) towards the back of the plane just a centimeter or two, just enough to disengage it from the teeth and let the seat back “recline” forward freely, so I could get to the spring-loaded lock pin (#3 above).
Next on the “squawk list”: Getting the left side seat recline lever connected properly.
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