My seat grid wires are broken and they dont make new ones. Iam thinking the wire is special like music wire. Maybe not because the ends are twisted. Any one here make them before.
I would try to use coat hanger wire. A lot of seat wire framing is made with very hard wire but yours looks like it is just soft wire running between the frame. See if you can bend it with pliers, if so just use coat hanger wire.
From a historical standpoint: In the early 1970s I worked in the Trm and Seating Engineering Department at FoMoCo. The techs there made those wires for the prototype seating using heat treatable wire. First the wires were cut to the desired lengths then the ends were formed, usually j-hooks that hooked over paper wrapped metal stringers. When the shapes were finalized the ends were clamped to a welder power supply and heated to the proper color for heat treating. That gave them the ability to deform under load and return to the original shape when somebody got out of the seat. I do not remember the type of spring steel wire used. When I rebuilt some seats of that era I did not have the ability to replicate those spring steel wires. So I used lengths of seat belt webbing instead. I sewed wire hooks to the ends and the webbing supported the foam on top of it nicely. Good luck with your project. EDIT: I'll bet lengths of ratchet strap webbing could be used too.
I'd measure the diameter (with a caliper) and try to find some music wire the same size. You can cold bend the ends of small music wire, just be careful. that seat looks like something for the "off topic" section, though.
Galv baling wire, the lighter gauge stuff. Should be able to replicate the original. It's not required to stretch, just flex slightly. Chris
when I worked on fleet trucks done a lot of seat repair .seats were over loaded and used all day .used to save broken heater cables to put in seats
I settled for chain link utility wire. Only thing around here. Looked at the barbed wire and the little devil on my shoulder said, “yeah that’s the right wire, yeah, right there.”
Keep it simple, bailing wire, light braided steel cable with the crush connector, redo with webbing and big head rivets would be nice.
Find an old sofa (or sofa bed, sometimes). They usually have enough in them. You may be able to cut grids out of one. Mike
I purchased spring wire in rolls from McMaster Carr and repaired mine It’s been a while so I don’t remember all the details.
I have replaced rusted seat wires with coat hangers bent by hand and cut to length. I used a couple "clamps" that I stole out of an old chair/couch to marry them together, so there was no welding involved.
^^^ yes, these wires don't look like the hardened wires that some seats use, see how they are just twisted on the ends to hold them on. The thing about mechanic's wire is that it is too thin and may cut into the foam, same thing with the coat hanger wire but it is a little thicker and may last longer. I guess the best thing would be to use the coat hanger wire and cover the whole thing with some type of fabric to keep the wires from cutting the foam.
Had a pro upholstery shop do my bench seat on an elco--glad i did. It needed the wires, etc. and they actually used some form of steel support in the seat--came out perfect, sits great and raised it up a little since it had sunk in over the years. Plus they were able to use the existing seat cover with no mods. I was going to tackle it myself, and so glad i didn't.
You cover the wires/springs with burlap, before adding the padding. It's been done this way for longer than I've been around.
I would think that seat webbing would need some ‘give/ stretch’ in it, something ratchet strap webbing doesn’t have. I tried some on household chairs, - didn’t work !
It is not the webbing that stretches. Nor does the original wire stringers. They are fastened to the seat frame by springs, kinda like a cheap bed frame. Study the photos the OP put up.You'll see.
Got it now. Thanks! I couldn’t get the original photos to enlarge and stay clear. I haven't seen that type of set up either though.
Here's a shot of what I did. Coat hangers bent to fit & clamps stolen from an old chair. Overlapped enough for the clamps to hold, and that's about it.
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