Thomas Payne theater seating “broken” release lanyard

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Thought the cable had snapped on one of the two recliners because it would not recline. Ordered replacement cable. Turned out the lanyard was okay. Instead, the bolt that served as the fulcrum for the latch bell crank had fallen out! Fortunately, the loose bolt and nut did not get under the slide in front of the theater seating. That could have ruined the floor covering. It was an easy fix( just put the bolt back), but getting the seat out was a challenge as you can’t get to the two anchor screws if you can’t release the reclining mechanism. Here’s what a did. Use a needle nose lock wrench to grasp the shank of each screw where it’s visible beneath the frame along the front bottom of the locked seat ( the blue LEDs are attached to this frame member). You can back out the screws this way.

Turned out the same screw on the other seat was about to fall out too. Shoddy Lippert assemble IMO. So I fixed both, and now have two spare lanyards! Also, be forewarned that the online videos showing how to replace a broken lanyard do not accurately show how to remove the arm of the chair to gain access to the screws holding the lanyard mounting. (I did not have to replace the lanyard so don’t have an answer. I only saw one screw at the back of the arm, but none up front. )
 
Thought the cable had snapped on one of the two recliners because it would not recline. Ordered replacement cable. Turned out the lanyard was okay. Instead, the bolt that served as the fulcrum for the latch bell crank had fallen out! Fortunately, the loose bolt and nut did not get under the slide in front of the theater seating. That could have ruined the floor covering. It was an easy fix( just put the bolt back), but getting the seat out was a challenge as you can’t get to the two anchor screws if you can’t release the reclining mechanism. Here’s what a did. Use a needle nose lock wrench to grasp the shank of each screw where it’s visible beneath the frame along the front bottom of the locked seat ( the blue LEDs are attached to this frame member). You can back out the screws this way.

Turned out the same screw on the other seat was about to fall out too. Shoddy Lippert assemble IMO. So I fixed both, and now have two spare lanyards! Also, be forewarned that the online videos showing how to replace a broken lanyard do not accurately show how to remove the arm of the chair to gain access to the screws holding the lanyard mounting. (I did not have to replace the lanyard so don’t have an answer. I only saw one screw at the back of the arm, but none up front. )
I had the same thing happen to our seating. Looking at the seats, the left one came out buy pulling on it. Then lifted up the center piece and reached under with a stubby phillips screwdriver. When i got the seat out, the bolt had come out. examining the good seat, i found there was a part missing. Its the white part in the pic. Lippert saiys the part is not available and a whole mechanism has to be ordered. I tried to make a new part out of schedule 40 1/2 inch plastic pipe and some plastic washers for a 1/4 inch bolt. schedule 40 is too big so i will the 1/2" pvc. hpoe this helps.
 

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This bolt fell out of one of our recliners, and was loose and ready to fall out of the other one as well. Just no excuse for this lack of quality control on Lipperts part.
 

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