Looking at my Owner's manual I see there is a unit that goes on the end of the lever that allows you to move the seat back and forth. Does anyone have one of these for sale or know where I might find one for sale?

I wonder if perhaps the gears are rusted or jammed, and the seat is only moving partway. You could remove the seat cushion to gain access to the mechanism and then perhaps put some penetrating oil in the gears, then some grease.

What is the total length of the movement? Maybe someone with a Hudson of that era can tell you how far it ought to move.

Jon thank you for your help. Yesterday I removed the seat cushion and seat back so I can get a better look at the mechanism. it appears to me that the seat is already set as far back as it can be. I am missing the unit that goes on the end of metal arm that releases the tension so the seat can be moved. The gear wheel is frozen and my not be in the correct location (see photo). I hope to have more time today after registering the Hudson at DMV. They seem to time that I have to have a title but Connecticut does not issue titles for vehicles manufactured before 1983.

Warren,
It's going to be frustrating to learn as you go. Grab your 2020-2022 HET Club Roster and see if there is someone in your area that may be able to offer their expertise and assistance (Covid safe). You can also use the roster to locate owners of similar cars (starting on page 136) to see if they can offer advise and possibly parts. Not everyone who is willing to help is on this forum but I can assure you there is a lot of help out there. In focus photos are of great help too, on most phones you just need to tap on the area of the screen you want to focus on in order to bring it into focus. Be sure to have a good photo before you post it.

Regards,

John Forkner

If your seat is anything like mine 1937) the attachment / adjustment is as follows:

The bottom of the front seat (the part with the wooden frame from which you removed the seat cushion) is bolted to an upside down steel channel (the open side faces down). It is maybe I5 to 24 inches long. Beneath that, and fastened to the floor, is a similar channel. The two channels "nest" with one another, but are not fastened to each other. One pair of nesting channels for each side of the seat. Two round gears ride within each channel, support the seat. They sit several inches apart from one another. The gears ride on the bottom of the bottom channel, and support the top of the top channel. Once in place, you can slide the seat forward or back, supported by the 4 gears in its two sets of channels.

However, there has to be a way to hold the nesting channels together or you could just lift the seat right out of the car. So Hudson thoughtfully provide slots in the vertical walls of each pair of nesting channels. There are 4 slots (two in the upper channel, two in the lower channel. They are aligned with one another so you can insert a steel clevis pin through all 4 slots and through a hole drilled in the middle of the gear. Once the clevis pin is secured with a cotter pin and washer, the nesting channels cannot be pulled apart, and they are pinned to the gears. This happens at each of the 4 gears under the seat. Now the seat will slide forward and aft, smoothly, but cannot be removed from the car until the cotter pins are removed from the four clevis pins that hold the channels together. So, the first thing you must do is fumble under that wooden frame (shown in your photo), find the clevis pins, and remove the cotter pins. Then push the clevis pins out of the slots in the interlocking channels. Total of 4 clevis pins per seat. Now, the seat is freed up, and can be lifted out.

Lift the seat and inspect the four gears and the slots in which their clevis pins were inserted. Note the location of the gears in the lower track.. Before replacing the seat make sure the gears are placed in relation to the slots, so that the clevis pin holding the front gear hits the forward end of the slot (at the front of the seat), when the seat is at the front of its travel, and the clevis pin holding the rear gear hits the rear of the slot when the seat is at the rear of its travel. The actual stop point is where the clevis pins hit the ends of the slots. It will all make sense when you remove the whole seat and you can see the lower channel with its slots and gears. (Be sure to grease the tracks so the seat will slide easily.

If the gears are incorrectly placed in reference with the front and back of the slots, you will not get the maximum travel distance.

(This doesn't answer your question about the lever that locks the seat position, but possibly it will help you make sure of your correct seat travel.)

Thank you John, I will keep working on the front seat. As for the photo I see that it is out of focus and your information is very helpful.

Thank you again Jon, your information is very helpful as always. Yesterday I ran into another problem, my drivers door stopped working and now I can't get to open. Some part of the handle release mechanism must have broken or hopefully come apart. Seems like i am taking one step forward and two steps back. I will just keep plugging away.

The lock button may have to be down for the door to open. Up position is locked on some

Thank you Ed, I will check that out.

Thanks again Ed, the lock button was up and the threaded rod was exposed on closer examination
stopping the plastic part from clearing the whole keeping the door locked.

Anti theft from Hudson anyone trying to pull the button up with a coat hangar would be locking it.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my questions. I had a great day in my garage yesterday and felt I got a lot accomplished.
I took the seat and side mechanism out of the car. Check the seat mechanism over and used some Lithium grease to lubricate the rails. It seemed to work fine, outside the car. I think that it is as far back as it can go. I still would like to have more leg room, but do not see any way to make that happen. In the top photo it shows the bolt holding the mechanism at the back end, if I could loosen the front and back bolts, I could side the rails back. The problem is the front bolt is already at the front end and there is no room for adjustment.

Have you thought of try something like this you could bolt four small blocks in the mounting holes you already have with some 1/4 inch steel flat stock on top of them that goes from the front to were ever you want it to end then you could mount your seat adjustment rails back futher on the flat stock so you can move your seat back and forth this should give you more leg room the four blocks may also raise your seat up more so keep this in mind if you go this way.

You may be right: the seat may slide back as far as possible and you won't have enough space.

But let's make sure.

Working from memory, I THINK each seat track has TWO horizontal slots for the clevis pins (holding the rollers, bearings or gears; whatever you call them). Rather than one long slot. Is that the case in your car? And, are there slots in both the upper channel and lower channel -- so that you can actually align them by sliding the upper channels? (If this is not your situation then disregard my suggestions!)

The short answer to your question of "what's the distance of my seat adjustment" is: approximately the length of any of the slots (they should all be the same.)

If you need more movement, you might look for a newly-manufactured seat track with the adjustment you need. Look for them on the internet. There are lots of them for sale (but you'll have to adapt them to your Hudson). If the "slot distance" is acceptable to you but you see that the seat is NOT moving that distance, then someone has incorrectly placed the little gears and clevis pins that control the seat movement. In that case, continue reading.

I would suggest you unbolt the left and right upper channels from the underside of the seat's wooden frame. Much easier to check things without the seat in the way. Then replace the upper channels into the lower channels (bolted to your floor) and you'll have the complete track on each side, so you can observe the operation.

The clevis pins (which are the 'axles' of the round gears) are captured by the slots. Their correct placement within the tracks are critical to your getting the maximum distance of seat adjustment. Now that the seat is out of the way, it will be much easier for your to check the proper placement and re-adjust the positioning of the gears and clevis pins, for maximum adjustment.

With the gears and the clevis pins loosely placed (don't secure with the cotter pins) slide the upper channels toward the front of the car (as if you were adjusting the seat forward). Looking at the forward slots of the track (the ones closest to the front of the car), the slot on the upper channel and the lower channel will bypass one another and the open area will shrink until there is only enough room for the clevis pin of the forward gear. This is the forward 'stop point' for the seat. The clevis pin prevents the upper channel (holding the seat) from moving any further toward the front of the car.

Now look at the rear gear and its clevis pin. At this position the clevis pin should also be at the end of [u]its[/u] travel, the two (inner and outer) slots having bypassed one another until there is only enough room for the clevis pin holding the gear. The clevis pins of both front and rear gears must hit the ends of their travel (as defined by the ends of the slots) at the same time. If one clevis pin hits the end of its slot before the other pin does, you have limited the travel to less than it should be.