David:

RE lifting the battery: I used to work in a garage in high school (back in
the days when we balanced tires by hand with a bubble glass).  Even back
then we had this nifty battery carrier that looked like those old fashioned
ice tongs (scissor action).  The ends were flat rubber and would grip the
sides of the battery for lifting out of tricky places.  I'll bet these might
be available at a FLAPS.

RE the seat tracks - I just replaced the little plastic do-hickies that the
seat rides on (about $4 at the dealer).  I also cleaned out the seat rails
with Simple Green real well and lubed it all with white grease.  Works
pretty well now, but still needs a good push to get started.  (I wonder if
they were ever easy to move?)

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"
Santa Barbara, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of ==David-M==
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 3:14 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Battery removal

I recently had to recharge my battery (my theft alarm went off and
failed to cut out thus draining the battery).

It was quite a task to get the battery out. First the seat would not
budge. Took me two hours of sweat to get it forward. Then the battery
was very heavy to lift with its housing giving no room to get hands in
to lift it.

Has anyone come up with a method to make battery removal easier. I
thought of a cradle going under the battery with a handle on each side?
Also, do the seat tracks need greasing to make the seat slide easier?