here is ONE post from the archives:  http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind9901D&L=vanagon&P=R8230

their are many more.  m2cw  m

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From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>

Jay asked about this, and it might be of general interest, so I am forwarding my reply to Malcolm earlier missive to the list.  this is for arm rests that are, as someone once said on the list, "loose as a goose."  That is, they simply swivel around, the adjustment mechanism will not hold the arm rest in place.  Not difficult, just awkward.
--
David McNeely

> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 10:17:15 -0500
> From:  <mcneely4@cox.net>
> To: Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [VANAGON] cleaning seat upholstery
>
> Malcolm, what is the "drift in"?  Is that a name for the pin that secures the arm rest to the seat hardware?  I pushed that out with a punch, and put it back in similarly.  I would need to examine it again to be sure of the mechanics, but it was pretty straightforward, though rather awkward. If I recall correctly, the most difficult thing about it was that I had to hold the dense foam out of the way with a screwdriver as a lever in order to get at the mechanism.  After removing the arm rest, I I then had to cut into the foam of the armrest to get to the adjustment screw and put it back on its track as it had suffered some kind of  a blow that made it jump out of the track.  I had some trepidation about cutting the foam, but when I fitted all back together, all was well.  Works great now.

At the time, about a year ago, I consulted more than one local repair service (body shops, interior trim shops) about this, and was told there was no solution except to replace the seat.

When I did this, I was impressed by the quality of the entire assembly compared to things I see on many makes of vehicles.  Most such parts are rather fragile plastics, whereas this entire thing is steel, wood, and dense foam.

  Thanks, DMc