Benjamin, I did the same thing and after hours of
prodding and head scratching, I resigned myself to
de-upolsterizing the arm rest to get at the innards. I
found there is a nut into which the long spindle of
the adjuster knob fits. The nut sits in a little
cradle held in by gravity. when I removed the spindle
the nut rolled out of place. I realized there would
have been no way to get it back in place without
accessing the insides of the arm rest.

One thing I learned by mistake was that, after
removing the fabric, I didn't have to remove the foam
that was glued to the wooden top piece of the arm
rest. The top piece is a strip of wood screwed into
the plastic arm rest body with phillips head screws.
You can poke around with a finger and screwdriver
through the foam to access the screws. Then you don't
have to rip the foam off and reglue it, as did the
author.

After I chalked up the ten hours I spent on the stupid
arm rest, as a "learning experience," I found the
Bentley manual did show the easy way to remove the arm
rest from the seat proper.

If requested, I'll explain any part of the process in
more detail.

Happy Christquanzanucha!
Doran.

--- Benjamin Tan <BenTbtstr8@AOL.COM> wrote:
> Hello Listees,
>
> I repaired the sagging front seat armrest of my '87
> GL w/ the help of the
> archives. The "idiot" method worked best for me.
>
> Unfortunately, I made the attempt before consulting
> the archives. I unscrewed
> the adjusters in the process and now cannot seem to
> thread them back on. Any
> hints? I'd hate to have to strip the upholstery off
> the armrest. It would
> negate the elegance of the "idiot" solution.
>
> BenT
> Citadel Properties.
> San Francisco
> (650) 994-7253
>
> '87 GL Vanagon
> '88 Fox Wagon
> '89 Jetta GL
> '80 Rabbit pick-up
> '83 323i BMW (gray market)
> '72 911 Targa (soon to be parted out)
> '76 914 converted to 914-6 configuration
> '79 Mercedes 280TE (gray market)
> 80 Mercedes 300D
>

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