How to Tighten Floppy Arm Rests on Flexsteel Chairs

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I fixed my floppy loose armrests today on my Flexsteel captain's chairs, both driver's side, and passenger side.

It took me a while to figure out the first one, and the other 3 went quickly.

Posting a how-to about it was an afterthought, so I didn't take pictures, although I wish I did so others can benefit from it, but I'll try to make this post as clear as possible without pictures.

This procedure should work for all Flexsteel chairs, and might even work for other brands.

The first thing to do in fixing the floppy arm rests was to figure out how they were attached.  I pulled the back cover, but nope, its not attached internally in the chair body.

So I removed the Flexsteel sticker in the middle of a chrome metal plate on the outside of the arm rest, and there are 2 phillips head screws under it.

Removing the screws allows the plate to be removed.  Then I pryed back the center fabric carefully..and it pulls right back...a little adhesive and a couple of staples hold it on to a subframe made of fiberglass coated wood.

You do have to slit the fabric under that cover to see the wood, and the inset nuts that are inset right into the wood.

Between the backrest cushion and the arm rest, you can feel the heads of 2 3/8 hex bolts.  They are about 2 inches long.

Two were completely loose and just being held in place by the fabric.  ALL of the rest were loose on both chairs.

They bolt the armrest to a flat piece of steel that is welded to the pivot...the pivot is a part of the frame of the chair itself, with a stop pin that keeps the arm rest from going up to high, and keeps the armrest at armrest level when lowered.  That flat piece of steel is hidden behind the fabric.

So this is how I tightened them.  The bolt closest to the pivot can actually be reached with an open end wrench, which you can slide right under the fabric and tighten it up.  It was a little challenging lining up the holes on the ones that weren't even in place anymore, but its doable.  I tightened these ones up first.  The two that were loose all the way were both bolts closest to the pivot.

The ones farthest from the pivot created more of a challenge, but I slit a small hole in the fabric to access the bolt head.  This bolt you can actually reach with a socket once you expose it.  You do have to push in on the backrest cushion, but it was easy to tighten that one up.

Three glitches in the operation, but I fixed them.

One, a PO must have tried to fix it himself, and used a weak longer bolt in place of the hardened stock bolt.  It was bent.  It was one farthest from the pivot, so I had to remove it and find one in my bin of hardware that matched...luckily I packrat hardware, so I actually had one that was a perfect match.

Two, even tightened, one armrest on the passenger side still drooped a little lower than the other 3 armrests.  I raised it, forced it back a tick which bent the stop pin downward, and when lowered it was now perfect.

Three, one of the inset bolts was spinning, no longer secured in the wood.  I held it in place with needlenose vice grips until it bit into the wood, and was able to tighten it the rest of the way.

Now I had to put it back together, but that was exceptionally easy.

Where you have to slit the fabric to access the outer bolt head is something that unless you are totally anal rententive is a done deal...its totally hidden between the arm rest and the back rest cushion.  Just keep the slit a small as you can and still access the bolt head.

Where you have to slit the fabric to see the inset nuts...which in retrospect you probably don't even have to do, but it makes it easier to line up bolts that are completely out...if you keep the slit minimal, the fabric around it is glued and stapled, and the outer fabric that you pried back as the first step in the process covers it.

The outer fabric that you have to pry back is actually an inset panel, and that inset panel is held in place by the little chrome plate and the 2 screws you originally removed...under the sticker.  Its actually a piece of sheetmetal covered in fabric and framed in a fabric piping.  Once you screw it back down with the plate and screws, it goes right back in place and looks like you never messed with it.

I now have 4 armrests that actually work and aren't floppy or wobbly anymore.  So if you have Flexsteel seats, this will probably work for yours as well.  If my bolts loosen up again over time, I'll use locktite on the threads next time I tighten them.

Again, I should have taken pictures, but wasn't thinking about it until I was already done and everything was already put back together.

I don't know if this procedure will work for other brands of chairs, or even all Flexsteel captain chairs, but it should give you an idea of what to expect.  Floppy armrests are annoying on long trips, and since you can't give them Viagra, you gotta fix 'em! 

Kev

[tiinytina]

too add to Flexsteel.. I had a recliner in my house made by the same company... had a cracked spring, broken bolt... contacted the company even though the recliner was ancient... they sent out replacement parts for free... awesome company to talk to as well.... (granted this happened about 15 years ago)...

Tina