Fixing headrest

ArrowFlyer86

ArrowFlyer86

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Jul 17, 2019
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Location
Chicago suburbs
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Display name:
The Little Arrow That Could
What happened: After I bought my plane I made a terrible habit of using the passenger headrest as leverage as I got into and out of the plane. After about 20 flights I felt it finally give way and the headrest bent backwards. Whoops! Now both the metal support rods that go into it are bent as pictured below.

It would be a liability to put it back into the plane in this condition since the metal is now sharp at the spot where it bent, and it weakened to the point where it can't provide any support without snapping off completely. Thus I took that headrest out like 2 years ago and just lived without it (it's really just for style since the fixed angle it's at makes it hard to even use unless you fully reclined your seat). But I want it back in now for aesthetics.

Question: How would you go about repairing something like this? Or is it just FUBAR and I need to find new metal posts that slide in or send it to some shop that does interiors like this? Is there a good, simple DIY solution to fix this?

upload_2023-5-22_12-1-50.png
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
How would you go about repairing something like this?
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The easiest way is to call/google salvage places, check eBay, etc. for a similar headrest but in bad cosmetic shape. Have bought them in the $40-50 range in the past. Get it for a cheap as possible then swap out your upholstery to it. Best to get a part number for it to make searching easier. No real economical repair for that.
 
Bell206 said:
The easiest way is to call/google salvage places, check eBay, etc. for a similar headrest but in bad cosmetic shape. Have bought them in the $40-50 range in the past. Get it for a cheap as possible then swap out your upholstery to it. Best to get a part number for it to make searching easier. No real economical repair for that.
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:yeahthat:
 
I fabricated the headrests on my Warrior and this looks like an easy repair. Looks like you have the Airtex headrest cover with a velcro bottom. Open that and pull your headrest frame out of the cover. Be careful so you will not damage the foam padding. If the steel rods going into the frame are not welded on, remove those and replace with 3/8" stainless steel tubes or steel rods. The steel rods are more rugged than the tubes and will prevent the problem you had here. I believe I ordered mine from Aircraft Spruce and had Spruce cut them into 1 foot length. I used a grinder to make the ends of the tubes cone shaped so they will slip into the seat holes more easily. If you need to fabricate a frame, I can send you my notes and dimensions.
 
kshaw said:
I fabricated the headrests on my Warrior and this looks like an easy repair. Looks like you have the Airtex headrest cover with a velcro bottom. Open that and pull your headrest frame out of the cover. Be careful so you will not damage the foam padding. If the steel rods going into the frame are not welded on, remove those and replace with 3/8" stainless steel tubes or steel rods. The steel rods are more rugged than the tubes and will prevent the problem you had here. I believe I ordered mine from Aircraft Spruce and had Spruce cut them into 1 foot length. I used a grinder to make the ends of the tubes cone shaped so they will slip into the seat holes more easily. If you need to fabricate a frame, I can send you my notes and dimensions.
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thank you for that invitation!

Yeah, mine has a velcro bottom which I think allows me to remove the whole leather cover off of it. I've opened up the velcro before to take a peek and see how I might be able to separate the cushion from the rods, but it wasn't immediately obvious if/how they could be separated.

Question -- Is it required to have a certain type of rod? I.e., could I go to a hardware store and have them cut it for me? aircraft spruce is a 10 minute drive so that wouldn't be hard to have them do it, I just imagine they would give you aircraft pricing for that work :)
 
Bell206 said:
The easiest way is to call/google salvage places, check eBay, etc. for a similar headrest but in bad cosmetic shape. Have bought them in the $40-50 range in the past. Get it for a cheap as possible then swap out your upholstery to it. Best to get a part number for it to make searching easier. No real economical repair for that.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the suggestion, thanks! I'm going to see if I can do the approach from Kshaw first and if that fails I'm going to make some phone calls and see if I can get a replacement.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Question -- Is it required to have a certain type of rod?
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I doubt you're going to find chromed or polished tubing at Spruce. If you don't care about them being chromed or polished, I'd think that 2024 aluminum tubing would work. It's widely used in aviation applications. You can buy it from McMaster-Carr. www.mcmaster.com.

McMaster also sells polished stainless steel tubing and rods, if that's what you prefer.

Good luck. Post pictures of your repair work!
 
The hardest part will be drilling the holes in the tubes so that they fit into the holes in the seat back. There is a tight fit and if you do not drill them so that the rods are perfectly parallel, it will not work. I used the seat back as a template and inserted the rods into the seat back and drilled into the headrest frame that way. Use a drill press and start with a pilot hole bit because the regular drill bit will tend to bend a little and prevent a perfectly straight hole in the tube.
 
Years ago I went to a junkyard, found a circa 1980's Toyota and pulled the headrests. Think I paid $24 for the pair. Sent them to Airtex and he fixed them up great. The rods fit the holes in the seat perfectly.
 
iflyvfr said:
Years ago I went to a junkyard, found a circa 1980's Toyota and pulled the headrests. Think I paid $24 for the pair. Sent them to Airtex and he fixed them up great. The rods fit the holes in the seat perfectly.
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That was a nice score!
 
iflyvfr said:
Years ago I went to a junkyard, found a circa 1980's Toyota and pulled the headrests. Think I paid $24 for the pair. Sent them to Airtex and he fixed them up great. The rods fit the holes in the seat perfectly.
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Same here ^^^^^^^^
2002-2007 Corolla are a perfect fit in a Cessna and I bet many other models of cars.. Although not legal unless your AP is OK with it, so I am not encouraging that route even though you would have a better/safer headrest if you used Toyota parts. Just mentioning that should be illegal! Lol
Using hardware store rods are not legal either.
Getting a original from salvage is one way like Bell206 suggested. Learn from him.
There is a guy on eBay selling pma faa approved headrest frames.
 
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ArrowFlyer86 said:
As long as the repair work doesn't involve me completely embarrassing myself and destroying my headset -- I'll post photos :D
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If it involves that, post videos. :)
 
Gary Ward said:
View attachment 117774 My buddies arrow doesn’t have headrests.
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Most aren't but they usually are predrilled for the headrests. If you have the plastic cover on the back of the seat, you can remove and verify whether your seats are drilled or not. If have replaced those with Airtex seat covers, you can open the seat back velcro and check with an inspection camera.
 
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