Passenger Seat 285 Freedom Actuator Issue

J

JLR

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Freedom 285
The passenger seat will go out but not go back in. I guess I need to access the actuator. I can't figure out how to get to the internal electrical components of the seat to be able to troubleshoot. Any help would be appreciated.
 
I'd either contact GW Cust Service or your local dealer. I find the best way is to just have at it. Usually commercial off the shelf parts are used by GW and if you can get to the part and identify it, you can find it on the web.
 
How do I get inside the seat?
 
More details. At the end of last season, I had the seats recovered. Since that time, after the fellow put the passenger seat back after having removed it from the boat, it no longer goes in with the switch. It will go out. Since the seat had been removed and put back in, I am inclined to think the problem is with the seat and or actuator. I do not think it is with the switch. Just a few quick questions to confirm what I am thinking. First, if the switch does activate the seat to go out (albeit but not in), I suspect power to the switch itself is fine. If it were not fine, the switch should not activate the seat in either direction? Second, I do not know yet whether the seat sits on some sort of rails with perhaps an object stuck on one of the rails preventing it from going in. I hope to check that. Third, if I reverse the electrical power feed to the switch, I should get the going in motion to activate? Right now, I do not hear it activating when trying to go in at all. Sound right?
 
JLR said:
More details. At the end of last season, I had the seats recovered. Since that time, after the fellow put the passenger seat back after having removed it from the boat, it no longer goes in with the switch. It will go out. Since the seat had been removed and put back in, I am inclined to think the problem is with the seat and or actuator. I do not think it is with the switch. Just a few quick questions to confirm what I am thinking. First, if the switch does activate the seat to go out (albeit but not in), I suspect power to the switch itself is fine. If it were not fine, the switch should not activate the seat in either direction? Second, I do not know yet whether the seat sits on some sort of rails with perhaps an object stuck on one of the rails preventing it from going in. I hope to check that. Third, if I reverse the electrical power feed to the switch, I should get the going in motion to activate? Right now, I do not hear it activating when trying to go in at all. Sound right?
Click to expand...
I don't know anything about your seat but I do know how the motor and switch work. There is only one motor for the seat actuator. The switch will reverse
the polarity and drive the motor in forward/reverse. If it will drive in one direction and not the other it is likely a bad switch or a wire came off.

the polarity Screenshot 2025-10-05 at 8.13.04 AM.png
 
If I understand the wiring schematic, I can test the motor in both directions by simply removing the power leads, first connecting them directly to each lead to the motor. Then, I can reverse the power leads on the same motor studs on the switch to check the motor movement in the other direction. Correct?
 
JLR said:
If I understand the wiring schematic, I can test the motor in both directions by simply removing the power leads, first connecting them directly to each lead to the motor. Then, I can reverse the power leads on the same motor studs on the switch to check the motor movement in the other direction. Correct?
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
I would suspect the switch or switch wiring assuming that you do not hear the motor running when the actuator is supposed to go in.
Since the motor runs in one direction, I would expect it to run with reversed polarity with one caveat. If the seat mechanism has limit switches that stop the motor from running when the end of travel is reached, it would be possible that the seat was reinstalled with the actuator not positioned correctly
 
Would have to look at how many wires are coming out of the seat to the switch. You would need more than 2 for the motor to have limit switches.

Here is a 2-wire with limit switches.

Screenshot 2025-10-07 at 3.03.01 PM.png

When you say the motor runs in one direction and not the other - where is the seat positioned - all the forward or back possibly at a limit switch?
 
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It turns out the motor does run in both directions --- or at least tries to. When trying to pull the seat in, and, after engaging the switch, I hear a "clunk". Thus, there is power to the motor in both directions. I have the fellow coming today who reinstalled the seat to take a look. Where are the limit switches located --- on the actuator itself?
 
I too suspect that the seat was reinstalled with the actuator in the wrong position.
 
It turns out that nothing was wrong after all. Despite having owned the boat for the past three years, it never occurred to me that this lounge seat when fully retracted was still substantially longer than the seat it backs up to. So, I fully extended the seat and then lifted it to observe that when fully retracted, it was actually working fine. Just odd that it sticks out so far when fully retracted.
 
Well, here's an update. After careful inspection, it does appear that the seat is not fully retracted. It's not an actuator issue. It looks to me like when the seat recover folks placed the chair back in, they seemed to have afixed it in the wrong place. The actuator is in the middle of two rails. On top of each rail is what I would call a skid. The seat attaches to the skid on each side. These skids are pulled in and out by the actuator. However, it seems to me that the seat recover people glued or somehow attached the seat not fully back to the end of each skid. It is attached about 8-10" from the end of the skid. So, while the skid pulls fully back in, the seat still sticks out 8-10" too far. If anyone has any insight as to how the seat is afixed to the skid, I'd love to hear it. All I can see is some cardboard on the bottom of the seat with some staples into the skids. Before I try to remove anything, I want to make sure it is done right. Any ideas?
 
If you have the manufacturer of the seat I would call them. GW Customer Service should be able to tell you that.

My guess is that the actuator has to be aligned with seat when it is assembled. Something like actuator all the way forward or backward.
 
Hookup1 said:
If you have the manufacturer of the seat I would call them. GW Customer Service should be able to tell you that.

My guess is that the actuator has to be aligned with seat when it is assembled. Something like actuator all the way forward or backward.
Click to expand...
Thanks. GW customer service gave me the wrong information regarding even accessing the actuator. I am not counting on them. Once again, I am unite sure it is not an actuator position issue. It is an issue with where the seat itself was placed on the two skids that the actuator pulls in and out.
 
Does the actuator travel the full length forward/backward? If it does then the seat is mounted incorrectly.

GW should be able to tell you the manufacturer. There are not that many companies that make seats like your. Get some Google searches going and find out.
 
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