sparkyguy

'93 SC-400
Front seat problems. The white plastic plug for the right-angle drive gears is missing. Car was purchased used and therefore the plug has probably been vacuumed up years ago (we've searched anyway hoping we were wrong . . . it is LONG gone).

I found two web-sites that have replacement plugs for seats in the Toyota Land Cruiser. They "looked" close so I ordered a couple hoping they would fit. Unfortunately, they do not. The outside thread dimensions on the correct plug measures about 15.97 mm and the ones for the Land Cruiser measure about 13.75 mm.

I've spent HOURS digging on Internet and attempting to figure out another fix. I was hoping I could get a metal bolt of the correct thread and cut off a 1/2" long chunk of the threaded part, cut a slot in the end to permit me to screw it into the gear housing with a screwdriver and then use a dremyl tool to grind a small pocket into the inside of it (similar to the original plug). However, I found that the thread on the OEM plug is very, very fine and appears to be about 1 mm pitch. Therefore, it is NOT a standard metric or SAE size, so THAT option won't even work either.

The missing plug is the ONLY thing wrong with the seat and apparently, this is a fairly common problem with Toyota's and Lexus vehicles.

What have other owners done to replace their missing plugs? I REALLY hate considering purchase of a $150 seat base from a parts recycler for a tiny plastic plug.