The driver's seat in my '01 LC started to bind on one side. My wife is shorter than myself, so we are constantly moving the seat back and forward. During the regular oil change at the dealer, we had them check out the problem. They say the seat rail track assembly needs to be replaced, at the same time the upholstery need to come off, and the total cost would be about $1400. I've checked to see if this was covered under the extended warranty, but unfortunately not.
I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this same problem and what was their solution.
I haven't experienced it, but the usual Dealer response to a problem like that is to shotgun replace everything that could possibly be causing the problem with all new parts.
It's as expensive as hell for you, but that way the dealer doesn't try a cheap fix (like just cleaning and lubing it, or changing the most likely bad part when there are three things that can go wrong) only to have you come back and insist "It's still broken! Fix it right this time, and for free!" People try to pull that on them all the time already.
I would block out a weekend, borrow a friend or relative's "spare car", get your tools together, and take the seat out of the car and the tracks apart - CAREFULLY. (You do NOT want any leftover parts when you're done.) It might need nothing more than take it apart, clean and lube the tracks and all the drive gears & cables, and put it back together. Or you find something breaking, broken or stripped inside, and you can order & replace just that one part.
Then again, I rate myself pretty high on both the "mechanical aptitude" and "fixing things without an instruction book" scales, which is why I suggest making arrangements something else to drive. That way if it takes you a few days to figure it out, get the parts, and reassemble it you're OK, there's no pressure to get it fixed and back together to drive it to work tomorrow.
There's also the 'replace it with a junkyard seat' route, but 2001 Cruisers aren't going to be hitting the scrappers in significant quantities anytime soon. Unless they've been in a serious wreck that could screw up the seat rails in the process.
If you have not done so already, the first thing that I would do is check out the mechanism for some foreign object - that lost flashlight maybe, and see if you can determine where and how it binds. I had the seats out of my '83 FJ-60 and it was no big deal, however [big however] the power seats in my FJ-100 would be another matter all together. If you cannot see any foreign object, then the followup post is probably a good place to start. My experience with Toyota dealership service is that it is anything but.
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