wildlife R1T
Member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2025
- Messages
- 36
- Reaction score
- 7
- Rivian
- 2024 R1T
I had an incident once, were I dropped a USB stick off the center console and between the console and seat. Trying to get it out I pushed it further in and after 2 mins, my USB endoscope couldn't find it and aimlessly moving a magnet under there couldn't recover it (doesn't help that only the tip is magnetic). Bad news then was, it turned out the cavern under the seat was far worse than expected. Good news was that I was able to successfully remove seat and recover; although even after removing seat it took awhile to find and recover using an endoscope, long piece of wire and a magnet so it is not necessarily easy to find even with seat out.
Seat removal:
- Move seat all the way back + Pop covers off front corner covers to reveal 16mm bolts. Remove bolts.
- To avoid breaking covers during seat movement, I closed the covers then proceeded to slide seat all the way forward, pop covers off rear two bolts and remove these. Same 16mm. Re-engage covers avoid damage while you move seat.
- After bolts were removed I was able to easily flop front seat and rest on rear. I was happy to see that there was only one wire harness going to seat with plenty of slack. My main concern of this job was that I would need to disconnect wires, the disconnection would trigger an error in the computer + I would be unable to clear it without Rivian's help (resulting in a long wait for a service appointment). This was not the case. After removing the clip holding the wire to the floor of the truck with a panel removal tool there was plenty of slack to do the job without disconnecting any electrical connectors.
- There is a black plastic panel covering what I believe is the stereo amplifier. This is not secured with bolts but with clips. I was able to pop the front clips (seat resting on rear seat) then from the backseat push driver seat against steering wheel and pop back clips and the piece was then easily removed. Careful - the pieces are plastic and excessive force removing (or installing) will likely break them easily (especially is not properly lined up when installing when you try to punch it into place).
- After panel is removed you have reasonable access to "the cavern"... it was worse than I expected. It is not only the area under the amp? but the low point under the raised heater runs all the way under the center console and presumably to a similar cavern under the passenger seat. When I eventually found my USB stick with the aid of a camera it was almost all the way to the passenger side under the center console. With the aid of an endoscope camera, I had to carefully rotate it using some wire to face the magnetic side to me and then fetch it with my magnet, all without pushing it further in and needing the passenger seat off too.
Installation:
- Reinstallation is reverse of removal. Get the seat well aligned, move seat to give access to front and rear bolts, keep covers closed while moving, carefully push down black cover to engage clips + reinstall wire harness in black cover.
- Before removing the first bolts, I tried to tighten them with my torque wrench gradually increasing torque until I was able to slightly move the bolt in an attempt to find an approximate torque spec. I got to 75 ft lb. I felt very good when I retorque the bolts to 75 and the pink paint line exactly lined up but this is not from official information and your mileage may vary. Worth noting there appears to be blue loctite on the bolts from install. You may want to reapply. I did not though. I did a recheck on the torque after a month to confirm they were not loosening and they weren't.
Seat removal:
- Move seat all the way back + Pop covers off front corner covers to reveal 16mm bolts. Remove bolts.
- To avoid breaking covers during seat movement, I closed the covers then proceeded to slide seat all the way forward, pop covers off rear two bolts and remove these. Same 16mm. Re-engage covers avoid damage while you move seat.
- After bolts were removed I was able to easily flop front seat and rest on rear. I was happy to see that there was only one wire harness going to seat with plenty of slack. My main concern of this job was that I would need to disconnect wires, the disconnection would trigger an error in the computer + I would be unable to clear it without Rivian's help (resulting in a long wait for a service appointment). This was not the case. After removing the clip holding the wire to the floor of the truck with a panel removal tool there was plenty of slack to do the job without disconnecting any electrical connectors.
- There is a black plastic panel covering what I believe is the stereo amplifier. This is not secured with bolts but with clips. I was able to pop the front clips (seat resting on rear seat) then from the backseat push driver seat against steering wheel and pop back clips and the piece was then easily removed. Careful - the pieces are plastic and excessive force removing (or installing) will likely break them easily (especially is not properly lined up when installing when you try to punch it into place).
- After panel is removed you have reasonable access to "the cavern"... it was worse than I expected. It is not only the area under the amp? but the low point under the raised heater runs all the way under the center console and presumably to a similar cavern under the passenger seat. When I eventually found my USB stick with the aid of a camera it was almost all the way to the passenger side under the center console. With the aid of an endoscope camera, I had to carefully rotate it using some wire to face the magnetic side to me and then fetch it with my magnet, all without pushing it further in and needing the passenger seat off too.
Installation:
- Reinstallation is reverse of removal. Get the seat well aligned, move seat to give access to front and rear bolts, keep covers closed while moving, carefully push down black cover to engage clips + reinstall wire harness in black cover.
- Before removing the first bolts, I tried to tighten them with my torque wrench gradually increasing torque until I was able to slightly move the bolt in an attempt to find an approximate torque spec. I got to 75 ft lb. I felt very good when I retorque the bolts to 75 and the pink paint line exactly lined up but this is not from official information and your mileage may vary. Worth noting there appears to be blue loctite on the bolts from install. You may want to reapply. I did not though. I did a recheck on the torque after a month to confirm they were not loosening and they weren't.
