La-Z-Boy Repair

Something broke in the innards of the lazy boy a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't serious, it just wouldn't lock in the reclined position. It would continue to rock, which made it kind of an interesting experience for my inner six year old. I finally turned it over to find out what was wrong and I found a piece of piano wire that had connected the control rod to the anti-rocking latch. The end that connects to the latch appeared to have worn through. This recliner is old enough that it has the lifetime warranty on the mechanicals, which they stopped giving out umpteen years ago. I got it repaired once under warranty when the wooden base broke. I suppose I could have hauled the chair down to the store and had it repaired under warranty, but I figured I could replace the piano wire myself with a lot less effort, and so I did. Cost me 60 cents at the hobby shop for a piece of piano wire, and one Band-aid for the little hole I poked in my finger while I was vacuuming out the underside of the chair.

Underside of La-Z-Boy recliner showing location of control wire

The yellow line parallels the piano wire and the red arrows point to the attachment points. The original piece was bent in an arc. I was able to duplicate that by coiling about a foot of the wire into a circle about three inches in diameter.

Update November 2016 replaced missing picture.