[jrbdeal]

So here's the answer (in the interest of closure) ... There are a pair of torx screws that attach the seat base to each of the rails in front. The seat bottom hinges in the back by design. After removing the 4 torx screws (not real accessible on the inside edge of the seat but doable), the seat can be hinged up/back which exposed the front motors and the flex drive cables. In hinging it up, the drive cables pull out from the rail gear box mechanisms. Once in that condition you can use a suitable size philips or flat blade screw driver to insert into each rail gear box mechanism (where the drive cables insert). It takes a while but you can then manually move the seat forward to reveal the rear seat rail bolts. Having first removed the front bolts, the seat could then be removed. As it turns out, my problem was a burnt contact inside the seat switch. Strangely, testing the switch with a volt meter suggested the forward/back switch action was working correctly. But using the front up/down switch as a check, it showed that the front/back motor was working fine. There was just enough continuity to allow 12v to pass but enough resistance due to the burned contact surfaces that not enough amperage could pass to spin the motor. Turns out you do not need to pull the seat to remove the switch box (so in the end I never did actually pull the whole seat out). Out of curiosity I opened up the switch box and found that the contacts associated with the forward/back switching were badly burned. I found a guaranteed/used switch on eBay for $28 delivered and I am back in business.