02' to 03' Seat swap

Dwelves02XLT · March 24, 2011

Searched and searched on 3rd Gen forum and couldnt find the exact answer needed so here I go with my questions.

I have an 02' XLT 4DR (not a Sport Trac) which came with those hideous sport bucket seats (non adjustable headrest ones) and recently came across a pair of bucket seats off a 2003 which do have the adjustable headrest. Driver side is power and passenger manual for both the seats I have and the donor. The question is should it be a direct swap for either of the two, just unscrew the nuts/bots off mine and unplug any wiring and then place new in and then reverse the process? Secondly, as I came across some of the searched information looking for; I read something about seatbelts matching up. Anyone know right off the bat if this is going to be a problem with seatbelts on an 02' working with the reciever on an 03' bucket seat?

Last question, on the 2nd row seats, will the brackets match up from an 03' to an 02'? The seats I currently have are the 3 section parts, and the seats I am looking at are also the same, except the middle seat has the seatbelt in the seat.

Any information would be great.

Thanks

Limited02 · March 24, 2011

If the other is a 3rd gen 4-door(like yours) there shouldn't be any problems with anything hooking up. There's only one way to find out

Dwelves02XLT · March 24, 2011

Thanks for the reply, been waiting since i've posted this for one. Yes the donor vehicle is a 3rd gen (2003) once I get it going, will post pics, plan on replacing instrument cluster also along with radio bezel too.

Limited02 · March 24, 2011

I've taken my seats out a few times(for drag racing

) and it's fairly straight forward.

Dwelves02XLT · April 2, 2011

Limited02 said:
If the other is a 3rd gen 4-door(like yours) there shouldn't be any problems with anything hooking up. There's only one way to find out

Well everything went well as far as seat mounting and placement goes. The only major snag is the two front bucket seats. Apperently my dumb a$$ didnt bother to double check the wiring harness that come with the 03. The rear 40/20/40 seats went in with no problems, seat belts work and all. The two front having the wiring issues. My 02' has the huge wiring harness while the 03 donor seat has the small. Sort of stuck on what to do now, I know a possible option is splice the wires off the 03' seat and search local junk yard and pick up an exact 02' harness; splice and crimple and tape the wires and hope it works, dont want to cut/slice/crimple anything on my original seat seeing if nothing works I at least have the option to put them back.

skip20 · April 2, 2011

Same idea! But install 99 Limited seats in 06 Ranger w/manual seat.
Need wiring info on the driver seat?

Mine has a 4 pin plug for the seat seat & I guess the air bag, seat has 2 pin plug.

Dwelves02XLT · April 2, 2011

Hot damn! I figured it out... for anyone who ever ventures on doing this project. Its simple and shouldnt take anymore then 10 minutes max, basically you have to remove the seat belt buckles (just removal of two bolts attached to seat track) from both original seats and donor. With that being said, just unplug and remove all the wiring which is all bundled and routed to the seat belt. Since the seats are basically the same thing, just different back support, just take your wiring from your seats with the seatbelt buckle attached and place on donor seat and re-route wires, plug everything back up, harness plugs will match up. Apply the same rule to the passenger (just easier). My donor 03' driver side seat had a bunch of other wiring, possibly airbag, heat, etc. dont know, but knowing my original came with just power seat functions, it was an easy swap. Doing it this way keeps your same buckle and wiring avoiding any cutting, splicing. Plug battery back up and verify everything works which it does.

The funny thing about all of this is, my wife was the one who propose swapping the wires, which I never even thought about it, but her suggestion worked and save me a bigger headache from going my first route.

skip20 · April 2, 2011

That's all well & good but when I went to remove the seat belt from the 06 Ranger this is what I got.
Don't know or understand what the silver tube is, has 2 wires going to it with a warning tag that it goes BANG!

And the power rack

Dwelves02XLT · April 2, 2011

Skip20... Honestly dont know what to tell you. The route I went with worked due to the fact I stuck with the same generation vehicle. As for your situation, the only thing I can recommend is probably going to be splicing the wires and hooking them up together. I am not a mechanical expert, nor electrician and if someone out there can chime in with a better suggestion, by all means shoot away. Does the Ranger's seat have the capability to be completely removed from the seat track? If so, possibly mount the 99 Limited seats on the 06 ranger seat track. I know with the 3rd Gen Explorer buckets', they are all one piece from I what can tell.

02' to 03' Seat swap

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