Back seat questions on 01 sport

[djpickens1]

I have a 2001 Explorer Sport that I just bought a few days ago not knowing that that it was only a 4 seater. I just had a baby and I have 2 other little ones as well. I bought it as a family vehicle. I don't have the money to buy a different one, is there a 3 person rear seat for the sport or will a set from a 4 door work? Or failing that? Can I fabricate seat belt mounts? I appreciate the help even if it's a no. The truck just just has to work until tax season when I can buy a 4 door.

 

[jimphx]

I'm new to the board but by doing a similar forum search they didn't make a factory third row seat for a 2nd gen explorer. They started to in 02 models and newer. You may be able to modify a 02 third row into a 01 but I really don't know. There is a site that sells a aftermarket one but its pricey $495.00. I would do a forum search( third row seat 01 explorer) and see what others manage to come up with. There is a lot of info on this topic. Hope this helps and here is the link to that site that sells the seat. http://www.littlepassengerseats.com/explorer91.html#.VBQC5vldWHQ

 

[djpickens1]

I saw that site also, however I'm looking to replace the 2nd row, not add a 3rd row. But thank you

 

[J_C]

I'm guessing the rear/bed pan on a 2nd gen is too high for 3rd row anyway, although a small (short) child wouldn't need the height as much. Otherwise you could add reinforcement plates to the floor, drill holes, and bolt in *just about anything*.

 

[djpickens1]

From the tri-state area as well? Haha. Anyways I was going to head down to besslers in Hebron and see if I could just replace my 2nd row seat with a 3 seater from a full size 4 door model or if I was out of luck. Any thoughts?

 

[J_C]

Edit: At first I thought you meant a Ford Excursion by "full size 4 door model" so most of my reply may be irrelevant. I've no idea if a full bench seat from a 4 door Explorer would work, depends on how your current seats are set up. On the 4 dr. the rear of the seat sits on a hump and has a hinge on both ends so it swivels to fold, as well as hinges at the bottom of the front legs. If a full bench was an option on Sports then I'd *assume* it's a direct bolt-in replacement. I often assume things in error.

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Now my prior reply:

The problem with that may be that the floor of some (all?) Excursions seem to be more or less flat and the seats have full length legs/supports/whatever. I could be wrong, am only looking at pictures.

I don't know about a 2001 Sport but in my '98 X and all others I saw pictures of, the 2nd row seats have a short back leg supports sitting up on the hump the floor takes to make room for the gas tank. In other words the seats won't physically fit unless you can remove parts of the rear support somehow to make them short enough to mount to the hump, and possibly fabricate a mounting bracket.

No idea if the bolt pattern or floor pan match up but I doubt it so you'll probably have to do some drilling and possibly cutting or possibly make an adapter plate with holes for both the new seats and the position on the floor. Then again I don't know if an Explorer is wide enough for it to fit at all.

 

[djpickens1]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry about the confusion, I am referring to an explorer. Guess it's time to see if I just can't fabricate some seat belts. Maybe source them from a four door explorer. Starting to run out of options.

 

[J_C]

You could probably make the standard bolt-on seat belts (from many different vehicles) work, but particularly those with a separate spool box rather than integrated into the door. I'd pick whatever matches your interior better.

 

[djpickens1]

You could probably make the standard bolt-on seat belts (from many different vehicles) work, but particularly those with a separate spool box rather than integrated into the door. I'd pick whatever matches your interior better.

That seems possible, I guess grab the middle belt and it's buckle, and then move both of the other belt buckles. Just have to find somewhere secure to mount it to.

 

[MercuryMullet]

Alot of car seats don't even use the seat belts any more. In my off road truck I installed car seat attach points to the roll cage. You could probably do the same and have the center carseat attach (secure) to the floor area.

 

[djpickens1]

Alot of car seats don't even use the seat belts any more. In my off road truck I installed car seat attach points to the roll cage. You could probably do the same and have the center carseat attach (secure) to the floor area.

Stupid ford decided to place the buckles right directly in the middle of the bench so if I did that, they'd be covered by the car seat base. I'd have to relocate those.

Are you talking about LATCH anchors? If so, where would I find those for sale?

 

[MercuryMullet]

I used winch cable around the cage.

 

[J_C]

I took a few pics of my 60/40 split bench on the '98 4dr. It has 3 x seat belts and the outer (rear) hinges mount on the hump without legs, are 48" wide at center of hinge.

Most of the way folded down:

Notice the right side floor mount which has both the red latch and the belt reel for the middle seat belt integrated into it, with the whole module bolting to the floor.

Notice the other red latch mounts for the middle and left passenger are part of the seat frame piece which also bolts down to the floor.

The left and right side passengers' belts come out of reels inside the side panels.

What it all looks like with seats up and belts buckled.

If you have a place to mount those 48" wide hinge brackets on the hump then the rest is just hardware that comes off the donor truck, and possibly you needing to drill a few holes and add your own fasteners. If you need other measurements let me know, though I may be delayed in responding with them as it's supposed to storm for a few hours tonight.

 

[MercuryMullet]

But yes the latch points. You might try a junk yard. Every car 02 and up has them. Get you 6 of em and reinforce if needed and you can run 3 car seats. By law I think the latch is only legal if the child and seat are under 65lbs combined weight.

 

[J_C]

I almost forgot, left side, front hinged legs:

Right side, front hinged leg:

 

[Blue91Ex]

have you tried swapping in the whole 60/40 bench and seat belt setup from a 92-01 4 door explorer? i cant imagine the floor pans are so different you couldnt make it work with a little hole drilling...

 

[djpickens1]

Ok. On my sport it appears that the back seat is placed in between the hump because of its shorter wheelbase. I might just have to order a seat off that website up in the second post. Place it in the rear. God this stuff can be infuriating sometimes. Thank you guys for you help, all of you guys. I appreciate it.