Crazy 3rd row idea...Will it work?

[Curtis]

That would be really nice but it's a little rich for my blood. I'm looking at an early Ranger bench right now. I think that will fit in nice.
If it ultimately is too wide or tall I can scavenge another bench out of some other vehicle. I'll just go get to play at the junkyard with my tape measure .
I'm getting my other seats reupholstered anyway (they need it ridiculously badly) so I'm just going to get the extra row I pick up at the JY done at the same time so they all match.

Yip crazy expensive for me too.
I think you have a great idea, and for sure something will measure up at the junk yard.

 

[SwaintaN]

ive done this... i got third row...

its nice cause it folds down, has quick disconnects and hidesaway under the cover

 

[tweakedlogic]

ive done this... i got third row...

Any chance i could get you to share where that seat came from?


I temporarily put two sport seats in there from my rx7. The fit really nicely. Except for completely blocking my rear window.

 

[SwaintaN]

seat ran me 400 and came with all install hardware including seat belts. the price since mine has went up! but i got it here you can get universal seat belts from ebay or hit me up i got one or two left over that i can get rid of for a few bucks


edit: OH YEAH... so light weight! my 9 yr old son can take it out and in!

 

[Baddecision93]

That's a really nice seat Swain.

Now did you have to put metal reinforcements under the floor pan for the bolts to pull into or just drilled holes and that was good enough?

I read another guy's write-up on here where he put an old Colt seat in the back and he matched the bottom of the rails with plate to run the bolts into so it dispersed the weight & prevented the bolts just twisting the floor pan.

 

[Flip4ford]

Mopar must have read this thread-- I guess they arlready have an optional 3rd row seat that faces backward in the 4 door.

But I like how this is shaping up.

 

[SwaintaN]

they say you can just drill through the metal... but i bought longer bolts for the back part of the seat, got a metal tube 3", had a friend weld it to the floor pant all the way across, my bolts go through the seat brackets into the tube and then nutted. i used Grade 12 (from Menards) bolts, not cheap bolts though... the front bolts/quick releases that came with the seat were a little more tricky. I made a hole in the carpet and sound damper to show the floor panel, under neath there is a 1/2" metal strip welded up and again bolts go through it (however i dont run a spare tire under neath so now sure how it would interfere with the spare, also i had to buy a a VERY long wrench to get em.. i will tell you so you dont do the same as me... while it says ONE PERSON JOB!!! BS! after an hour i got peed off and grabbed my son... kind of hard as hell to be under your truck and in it at the same time, two ppl make it sooo much easier!

 

[Baddecision93]

That's great info Swain. I was thinking about just putting reinforcement plates down below and just running the bolts into them but I like your idea of a tube a lot better. Especially welded.
That seems like it would prevent a lot of potential sideways twisting because there would be tons of leverage against that happening.

Also didn't know they made grade 12 bolts but I would say in a safety application it's absolutely worth the cost. I will be sure to get those when it comes time.

 

[SwaintaN]

I didnt know they did either, but when i had to replace the bolt that tightened around the camber/caster area i found grade 12, so i figured really strong bolt.. it got a Allen Head instead of regular wrench head. if i remember right it was like 8.99 per bolt when i did the seat, but they came with nuts and 2 washers per bolt.

 

[Baddecision93]

Awesome. Well for a little bit extra it's definitely worth it.

I intended to go to the junkyard last night but the weather kept me away. Hopefully I'll have some measurements in the next day or two to keep me moving along with this project

 

[Baddecision93]

Update!

Ok, so got out to the junkyard and got some measuring done.

Bad news bears though...they flooded out with everybody else here a few weeks ago and most of the cars became submarines. There were some pretty uh, fresh smelling, interiors. But I was at least able to measure.

Measured the Ex and there are 42" between fenderwells in the back. The Explorer 2nd row seat would fit pretty well cause it's curved to go around the fender wells but it would have to be up off the floor some.

I prefer keeping the seat flush to the floor since the roll pan to roof distance is a lot less in the cargo area. If I can keep the seat mounted as close to the floor as possible it will allow some headroom and then legroom will come via the recessed floorpan I'm making (in theory).

So any guesses on what seats in the junkyard measure less than 42" wide?
Anyone?

S10? Ranger? Kia? Honda? Ford Tempo?



Nope.
Chevy Venture 2nd row.

Who would've thought? They make them super narrow so you can walk by and get to the third row. They only had 2 of those vans down there so idk if they're all like that but I plan on doing more looking.

My friend also mentioned looking for a Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable stationwagon 3rd row since it's actually quite tiny. That might be the ticket actually. I need to try to find one of those and get measurements too. I know it has a shorter bench height than the Chevy one so that may end up being the route I go.

 

[SwaintaN]

have you tried this thread? that was given to me when i first started my 3rd row

 

[Baddecision93]

Thanks Swain. I've actually read this one but Dodge Colts are getting harder and harder to come by lol.

This is the post that made me think that I needed to use plate reinforcement underneath but to be honest I prefer your idea of using a piece of tube instead.

I really, really can't wait to do this . I have no idea why but I really like the rear facing idea. It will be nice for being able to use the cargo area though as I can still load stuff up onto the seat.

I was also looking and the way that the two seat backs will angle into each other it just so happens that it allows perfect clearance for a truck subwoofer box. I see a truck box with two 12s in my future

 

[SwaintaN]

i thought about the sub box, i could get a sub box behind mine and the door.. but i think im gonna go back to putting a subbox in the cargo spot like i had before (now that im out of the bad city) and throw 2 6x9 in the rear gate

 

[Baddecision93]

Ooo, let me know how the 6x9s in the gate go. I'd thought about that but didn't know if the rattle would be too bad.

 

[SwaintaN]

ive seen it done.. friend of mine did it in his durango... you cut the hole for the 6x9s where they will not be in the way of any components, wires, metal blablabla once you have the cut where you want it then take off the plastic piece off of the door.. lin the door with sound stopper... your choice he used spray on,go ahead and run your speaker wires while its off, then put plastic back on, get 6x9 spaces to push away from the door a tad bit and install them, run your cords however you would like... no rattle, but when you walk behind his duragno you could hear them

hoping this summer i can get a little extra money and pick me up a set of 6x9s and rewire up my car audio... run the Front Door/Back Doors/Center Console as the front speakers and in the cargo area run them four speakers as the rear

 

[snake70]

ok finally getting up enough determination to do this. bought a new explorer a 98. bought the rear seat from sable wagon got the belts. a few more measurements and i will be confident to start cutting

 

[Baddecision93]

ok finally getting up enough determination to do this. bought a new explorer a 98. bought the rear seat from sable wagon got the belts. a few more measurements and i will be confident to start cutting

Mine has kind of fallen to the back burner. Curious to see how you build goes. Is the seat narrow enough to actually fit in between the fender wells?
The only seat I could find in my local junkyard that was close enough was out of a Chevy Venture. It's been a year now but if I recall it was actually the 2nd row that was narrow enough. It was basically "recessed" to allow pass-through access to the 3rd row.

 

[4wheeltom]

Has anyone thought of using a Fold an Tumble rear seat out of a Wrangler? It should fit back there pretty good and can also be easily removed. Shouldn't be to hard to find either, a lot of the Jeep guys don't even use a back seat.

 

[Baddecision93]

Has anyone thought of using a Fold an Tumble rear seat out of a Wrangler? It should fit back there pretty good and can also be easily removed. Shouldn't be to hard to find either, a lot of the Jeep guys don't even use a back seat.

Hadn't considered that but that's a darn good idea. Found this at Summit for a little less than $250:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BST-39440-15/

I couldn't find dimensions but I bet it fits.