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seating advice

Car-Dog

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 23, 2008
Messages
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City, State
Fresno, California
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998 Ford Ranger 4X4
Hey guys,

I recently had the drivers seat in my ranger collapse. It no longer stays locked in position. When I pull the lever it reclines instead of coming back up. And when I pull it up and then lean back against it it just leans back down flat making it quite difficult to see where I am going. Has anyone else had this happen? Is there a way to repair it? My seats are really in great shape and it seems a shame to just trash them.

I was also considering just putting new seats in. The problem is I have bucket seats not a split bench and finding ranger bucket seats is darn near impossible. So I was wondering if anyone knew if any explorer seats might be bolt in compatible since explorer buckets are much easier to come by.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 



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I am not 100% sure, but I think same-year Ex seats might bolt in.

Here's what the front seat mounts look like in my '96 Ex:

Fore:
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Aft:
o0zh7gJl.jpg
 






I had a 2001 Mountaineer that had a bolt break and the seat did that.

I had to go to the dealer to get one after I pulled it out of the passenger seat and put it in the driver's seat.

"Recall 03v281000 concerning high back seat. This could cause driver's seat to recline without warning."

I doubt that you can get them to do the repair for free, but it's a simple fix.
 






I had a 2001 Mountaineer that had a bolt break and the seat did that.

I had to go to the dealer to get one after I pulled it out of the passenger seat and put it in the driver's seat.

"Recall 03v281000 concerning high back seat. This could cause driver's seat to recline without warning."

I doubt that you can get them to do the repair for free, but it's a simple fix.

Yes, I had the recall for the seat bolt performed on at least one of my trucks. Also had to have the recall done for the cruise control deactivation switch done on all but one of my trucks. I always have my dealer check for open recalls whenever I buy a new vehicle.
 






that's some good advice I will look into if mine had a recall.
it also looks like those 96 mounts are the same as mine. So I am guessing 96-98 are all the same at least. Does anyone know if newer years are similar?
 






i believe 95-01 seats will all bolt in. Don't know about the various electrical connections if you have/find power seats, but other than the side air bag resistors all you need is fused power and a ground to have stuff work.
 






i believe 95-01 seats will all bolt in. Don't know about the various electrical connections if you have/find power seats, but other than the side air bag resistors all you need is fused power and a ground to have stuff work.

Can confirm, 1995 - 2001 seats are all the same, as far as the physical mounting goes. No guarantee on the 'lectrical.
 






Awesome! I will look for seats from those years!
I've got one more question. Does anyone know where I could find a schematic of of the pieces inside the seat?
I am still thinking about maybe just rebuilding the seat but I don't want to take it apart before I have parts to put back in ln. I am afraid if I take it apart I will just end up with a pile of used to be a seat dust.
 






I'm not sure how it is in California, but, here in SC, you can't swing a cat in the local pick 'n pull without hitting a 2nd gen Ex. Is it really worth your time to disassemble and then re-assemble the seat, knowing you will probably need replacement bits anyway?
 






Seat tracks are different between 4dr explorer, Explorer sport and extended cab ranger. They are very close but the but the easy rear entry function is only on ext cab ranger and Sports. The front bracket that the seat belt slide bolts to is also different by just a little between models(but can be bent to make work). The seats themselves unbolt off the track with 4 bolts can can be swapped 91-01 (plus 01-03 Sport and 01-05 Sport Trac). The belt buckle slide is also specific to the ranger as it bolts down to the floor and the explorer bolts sideways to the trans tunnel hump.

I want to add the 01+ extended cab ranger with 4 doors with factory 60/40 have a whole different bracket setup than 2 door extended cabs so earlier buckle brackets along with bucket seat tracks will be needed. Another thing about the 01+ 4dr ranger is the added srs pretensioner is on the seat buckles.
 






The 92-01 Explorer seat tracks will swap, in the same model type(4dr, 2dr etc). Ford changed the seat track mounting after 91, so the 91's are out of luck. But the seats will swap.

Left and right seat motors are the same also. If you ever need motor parts, get them from a passenger seat track.
 






Yes, the seat bottoms are bolted to the base with 4 bolts. Easy to swap bases.
 






Car-Dog, my last Ranger was a 2000 (like my current one) & it had the 60/40 split bench seat in it & the seat back broke & I had to put a box behind the seat to hold it up so I could drive it until I found another seat. I never looked to see what the problem was but I suspect either a broken bolt or the latch itself. I found an Explorer Sport in a pick-n-pull JY & purchased the l/s seat only since the pass seat in the Ranger is already a bucket seat. The Explorer Sport had a shorty console in it which I also purchased to put in my Ranger. The seat in a Explorer Sport is a direct bolt in to an extended cab Ranger.

43800-interior-2000-ranger-4x4.jpg
 






Ok Mike65 so that picture is like literally, you opened my truck and took a pic and posted it as yours lol.

So I found bucket seats out of a 2008 ranger in perfect shape at a junkyard a few hours from me. will they go in, or will I have issues with seat belt mounts or something I cant even imagine?
 






IDK if 2008 seats will bolt into a '98. Maybe, maybe not. Have you determined what the actual problem is with your seat? If it's just a broken bolt or recliner mech it'll be much cheaper to just fix your seat.
 






Ok Mike65 so that picture is like literally, you opened my truck and took a pic and posted it as yours lol.

So I found bucket seats out of a 2008 ranger in perfect shape at a junkyard a few hours from me. will they go in, or will I have issues with seat belt mounts or something I cant even imagine?

Is your Ranger a reg or extd cab, & what is the Ranger in the JY?. You can swap reg cab to reg cab, or extd cab to extd cab or IIRC you will have to change the seat tracks.
 






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