Bucket -> Bench Seat Swap (Front)

[roachslayer]

Has anyone removed their buckets and center console and put a bench seat in it's place?

I need more seats. I heard a F150 seat bolts right in, but... there are MANY "flavors" of this seat, crew cab, super cab, with and without integral seatbelt, etc. And woulf a F250 also work? What would I need? And which years? 97-03?

Center seatbelt would be mandatory, and I'm not interested in modifying the floor.

 

[BaggedExpy]

Now your asking for way to much lol.

 

[MISTERgadget]

My F-150 Lightning seats bolted right in. They were a bench that had been cut down to 2 buckets.

 

[roachslayer]

Now your asking for way to much lol.

Well, you saw my other thread for the 2nd row seat , but I haven't made a decision which to do yet. I was talking to somebody who said they put a F150 bench in the front seat of their 99 Expy, bolted right in, and that might save me some modding trouble on the 2nd row. But now when I go to look for one, it is mind boggling as to the variations on the F150 seats!

 

[roachslayer]

Done. I removed my center console in the front of the 01 Expy and put in a 03 F150 Lariat Super Cab 60/40 split (has fold down console). As you can see, I didn't even care about matching my tan color, because at $40... can't complain (utility/necessity over design preference).



Bolted right in as expected, but...

• You have to remove the entire wiring harness that connects the Rear Air controls, CD changer, and rear radio controls.
• You end up with an ugly open area in the front, center floor.
• Rear speakers will NOT work unless the audio component is plugged in, soooo....
• I tucked the wiring harness in place under the front dash and under seat and connected the rear air controls AND the rear audio controls.
• I didn't bother plugging in the CD changer because, well, it's 2017 folks, discs are out, ipods are in.

The rear air and audio now work, with the wiring harness all plugged back in. The real downside is nowhere for these components to mount up to anything, and the big fat cable that runs across the floor here going to the seat. I might have to fabricate something. Resale value just went down... but who gives a crap on a 2001 186k vehicle worth less than $1000?

I recommend this mod for anyone who needs another seat and doesn't care about the future of the vehicle. The Expy center console is too big, bulky, and lots of screws to keep track of, and I probably wont even keep it around for the next owner, if there ever is one. Same goes for the original bucket seat.

Note: the F150 seat fit the bolt pattern, but NOT the seat heater connector! So lame - thanks for nothing and no reason, Ford. In order for that to connect, I will need to cut off the connector from the now-obsolete Expy bucket seat and splice it into the F150 seat in order to connect into the Expy harness for the heater... low priority and I might not even bother.

Note 2: the passenger seatbelt bolts to the floor. I made the mistake of forgetting this part at the junk yard and had to go back for it; doh! Also, for these bolts, you need a T-55 torx (HUGE) which I had to buy from Napa just to do this job.

 

[MiteyMT]

Awesome. I might try it

 

[acolic]

Great idea.


1999 Ford Expedition 5.4 Eddie Bauer
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Adieu]

Wondered back in the day whether this worked with later gens.... never found an answer.

 

[Texpedition45]

Which seat braket did you end up using?