CTread08
New Member
I searched a few times and couldn’t find exactly what I was hunting for so I figured I’d add a thread.
Here is how I recently converted my 2017 EL King Ranch from captains chairs to bench seat, for more kid seating.
I used a 1/2” Milwaukee impact gun + a 6” wobble extension + a 15mm socket; and a couple scrappers to peel the environmental tape off of the holes in the floor.
Fairly simple process.
1. Pop up plastic cover on the front edge floor of the driver side captains chair. This one was much easier than the back plastic piece, 4 metal clips hold it in, one on each side two in the middle.
2. Remove 2 silver forward bolts (15mm).
3. Flip up 2nd row driver side captain chair.
4. With the seat flipped up, pop up the rear plastic trim (hardest part of the conversion besides scraping up the environmental tape) without breaking it, between the seat mounts. This was a pain for me, but I was fortunate that the junkyard bench I bought came with all the trim so I could see how it locked in. Two thick molded plastic “clips.”
5. If you have power seats, undo connector under seat.
6. Remove 2 silver rear bolts that hold the seat in.
7. Remove seat from truck.
8. Repeat for passenger side seat.
Once the captains chairs were out, I was able to remove the carpet anchor (easy screw, if it gives you trouble, hold the “anchor” with pliers as your unscrew) and feel under the carpet for the closest holes where the middle seat would need to go. No change in mounting holes or hardware when changing the outside seats of the 2nd row from captains chairs to bench, or vice versa. The outside seats can only go in one location.
Installing the middle seat:
The front left mounting foot of the middle seat I bought had an 2” alignment pin about 3 inches behind the mounting hole. For that reason I chose to feel under the carpet and start cutting that hole first, shown below with a yellow #1 above the hole. Once I felt around for the two pieces of environmental tape, I ran a screwdriver down through the carpet and pad, into the alignment pin hole and the bolt hole to get my starting point. I laid the middle seat in, traced the front left foot and rail, moved the seat then cut it out. Once I cut the carpet and pad out, I sat the seat back in the hole and made sure I had enough clearance so the foot sat flat.
Now, when I went to install the bolt (again, I got all the hardware/trim pieces when the junkyard took the seat out) I noticed the insert in the floor wasn’t threaded. I was lazy at this point and love to gamble so I made sure my Milwaukee was charged, put the bolt in the hole, “straight, level, and square” and hammered on the trigger, running the bolt all the way down to where it was almost touching the floor, then backed it out. I did this for each hole and have no issues to report. It worked for me even though most might say it certainly isn’t the proper way to do it. If you’re going to do it this way, make sure the bolt is as straight and flat as it can be. Once I had hole the #1 cut out and the hole tapped, I fit the alignment pin in the hole, ran the bolt in about 70% and knew that was good enough to go ahead and trace out the remaining 6 bolt holes with a silver sharpie. Next, I pulled the middle seat out again, cut out all the holes, “lazily tapped all the inserts” the thinking part of the job was over. The middle shoulder bolts, one on each side, were already threaded and these two, plus one of the passenger side bolts required a shoulder bolt for install into the seat frame. Those mounting locations are shown via green circle in the picture below, and yea I know the forward passenger side mounting shape is peculiar but that gave me the clearance I was after at that moment lol.
9. Install middle seat via one front bolt on each side with plastic trim cover, one shoulder bolt on the drivers side middle, two shoulder bolts on the passenger side middle, and one rear bolt on each side with plastic trim cover. All my middle seat bolts were black.
10. Install driver side 2nd row outside seat in the folded up position.
11. Mount driver side 2nd row outside seat with two silver rear bolts.
12. Attach harness connector if you have power fold or heated seats, and install rear plastic trim cover.
13. Fold seat down.
14. Mount driver side 2nd row outside seat with two front bolts, and plastic trim cover.
15. Repeat process for passenger side 2nd row outside seat
16. Depending on floor mat brand, install floor mat before you fold outside seats down.
The picture is looking in from the drivers side; the yellow #1 is the forward most hole for mounting on the drivers side of the middle seat. The green circles are the shoulder bolts required for mounting the middle of the middle seat.
Hope this helps somebody!
Here is how I recently converted my 2017 EL King Ranch from captains chairs to bench seat, for more kid seating.
I used a 1/2” Milwaukee impact gun + a 6” wobble extension + a 15mm socket; and a couple scrappers to peel the environmental tape off of the holes in the floor.
Fairly simple process.
1. Pop up plastic cover on the front edge floor of the driver side captains chair. This one was much easier than the back plastic piece, 4 metal clips hold it in, one on each side two in the middle.
2. Remove 2 silver forward bolts (15mm).
3. Flip up 2nd row driver side captain chair.
4. With the seat flipped up, pop up the rear plastic trim (hardest part of the conversion besides scraping up the environmental tape) without breaking it, between the seat mounts. This was a pain for me, but I was fortunate that the junkyard bench I bought came with all the trim so I could see how it locked in. Two thick molded plastic “clips.”
5. If you have power seats, undo connector under seat.
6. Remove 2 silver rear bolts that hold the seat in.
7. Remove seat from truck.
8. Repeat for passenger side seat.
Once the captains chairs were out, I was able to remove the carpet anchor (easy screw, if it gives you trouble, hold the “anchor” with pliers as your unscrew) and feel under the carpet for the closest holes where the middle seat would need to go. No change in mounting holes or hardware when changing the outside seats of the 2nd row from captains chairs to bench, or vice versa. The outside seats can only go in one location.
Installing the middle seat:
The front left mounting foot of the middle seat I bought had an 2” alignment pin about 3 inches behind the mounting hole. For that reason I chose to feel under the carpet and start cutting that hole first, shown below with a yellow #1 above the hole. Once I felt around for the two pieces of environmental tape, I ran a screwdriver down through the carpet and pad, into the alignment pin hole and the bolt hole to get my starting point. I laid the middle seat in, traced the front left foot and rail, moved the seat then cut it out. Once I cut the carpet and pad out, I sat the seat back in the hole and made sure I had enough clearance so the foot sat flat.
Now, when I went to install the bolt (again, I got all the hardware/trim pieces when the junkyard took the seat out) I noticed the insert in the floor wasn’t threaded. I was lazy at this point and love to gamble so I made sure my Milwaukee was charged, put the bolt in the hole, “straight, level, and square” and hammered on the trigger, running the bolt all the way down to where it was almost touching the floor, then backed it out. I did this for each hole and have no issues to report. It worked for me even though most might say it certainly isn’t the proper way to do it. If you’re going to do it this way, make sure the bolt is as straight and flat as it can be. Once I had hole the #1 cut out and the hole tapped, I fit the alignment pin in the hole, ran the bolt in about 70% and knew that was good enough to go ahead and trace out the remaining 6 bolt holes with a silver sharpie. Next, I pulled the middle seat out again, cut out all the holes, “lazily tapped all the inserts” the thinking part of the job was over. The middle shoulder bolts, one on each side, were already threaded and these two, plus one of the passenger side bolts required a shoulder bolt for install into the seat frame. Those mounting locations are shown via green circle in the picture below, and yea I know the forward passenger side mounting shape is peculiar but that gave me the clearance I was after at that moment lol.
9. Install middle seat via one front bolt on each side with plastic trim cover, one shoulder bolt on the drivers side middle, two shoulder bolts on the passenger side middle, and one rear bolt on each side with plastic trim cover. All my middle seat bolts were black.
10. Install driver side 2nd row outside seat in the folded up position.
11. Mount driver side 2nd row outside seat with two silver rear bolts.
12. Attach harness connector if you have power fold or heated seats, and install rear plastic trim cover.
13. Fold seat down.
14. Mount driver side 2nd row outside seat with two front bolts, and plastic trim cover.
15. Repeat process for passenger side 2nd row outside seat
16. Depending on floor mat brand, install floor mat before you fold outside seats down.
The picture is looking in from the drivers side; the yellow #1 is the forward most hole for mounting on the drivers side of the middle seat. The green circles are the shoulder bolts required for mounting the middle of the middle seat.
Hope this helps somebody!
