Change Seating. Possible?

[sector]

Edit: to include that this is for a 2000 5.4L XLT

My ol' lady and I have two boys now in car seats in the second row. I took out the third row and put it in storage to reduce the weight of the vehicle and to give us more cargo room.

We're having another boy in January 2014 and I'm thinking about the seating arrangements of three car seats. The third row is hard to get into because you have to climb over the hump of the 40% of bench that's folded down.

Here's my plan and let me know if it's feasible:

1. Remove the 40% portion of the second row of seat (the passenger side portion) and mount it passenger side where the 3rd row would go. This would give me room to put two car seats in the second row, one seat in the third "row", and space for cargo. I'm sure I would have to drill holes to bolt that seat in there, but is there any reason I wouldn't be able to do this?

2. If the above plan won't work, plan B will be to remove and store away the second row 40% seat in storage and put the third row back in. leaving two car seats in the second row and one in the back. This way I can put a child in the 3rd row without having to struggle over that folded down second row seat.

Please let me know if there's anything I'm missing, not thinking about, or if you have any better ideas.


Here's a crude diagram of what I'm looking to do :

 

[JUST4FUN]

I would'nt do anything with "bolting seats in" is really not a good idea these SUV have been crash tested to the limit. running a bolt through some sheetmetal might hold a seat in but not in a crash. go with plan B

 

[sector]

Well, yeah. Safety is very important. What I meant by bolt it in was to see if there were any preexisting holes where the third row seat mount was to bolt in the 40% part of the bench..

 

[JUST4FUN]

I got ya

 

[csharpe3]

Option C?

What about storing the 60% seat of the middle row, then put 2 car seats in the back. Each one of the back seats would have access to a cup holder. Put the youngest one in the middle. Teach the older ones to put on their seat-belts. This takes time, but I have had 4 children in various vehicles. The drawback to having the younger in the center is when handing food/drinks back to the 3rd row. Often we parked long enough for the oldest to get the handouts settled and belted back in before taking off again.

I took would take out the 40% and only sit 1 on the 60% so they have a cup holder storage area as well. just my 2.

 

[bcmaxx]

our 01 eb has 2nd row buckets, so very much like a minivan setup, we have twins coming any day now, so twins in 2nd row buckets an our young fella in the back row with doggie. all we can see is running into problems loading and unloading, will involve removal of a carseat, or putting a kid in last

 

[Stoned06]

Don't the first gens have a floor height difference between the second and third row? If so, putting a second row seat in the back would need some retrofitting of brackets.
I would leave the "60" seat in the second row, and just put the third row back in. That way you have a pass through to get to the back, and an extra seat if anyone else ever rides with you.

 

[FordandPolaris]

Don't the first gens have a floor height difference between the second and third row? If so, putting a second row seat in the back would need some retrofitting of brackets.
I would leave the "60" seat in the second row, and just put the third row back in. That way you have a pass through to get to the back, and an extra seat if anyone else ever rides with you.

I second this, the third row seat design is much much shorter than the second row to accommodate the live rear axle. If you need extra cargo space, look at something for either on top (roof racks) or a rack that you put in to the trailer hitch.