Second row bench seats

[Hdfxrs]

Our 2018 Max Platinum with second row bench seats was recently totaled. We subsequently picked up a 2019 Max Platinum with second row buckets. Would it be possible to replace the buckets with the bench seat from the 2018? Color matches. We need 8 seats. Not sure if electrical connections are compatible.

 

[5280tunage]

I would bet they are quite similar. I can't recall if there are any modules in the center seat of the bench that obviously aren't there in the buckets, but the seat heaters etc. should all be the same. You may need to swap out trim pieces as well since the tracks are likely different. However, remember that the seatbelts have pretensioners, so be really careful if you're working with those, especially in the 2019's with the inadvertent firing we're seeing on some of those. I would definitely do the work with the vehicle completely discharged, but I haven't looked to see if you can remove the seats without removing the belts. Regardless, if the bench is intact, I would grab it and all the parts around it, so you can start surveying everything.

 

[Hellwig]

Our 2018 Max Platinum with second row bench seats was recently totaled. We subsequently picked up a 2019 Max Platinum with second row buckets. Would it be possible to replace the buckets with the bench seat from the 2018? Color matches. We need 8 seats. Not sure if electrical connections are compatible.

Isn't the middle seat independent and slidable? How to install it on floor?

 

[5280tunage]

I believe the mounting points for the frame of the middle seat are on all vehicles. Of course the issue would be cutting the carpet to access them, but that's why I suggested grabbing all of the trim pieces as well to make sure you can cover it up. Many mfr's these days use a single build for the chassis for some things like this to reduce manufacturing costs. But I could be wrong, I've never crawled under a captain seat version to see if the bolt locations exist on both. Sort of similar to the fact that my raptor steering wheel was plug and play, even though this model had zero paddle shifters, they just keep the harnesses the same regardless.

 

[acme57]

We went in search of a 2024 Platinum with second row bench seat and could only find three that were available and none were great candidates for us. We ended up finding a Silver Max with rear buckets in Central California on a reasonable trade in deal. I saw a set of the three bench seats on FB marketplace in Missouri out of a '23 Platinum and after struggling with the trim codes and getting nowhere just called and had them shipped to us. Turns out they were an exact match for our car. My idea was to install the center seat, remove our armrests, swap the inboard trim pieces and back seat cover off of the donor seats. Here is what we found:

1) the bolt holes for the center seat were covered with black tape under the carpet and the 4 back holes had bolts in them already that had to be removed 2) The 2 front holes were not threaded so I had to tap them to 10mm x 1.5. I had an inexpensive metric tap and die set and it was a harder than normal job to tap the two holes. If I had to do it again I would go buy a high quality tap as I was worried about breaking the cheap tap in the holes. It worked but I had to put a lot of pressure on the tap to get it done. 3) I followed the instructions someone had posted however when I trimmed the existing foam floor panel I had to go back and cut it smaller to get the middle seat in. I would suggest cutting it at least a half inch narrower than the center seat plastic floor trim 4) The frames for the two second row buckets are not exactly the same as the two outboard seats in a bench setup. The outboard bench seats do not have the shaft for the armrests and on the rear bucket seats when you pull off the armrest and the bracket that shaft remains. It should not be a problem but after looking at the situation I decided to just use the two outboard seats from the bench setup and keep our rear buckets intact. As I had the full bench setup I did not have to deal with the holes left in the outboard seats like others have had to. 5) I had the salvage yard ship the second row bench seat switch and then spent hours looking at the parts list and the wiring diagram and finally gave up and we will just fold the center seat manually. Someone said that the rear harness on a bench seat car is different from a car with the second row buckets but neither Ford Parts or Repairpart.com listed parts numbers for the two rear wiring harness's so I was unable to confirm. 6) No matter if you use your existing buckets as the outboard seats or use all three of the bench setup the swap is really not that difficult. I found the key to cutting the carpet was to reach underneath and kind of start the two front bolts in the holes and then you can feel both of them along with the four back temporary bolts. You can then just cut some small holes to access the bolts to measure out the full carpet cut. 7) The four rear bolts along with the two on each outboard seat take a simple 13mm socket. However the front bolts all take a T55 Torx Plus not a regular Torx so get make sure you have that T55 Torx plus bit on hand before you even start so you don't have to wait two days for Amazon to bring a set like I did.