My kids hate the jump seats

[Madurski]

The doggie seat thread has inspired me to post on my seating requirements



I have a 92 Extended Cab and my kids don't like to sit back there for any length of time. I've thought about several options. At one point I was looking into getting a replacement rear seat from another Dodge but had 0 luck finding one used, and I am too cheap to buy a new one.



The other alternative I have been contemplating is to put in some small bucket seats to replace the jump seats. Has anyone else ever tried this? I was thinking some small sportscar seat would probably work. I'd just have to fab a mount for them. Any suggestions on the smallest seat available, or any suggestions on where to get a bench seat at a reasonable (aka, cheap) price.



Thanks,



Ron Madurski

 

[dwalker151]

I fabricated a bench seat to solve just the problem that you have. Would be glad to send you some pictures.



Dean

 

[RBurleson]

Specs on the kids? Length of likely incarceration in the back?



Would they still face inward, or do you want them to face forward?



Randii

 

[Madurski]

Kids are 13 and 10 and about average size for the age.



I think I would prefer the inward facing but am not opposed to a bench seat.



Average trip is between 3 and 5 hours. Occasionally at least one may travel as long as 12-16 hours back there. Right now they just opt to not tag along because the seats are so uncomfortable :-(



Dean, I'd love to see some pics of what you put together.



Thanks,



Ron

 

[TXDSLSHOP]

Me too!

If you don't mind, I too would like to see what yall come up with. I have two young-uns who would rather face forward if it were possible. Thanks! Jeremy.

 

[mazdarotary]

I had a similar problem but my issue was the need for a bench to strap a car seat(3 month old)into the back of the truck. The forum pointed me to http://www.pcvrv.com/ they make a rear bench for the club cab. They only thing is it dosn't look like it would be comfy for someone not in a car seat. They do have other options for seating on the website though. If you go the route of fabricating mounts for sports car buckets i would suggest using 86-91 Mazda RX-7 buckets. They are very comfy,supportive,and have a simple rail/mounting design that would lend itself to fabricating very easy. I used them in my 83 Mazda with very little effort even though the car's are completly different. The seats can be found at junkyards or maybe http://www.mazdarecycling.com/ they used to sell seats if i remember correctly. Hope this helps.







Chris

 

[paccool]

Ron

Dieselgirl put a bench seat out of a Ford in her 93. Looks pretty good. Go to her photo album and take a look. She posted about it recently, do a search and try to find it. I think she said it was out of a 96 but I am not positive. I'm at work so I don't have time right now to search it for you. If you can't find it let me know.

 

[paccool]

Darn it, wish I could remember better!



Took a quick look - it is in a post I made about her truck back on 11/7/02. She said it is a Chevy seat out of a 97, not a ford.



I know there are pictures of it and she said if anyone wanted more pics to let her know.



Stan

 

[RBurleson]

I think I would prefer the inward facing but am not opposed to a bench seat.

I think this will soon be necessary, because a forward-facing seat won't have hardly any legroom.



Also, from crawling around inside my club, there's more room down low. As you raise a seat up, the seatback of the main front seat(s) will intrude.



Right now they just opt to not tag along because the seats are so uncomfortable :-(

As a certified non-breeder, I can see a good side to that. However, I could also see how you might want to keep and eye on 'em too.



You'll have to try these out (test-sit in a showroom? I have sat in these in a buddy's Jeep and they were surprisingly comfortable), but these can be darn comfortable IF your butt matches the bucket. Kids butts might just... and they are WAY cheap, under a hundred per seat with a cover.



#ad


http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=/product.asp?d=13&s=208&p=4069&searchtype=ecat



Randii

 

[Madurski]

Thanks for the info

Lots of good suggestions. It'll probably be after Christmas season before I do anything but I'll post my results when complete.



Thanks to all,



Ron Madurski

 

[RGT]

I put a rear bench out of a F###('80"s?) it is the fold down type but I did not want to get too crazy so I bolted the seat back in ridgid and welded some brackets to the original lower jump seat mounts that attach to the original F### mounts, so the seat bottom could still pivot up, though I did tuck the seat bottom under the seat top a little further than it had been in the F### so that might be a little tough, I did this to increase the leg room. The seat bottom rests on the hump along the back of the cab. It worked out pretty good, the color is a little off but you hardly notice..... I'm 6'2 and can fit back there, though I wouldn't want to have to go far, it should be great for my 5 year old and her freinds. I may look at changing the front seat to make access better and allow more leg room on that side for that time when a normal size human needs to sit back there

 

["Mad Max"]

Ron,

I have a pair of plastic race seats and covers from Summit Racing in my '71 Demon, and to my surprise they are pretty darned comfortable (there's no padding... ), even on long trips (1-3 hrs). They look very similar to the ones in the earlier reply. They don't have any options for reclining or any of that, but they are WAY cheap, and making brackets for them is just a few hrs on a MIG away. You'd have to face them inboard, but they'd be plenty big enough and would also be fairly safe, especially if you threw in a set of the 4-point harnesses - look cool too!



I think the seats are about $180 for a pair, with the covers. If you got hold of some 1/2 inch foam rubber they'd prolly be pretty comfortable.



My two cents-worth. Good luck!

- Sam

 

[PMedina]

About 5 years ago I looked into the idea of a rear bench seat for my 92. The depth (distance from the back of the seats to the backof the cab) of the rear part of the etended cab is very minimal. The heighth is also an issue since the floor of the ext. portion is about 4" higher than the front. I decided that the side facing setup would work best. The jump seats are worthless, so I had a set of steel frames made and mounted one on each side. I then mounted a nice boat seat to each frame. This gave my 2 kids a very comfortable place to ride. I could sit back there, but only for short trips. It also made it possible to put a childs car seat back there, which was impossible with the factory jump seats. I removed the jump seats and used the extra space for storage. If you are interested, I will e-mail you some photos of the set I had in my truck.



Paul

 

[kaptn]

I was driving a couple of hours with my 15 yr old and 10 yr old in the back and I got mad at Dodge for not having better seating. I told the Kids I was going to get a Great big Ford to replace it or a Yukon. They screamed and hollered that they loved the Dodge Ram and wouldnt ride in nothing else. I LOVE those kids.

 

[TXDSLSHOP]

Solved?

Has anyone come up with a good solution to the rear seating problem? I have a 6 hour trip coming up in 2 weeks and need to do something fast! Pic's please! Thanks! Jeremy.

 

[wcoomes]

Rear Seat for !st Generation

I had the same dilema a few years ago with my '92 D-250 Club Cab. I bought a rear seat from a place that advertised in TDR, they were located in British Columbia and I had the seat shipped to Indiana. It was more or less just a bench with a back that could be attached to the rear of the cab using velcro. It wasn't great for a car seat -very little leg room- so I sold the truck to my brother-in-law and bought an Expedition. I have since traded the Expedition for a 2001 Quad Cab. My brother-in-law has re-installed the jump seats and is interested in selling the bench. It's easy to install, uses the same brackets as the jump seats. If interested, call David Brown, 419-222-9762.

 

[jbolt]

Jeremy- I don't know how old your kids are. Mine are 5 & 7 and still use car seats. I removed the head rest and replaced the padded seat with a peice of plywood that is 6" longer than the padded seat, bolted to the same hardware. The car seats are then seatbelted and strapped to the plywood. We drove straight through coming home last thanksgiving, 6 hours and no complaints.



I'm looking for some padded racing seats for a compact car for when they grow out of the child seats. The seat needs to be narrow to sit sidways. I think facing forward is out of the question unless it was one seat in the center. 6" would have made a huge difference.



Seats for homebuilt aircraft is another area to look at.



Jay

 

[Ncostello]

I passed up a super deal on a Black 1993 Club Cab D-250 this past summer. It was an original owner with 70,000 very easy and well maintained miles. One of the major drawbacks I saw was the lack of the rear bench seat... which was something I had to have. I couldn't bring myself to buy an extended cab and not be able to comfortably haul 4 passengers. So I opted for a Quad Cab 2500. Dieselgirls pics really look good with that Chevy seat. If I'd have seen these before, I might have bought the 93 and a red cloth chevy bench. If the captains chairs are positioned forward just a little, the rear looks as if it could be fairly comfortable (as long as your not too awfully tall).



Sometimes I still wish I would have bought the 93 anyway. There is something good to be said for non-electronic engines as far as I'm concerned.

 

["Mad Max"]

seats from my car- might help

Jeremy, these are the seats and harnesses in my car - they're both from Summit Racing - seat and cover kit pn#: SUM-CSUM101 (black), $61. 50. Harness pn# is BOB-50502-17-234 (red), $58. 95.

So for about $120 you can get one seat, cover, and harness.

Summit's number is 800-230-3030.

Seats are prety comfortable, and if you add some foam padding they'd be pretty nice. Hope this helps.

- Sam