Seat Conversion

[ani17uk]

Wanting to do a seat conversion. Seats are 40-20-40. Wanting to know what I had to do. Lookin in the FAQ section but really didn't find anything except that you had to fab up a mounting bracket. What about the seat belts? Seats are coming out of a newer Dodge. Does anybody make the mounting bracket? Any help is greatly appreciated.



Thanks

Josh

 

[MFalkinham]

I put front seats from a '96 Ram into my '92, as well as a fabricating a custom rear seat from a Toyota. For the front seats I made floor spacers using black iron pipe, but I'm sure someone else has a better way of handling that. For seat belts I used the original '92 belts, which worked out well. I believe the newer Ram seats have integrated belts in the seatbacks.



Check out my Reader's Rigs for photos of the install.



- Mike

 

[ani17uk]

Thanks. That is a lot of help. So everything bolted up to the floor directly except the outer two on the back side? You have a nice lookin rig.



Thanks

Josh

 

[MFalkinham]

Hi Josh,



Thanks much for the compliment. There are two additional spacers (about 3/4" high) on the front/inside mounts as well. The remaining 4 locations are bolted right to the floor. The '96 seats fit well inside of a 1st Gen, and hooking up the power driver's seat was just wiring a simple 12v feed.



Before this upgrade, my stock bench seat was so uncomfortable that I hated driving the truck for any distance. With the leather 40/20/40 seats I have now, I can drive for hours with no discomfort at all! It was the best time and money that I've spent on my truck so far, and I highly recommend it to anyone with the stock bench seat.



- Mike

 

[CDegner]

I'll second the upgrade on seats as being a good thing! I installed the seat out of a 94. Again, my bench was so uncomfortable that my back would cause my legs to go numb after about 2 hours of driving. No longer the case!



I had to put a spacer against the inside front supports and I mounted 1/4" steel plate to the cab floor and mounted the back outside supports to that. Plenty sturdy for my 225#.



Carl

 

["Mad Max"]

not quite a bolt-in, but close...

Josh,

ALso check out my readers rigs - I have some good photo's of my 40/20/40 integration. I swapped the outer brackets from right to left at that seemed to fit the floor better - not sure why right at the moment but it worked better. As well, the wooden blocks in my photos are required to make the seat fit level without altering the 2nd gen brackets or my 1st gen floor. I'm going to be making completely custom brackets soon for this conversion and I'll post how I make 'em. Without altering the floor or brackets the seats end up sitting pretty high - nice but takes some getting used to. The issue is the two inside brackets (these essentially support the '20' center console on both sides as well as the inside of both of the '40' seats. Not a bad swap, and mine had the electronics for a power seat and electronically-activated seat belts. If you can get the ones without the electric belts I'd recommend that.

- Sam

 

[TSuter]

Carl, I think yours is the first swap I heard of in a regular cab. How was the fit? Did you lose any leg room? Does the seat have to be like straight up. I have to have the seat in my 91 all the way back to ride comfortably, that's why I ask.



Thanks



Tom

 

[ani17uk]

My main concern is about the seat belts. I found some from a 99 but they have the seat belt fastener on them. Figured that you might be able to take them off and use the original seat belt fasteners. This is really my main concern.



Thanks



Josh

 

[MFalkinham]

Josh,



If the '99 seats have integrated belts, make sure that you get the '99 buckles as well. The '99 belt tongue will not fit into the 1st Gen buckle, and vice-versa.



Even though my '96 seats had buckles bolted to them, I didn't have the rest of the '96 belts/tongues. As a result, I ended up using the original '92 belts & buckles and removing the '96 buckles from the seats. I think this actually worked out better, as the seat belts are fastened much more securely to the truck floor than the replacement seats themselves.



- Mike

 

["Mad Max"]

The cool thing about the 40/20/40 with the integral belts is everything for the belts is included and all swaps as one big unit - the buckles and receivers all match.

 

[CDegner]

Carl, I think yours is the first swap I heard of in a regular cab. How was the fit? Did you lose any leg room? Does the seat have to be like straight up. I have to have the seat in my 91 all the way back to ride comfortably, that's why I ask.



Thanks



Tom

Tom,

I don't feel like I lost any leg room. The seat does sit up higher though. This is actually much more comfortable for me. My upper leg is now resting on the seat instead of raised up putting additional strain on my knees. When I run the power seat forward, I can jam the steering wheel into my chest but all the way back and the back of the seat is hitting the rear cab wall.



Carl

 

[TSuter]

Thanks Carl, now I just need seats, and time, and money, and well the list just keeps going.



Tom

 

[KHarrower]

Has anyone ordered bucket seats from J. C. Whitney?? My bench seat is highly uncomforbable as well. I have a regular cab and am also concerned about leg room if I install the bucket seats.

 

[ani17uk]

Got My Seats

Waiting for them to come in Oo. Got them out of a 98 Dodge. Got to do some modifications before I can put them in. Had a tear on the right side and going to fix that before I put them in.



Josh

 

[SteveMiller]

A little late but I'll share anyway

A problem I think you'll run into is that most of the guys replying have crew cabs which have a flat floor (I think). the one guy that did it in a regular cab mention it sitting higher and that's cause the floor slopes upward under the seat. So to install the seat without any floor modifications you have to raise the front to match the back which for me was way to high. I didn't want to hit my head on the roof.



The other thing is like SamsRams said it is best to stay away from the electric seat belt control on the 98-2001. However since you already got that you can do one of two things. You can figure out how to hook up all the electical (there will be a black box under the seat) or you can get rid of those and use the original seat belts like some others have. I like this second idea better just for the safety of it. The factory put the mounts in a place that could hold the force. If you don't mount the seat strongly enough the seat could come loose and then the seat belt doesn't do you any good other than to keep you strapped to a flying seat.



Again this is a little too late but for a regular cab 1st gen what you really want is a seat out of a 2002 or up from a regular cab. The regular cab ones flip forward which allow you to get to the back area easier. These seats also have the middle seat portion that flips up as well which I really like. The seat belts clips are also attached to these seats but its easy to remove them and the chest strap wasn't integrated into the seat like the others.



I got power which is kinda nice since it goes up and down and that helps if you didn't get it exactly where you wanted it. Anyway as for mounting the rear so its not so high I cut a U shape into the floor so the top of the U was towards the front of the truck where the rear seat mounts were going to sit and back far enough to let the seat go back all the way. Then I put the seat in and adjusted so I was happy with the height. Then welded in some sheet metal to make a pocket basically for the seat mount to sit down it. I also cut off the orginal mount and made it flat instead of sticking down. This seat was out of a 2003 Quad Cab so it may be a little different for you but sometimes sharing is good. I'm very happy with how mine turned out. I don't have any good pictures of the seat mounts but you can see how they look in the truck at http://home.comcast.net/~dothrik/92Dodge.html and yes my truck is for sale. :{ Something had to go and I use my dually too much to let it go.



Hope this helps and good luck with your install.

steve