Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
Locked
Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
 
Administrator
|
Some of you know that I'm debating having either buckets seats or captain's chairs rebuilt & recovered to fit in Big Blue. In fact, I've installed the captain's chairs for Dad's truck in BB and will be taking off on a road trip in a few days to test them out. And if I like them then I'll be considering how to install blue ones.
The way they are installed now is using one of Ford's brackets, shown below, that bolts right into the regular or crewcab floor and the chairs bolt to that. But as I only have one of those, and since they are expensive, I'm considering other options for Big Blue as I plan to use that one for Dad's truck.  There are two options swirling around in my brain, but they are basically the same, only differing in the mount that attaches to the floor. The one on the left, below, uses some left over brackets from the captain's chairs. As it turns out, the outside brackets bolt to the RC/CC floors. The one on the right uses bench seat brackets, which obviously bolt on perfectly. The left approach puts the top of that angle ~3" off the floor, but the one on the right puts it ~2 1/2" off the floor. So that would allow a 1/2" spacer to get the captain's chair adjusters above the bench seat adjuster enough to clear. (I'd cut the arm of the bench seat adjuster off.) The angle is actually bed rails and is 1 3/4" wide by 2" high. My thinking is that if they handle the load of a bed across 76" then they'll easily handle two adults + the chairs across 44". The overall shape would be basically a ladder with cross pieces welded in where the inside tracks go, and maybe another pair where the console goes to provide mounting locations for it. Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions?   
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|
Wow! There seems to be a whole lot of interest in this subject given all the posts. NOT!
 But, I do have a question for y'all. David/1986F150Six found this "92-96 FORD F150 F250 F350 BENCH TO BUCKET oem SEAT FRAME mount bracket w/ track" on ebay and sent me a link. However, that sure doesn't look like the factory one I have, shown in the pic in the first post. Have any of you see one like this? It looks like it is made from some some brackets that fit the floor, a plate on top of them, ~1" square tubing under that, and two more plates for the inside tracks. Do you agree? If so, is that better, in either strength or looks, than what I was talking about with angle? 
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
In reply to this post by Gary Lewis
My first thought was finding one at a u pull it.
I agree that the one pictured that David sent you doesn’t look factory, but I haven’t looked at them for awhile. That one might be something to start with and you could make better as you see fit. I didn’t look for a price though. Edit: saw the price, wow! 
Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold 1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD 1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E Arizona |
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|
Yes, wow!
 I’m thinking I can make one with the materials I have on hand, meaning essentially zero cost. I have two starting points - the leftover brackets from the bucket seats or those from the bench seat - the bits that bolt to the floor. And since anyone wanting to do this will have a bench seat and it’s brackets available I’m tempted to use them. That way people can weld up the frame and bolt it to the brackets and bypass these people who want big bucks for a simple platform.
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|
David/1986F150six sent me a link to this ebay advert for an aftermarket mounting bracket. It has several pics, but I've captured these for posterity.
Thanks, David!    
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|
I am well and truly CONFUSED! And I'm not sure I'm smart enough to articulate what is confusing me.
 But before I get into that, I thank Chad/Littlebeefy for the bucket seats! Man, what a gift! I'm really going to like having them in Big Blue. However, I have a lot of figuring out to do with regard to how to mount them. Here are just a couple of the issues, most of which I've created myself: Spacing: The fore/aft spacing between mounting holes on these buckets is 13". But the same mounting bolt holes on the captain's chairs I have for Dad's truck are 12 1/2" apart. I don't think that is going to be a problem as I think there is room to drill another hole in the "mounts" to accommodate the longer distance, but it seems odd as I thought the buckets were interchangeable with the captain's chairs.Mounts: According to the illustrations from the MPC (Documentation/Interior/Seats & Seat Tracks) only the driver's seat had adjuster tracks and only the passenger's seat had the wedges. Instead I used wedges and adjuster tracks on both sides on the captain's chairs, which means I surely didn't have them at the right height or angle.So I'd like to hear from some of y'all as to how your bucket seats or captain's chairs are mounted. I believe the factory way is for the driver's side to be mounted to fixed stands with adjusting tracks, and for the passenger's seat to be mounted to the "ejector" mount with wedges. Right? All of this makes me realize that I need to be a bit more scientific in the way I figure out where to mount the seats. And here's my cunning plan: Bolt the outboard fixed mount to the LH mounting point of the cab, bolt the slider to it, and bolt the driver's seat to the slider.Prop up the inside edge of the seat so the bottom of the seat is level with the floor, side to side.Measure where the mounting points of the seat are with respect to something fixed in the cab. This would include both the fore/aft position, height, and angle of the seat bottom.Design the new mounting arrangement to get the driver's seat back to that height, fore/aft position, and angle.Does this approach seem reasonable? As for the passenger's seat, I hope to use sliders on it as well since the passenger's seatback doesn't tilt like the driver's does. Instead it is held in place by a bolt, but can be tilted by pulling that bolt. However, the hope is that I won't need to do so in order to get to the things in the storage unit if it is on sliders. But, if you have a better idea I'd sure like to know what it is. Otherwise I'll try to put the passenger's seat in the same position as the driver's seat.  
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Re: Bucket Seat or Captain's Chair Mounting Musings
|
Administrator
|