What seats do you prefer?

Classic low back bench? OBS 92-96 seats? Maybe a set of bronco buckets and center console or a 40/20/40 bench.

There is a lot of options out there. I look at seats as a safety item not just comfort. With trucks sans airbags seats and restraints are important. For example.the back bench has no head rests. If you wreck or get wrecked the back of your head is going to meet the back glass. A somewhat minor accident today could be fatal.

Seeing as I am driving around kiddos in the back this is something to address with a head rest either a third party seat, or newer set of seats with fix or adjustable head rests.

What have you done? Would you change it? Keep in mind this truck will be traveling, not a to and from Walmart on the weekends type deal so our uses may differ.

I’m running Bronco low-back buckets in Big Blue and really like them. They aren’t quite as comfortable as the captain’s chairs I had in before, but the headrest on the taller chairs hit the rear window and limit travel.

And that is really the problem with any kind of buckets in a regular cab. They just can’t quite go back far enough to give as much room as a bench seat. But I still like them.

I like the low back bench seats.  I think the low back benches in my 80-86 trucks are more comfortable than the high back bench in my 94 and 95.  My 98 high back split bench is very comfortable, it's firm and the fabric is very tough, maybe due to it being an XL.  But the 98 style won't be a direct bolt in.  

I think for 80-96 the regular cab and crew cab front interchange, and the extended cab front and bronco front interchange.  But I'm not sure which will interchange with the crew cab rear.  

The bench on the crew cab is essentially the same in front and rear. The front just doesn't have a tilt lever for the back. It's locked out.

I can't find the same style replacement covers for my benches would require a trip to an upholstery shop to have them refit the seats.

There are a few trucks at the junk yard here. Two late 90s f-250s with head rest benches. I'm thinking I can grab both and put them in my truck.



There is also an 1984 there that someone put Captains chairs in



Also found this company that makes benches and 40/20/40 split buckets with adapters specifically

Good to know that a rear crew cab bench is the same as the front for a crew cab or single cab.  

When I was parting out a 95 extended cab that had buckets, I can't tell you how many folks were hunting the seat pan for a single cab that would take bucket seats and a console.  Look at ebay, it's a piece that brings a lot of money.  If that 84 with the buckets has that seat pan and not some DIY mount, it'd be worth grabbing if the price was right and reselling.  

thelastkeg wrote

Good to know that a rear crew cab bench is the same as the front for a crew cab or single cab.  

When I was parting out a 95 extended cab that had buckets, I can't tell you how many folks were hunting the seat pan for a single cab that would take bucket seats and a console.  Look at ebay, it's a piece that brings a lot of money.  If that 84 with the buckets has that seat pan and not some DIY mount, it'd be worth grabbing if the price was right and reselling.

Hit an miss at LKQ I might be able to run over to LKQ in the AM before my flight out and look. Sometimes I get out of there for decent other times they charge too much what you're getting.

My '85 had a low backed bench seat.  I thought that was one of the most comfortable seats I've had.  Although the time I was rear-ended by a '70s vintage LTD (hard enough to total the LTD) I had a headache for 2 or 3 days, so I certainly understand the desire for something with more recent safety features.  (Back in the '80s when that happened it was just "getting your bell rung."  Now it's a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), and I think the current version is probably more accurate).

Especially given the safety aspect, my preference would be the 40/20/40 seats I had in my '95 SuperCab and in my current '97 crew cab.  Neither had quite enough foam in the base (I sit a little lower in the truck than I'd prefer) but otherwise they're great.  Of course to Gary's point about limiting traven in a regular cab, I've only had them in Super- and crew cabs.

As far as the differences between seats in the various truck versions, I don't think there is much difference in the SEATS, but there definitely is in how they mount.  As was said, regular cab and crew cab (both front and rear) have the same floor configuration, so any seat system that came from one of those applications will fit in the others.  Likewise Bronco and SuperCab front seats will interchange with each other.

I have heard of people getting creative and putting Bronco or SuperCab seats in regular cabs (one of them being Gary).  I don't think it's all that challenging of a fabrication job, but it's not a direct bolt-in.

And on the regular and crew cab seats, it is a complete system that's required.  The captains chairs and console, or the 40/20/40 seats will bolt to a pan that attaches to the floor with the same 4 (I think) bolts that a bench seat would use.  So you need the pan too (unless you have a bench).  I'm less sure, but I think the Bronco / SuperCab seats attach directly to the floor.

I have a cloth bench seat with built-in headrests from a 1997 F350 (last Aeronose year) tucked away for my truck, and it seems pretty comfortable. I'm not a huge fan of cloth seats so will likely run a seat cover on it, but it's a great option for my truck considering the bricknose seat that came with it was trashed.

I REALLY liked the Lariat specific seat I had in my 1980 F150. Great mix of cloth/vinyl and I liked the way it looked. I should have kept it for my current truck but should have kept the entire truck too. lol.

1997 F350 seat:



1980 Ranger Lariat seat:

1980-1991 captains chairs are the absolute best, followed closely by 1980-1991 bench seats. 1992 and up feel flat and thinly padded to me. Bullnose and bricknose era seats are the most comfortable automotive seats I have ever sat in… at least for my body.

I have a pair of 2000 Lincoln Continental seats in Darth They are on a seat frame I got from a 1994 crew cab with a custom, but ratty front seat. I need to modify the frame as it sits the lincoln seats too high. when I redo it, I will remove the narrow center seat and belt and install a middle row console from a Ford Flex Limited. It has a 12V DC (15 amp) refrigerator/freezer in it.