Seat Swapping Suggestions

[Justwondering]

Today I took the 1997 F250 Ford Dually out for a 3 hour road trip.
Upon my return, I realized my back was killing me.

I followed that with a 2 1/2 hour trip in the 2002 Chevy Suburban road trip this evening.
Upon my return, I realized my back did not hurt me.

So I'm wondering if anyone has taken suburban (non air-bag) seats and tried putting them in an older Ford.

I do realize its a rails vs locking bar difference on the floor attachment.
However, what I really need to know is: what do I not know? Seatbelts, bolt sizes, ride height, not really sure what I need to know.

I need to make a change.

 

[4speedjim]

Hard to know what you dont know because you just dont know what you dont know. Ya know?
Please dont go the junkyard route! There is no up side to a mismatched ill fitting tired brand X seats. Springs stretch, foam squishes, frames bend and crack. Its a pain in the a$$. You can buy some junk yard seats and adapt them. But how far ahead are you with old mismatched seats that need fabrication to work in your rig? If you can pull your seats and drop them at a shop, have them freshened up for a little more than JY seats would cost. Plus, You wont have to cut and fabricate anything and still have matched material, correct ride height etc in your rig.
Or.... Why not DIY it?
Order 9 Gauge bottom springs, 11 G for the backs. Around $100 will buy you enough spring, foam, bag of hog rings with a plier, and a case of beer for your effort. Cut the hog rings and remove material and foam from bottoms and backs. Drop seat covers at upholstery shop to replace worn torn material. It will surprise you how cheap this step is. It takes no time for upholstery shop to replace a few pieces of seat cover. Replace the springs and if needed repair and straighten frames. Check, clean, lube the recliners, seat belt retractors slides and locks for worn parts and replace as needed. Paint the frames so they look great and retard rust. Reverse the disassembly steps making sure you use the burlap, plastic and other materials between spring/foam/material layers. Plastic bags help material slide over foam and settle in place. An angle grinder and wives electric carving knife work well to shape seat foams if you decide to replace them. Its less than 8 hours from removal to install. Your rig will have its matching interior and you'll have another couple decades of cruising in style and comfort. I bought my stuff from Amazon but you can buy the supplies anywhere. Its so much easier and straight forward than I thought it was! I wish Id of done interior repairs 30 years ago.

 

[BudW]

People have been swapping car seats out for decades now – so it is a doable project.

Before making any changes – I recommend you make a few measurements, first.

The steering wheel sometimes gets in the way (sometimes not). I recommend getting a couple pieces of wood - 2x4’s work fine.
Place one 2x4 (or whatever) and place level in front of the seat (of one that you like), it helps to make sure vehicle is on level ground (if possible) and the upright 2x4 is vertically level and touching the front of the seat (in middle position of front seat).
Place a second 2x4 horizontally on seat. Screw the two pieces together (starting a screw into vertical piece most of the way helps). The horizontal piece should just barely touch the seat top and barely touch the seat back - and make sure top part is level before screwing in the 2nd screw. Without a 2nd screw to hold the two pieces together – you won’t get good measurements.

Measure the seat distance and record (your new jig gives a perfect writing surface). Measure and record the distance from front of jig to break petal. Measure distance from jig to top of seat as well as top of jog to ceiling.
One thing that is hard to measure is the angle of seat back and distance of back edge of seat – without making the jig complicated.
Note: this assumes the seat was at a position you currently enjoy.

Cars typically have seats closer to the floorpan than trucks/vans have. This effects a makes the top of dash to floorpan is higher as welk as the distance from front edge of seat to brake petal (lower leg is more pointed down in pickup/more pointed forward in a car).

Your jig “could” be taken to a salvage yard, pull-a-part, used car lot, etc. – but it won’t be a lot of help in this case. It is mainly for seat transfer.

Keep in mind that most car and truck floorpans are different – most sloop downwards in seat area. That said, seat tracks or pedestals can be swapped, changed and/or fabricated to your liking.

Once seat is removed from target vehicle – new measurements will need to be taken:
Distance from rear of jig straight down to floorpan. Measuring the front of seat bottom to jig might also be helpful.

Now you (should) have your measurements – to get your new seat to fit the existing floorpan (The Ford, in this case). It is possible the Ford seat track might be adapted to work with minimal amount of work. Making one out of wood (or metal) from scratch has been done before.
Adding washers to front or rear can fix the seat tilt (or left to right).

Take and post pictures of your progress.

I would re-use the existing seat belts – if at all possible (and that should work in most cases.

Some seats have seat occupancy sensors in them (for air bag or seat belts not clicked, yet purposes).

Power seats can be adapted – using same method (or power seat removal, whichever is preferred).

Most pickups have a power seat electrical connector just under the carpet – for those who got manual seat versions.


4speedim has a good idea – which actually is a great idea. As vehicles age, the foam degrades and springs weaken. It would be easier to repair existing seats.
That said – there are a lot of “ill-fitting” seats out there that no amount of refurbishing can fix. I have no idea if these apply to you, or not.
BudW

 

[Justwondering]

You've given me much to consider.

I was thinking of buying NOS of a 2014-2016 Surburban front seats and middle seats to retrofit them to the Ford Dually.

Most of the pick-n-pull either already have the seats gone or the seats are already worse than mine (like 4speedjim says).

BudW - your advice was excellent. I had measured seats and butt height but never thought to measure to the pedals, dash, steering column and roof.. great points.

I'm considering losing the rear bench seats and putting in captains chairs or something like that so I can add a console to the front and rear.

I'll have to consider my options.

 

[kkritsilas]

An interesting swap candidate, if you go the JY route is some later model Cadillac SVS or Eldorado seats. Really nice leather, fully adjustable in any direction you can think of, and all powered. Colour mismatch may be an issue, though.

 

[Justwondering]

Much to consider.