Van seating options and bolt holes...

[mikracer]

With all the different seating options that these E series vans came with, does anyone know if the vans have all the different holes pre drilled and tapped?

[1der]

Our 2003 E350 XLT 15 pax only has holes for the seat locations for the bench seats it came with. nothing is drilled nor tapped for anything other than as factory delivered.

The seat holes for the first bench seat are wider than two and three. Been a while since I had the four seat bench in place, but seem to remember it is wider than position two and three as well. I drilled an extra set of holes at position three and made backing plates so I could position the four seat bench at location three if I needed to. This gave me 12 pax capability with plenty of storage behind.

[mikracer]

Thanks for the info! The four seat bench in the third row would be sweet in a 15 passenger van. Leaves plenty of room in the back for storage.

[my3kids]

On my 12 pass van with the 3, 3, 4 bench arrangement I had the 4 butt bench where the middle 3 butt bench was. No drilling needed at all on the van floor, just use the existing bracket and threaded holes. The tricky part was tapping the 4 butt bench frame so you can bolt the bench frame to the bench bracket. Sorry, I don't have pict .. never thought anyone would think of doing this except me.

Flip the middle 3 butt bench and 4 butt benches over. Look at how the bench bracket is bolted on the 3 butt bench and it is clear (at least to me) how you can do the same for the 4 butt bench. No additional hardware needed .. you just had to tap a couple of threads. Again, a pict would be worth at least a 1000 words but I didn't take any.

Once in place if you put a big fatty person on the outer most passenger side it looks like the bench frame could bend since the existing bench bracket is more toward the middle of the van. It wasn't a problem for me since my kids are young and don't weigh much. I weigh 170lbs and bounced up and down on it and the bench frame didn't even flex. Anyways, if this is a possible concern then just measure and cut to fit a 3/4in piece of wood to prop up the bench frame on that end.

Good Luck,
Ray

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by mikracer

With all the different seating options that these E series vans came with, does anyone know if the vans have all the different holes pre drilled and tapped?

No but I hope this helps. I did notice when I had the walls out of my 95 that the upper wall seat belt mounting holes are all there, but being an Econoline (cargo) at birth, not all passenger holes in the floor. From underneath you can see the ones that are in the thicker (double plate or molded) parts of the body, like above the rear axle where a channel runs across, but not all of the passenger ones throughout the floor. It seems to be a mixed bag, like many other things with these vans.