1995 Econoline Bench Bed- installed in 2009 e350 passenger?

[Bassy7]

Hi all.

I bought my 3rd Econoline a few days ago. It is 2009 e350, extended, 15 passenger with the v10, and only 81,000 miles.

While we camp with our 1979 16' fiberglass Scamp, there have been several occasions, when a quick single night trip is easier to just sleep in the back of the van. Our kids and their friends will also sleep in there as well on some trips, as our Scamp is pretty tight when you toss a couple of teenage boys in it!

I am envisioning a conversion bed/bench installed directly behind the 2 front captains chairs, as a viable alternative, to have an easy to use bed for such situations. With my other 2 vans, I only kept in one single bench seat, and plan to do the same with this newer one.

I found a 1995 Ford bed/bench (couple hours away) that is a viable option for us. It appears to have "normal" hook style feet for floor brackets, not the box style tube frame that some conversion bench/beds have.

***** Will a 1995 bench like this lock into a 2009 seat bracket?

I know that bracket spacing will have to be dealt with, since there are 3 different floor bracket spacings across the 4 bench seats in a 15 passenger van. But I have a plan for dealing with that, if the widths don't match. tentative plan is to bolt or weld the brackets on to a 1/4" thick steel plate, then bolt that plate directly into the OEM bracket holes.

In situations where my wife and might sleep on it, we would definitely throw on a 3"-4" foam topper to improve the comfort. The bench/bed folds out to 54" wide x 66" long. 72"+ length would be better, but can make do with our feet hanging off a bit, or come up with an extension if needed. But again, this would only be for occasional adult use.

Seatbelts- this old seat has a center lap belt, and the receiving latches for 2 shoulder belts for the outer positions. I am okay with losing the center shoulder strap belt on this 2009. My 2004 and 2008 econolines, didn't have a shoulder belt for the middle seat either.

**** Will a 2009 shoulder seat belt strap latch into the 1995 seat belt receiver?

Any other possible issues I need to be considering?

Thank you all.

[motovan_mn]

Van sounds like a good find, post some photos!

All I can offer is that the 2009 shoulder seat belt buckle will NOT fit into a 1995 receiver. However, there are some generic buckles on Ebay that are known to fit the newer style seat belts found in the Econolines. I recently posted a thread about that here, and MG specifically verified that one particular model on Ebay would fit. So you could always go that route.

[Bassy7]

Originally Posted by motovan_mn

Van sounds like a good find, post some photos!

All I can offer is that the 2009 shoulder seat belt buckle will NOT fit into a 1995 receiver. However, there are some generic buckles on Ebay that are known to fit the newer style seat belts found in the Econolines. I recently posted a thread about that here, and MG specifically verified that one particular model on Ebay would fit. So you could always go that route.

I would imagine that I could unbolt the old receivers from the ‘95 seat, and bolt some new ones on. Heck, since I own a total of 6 bench seats, I might even be able to remove some of belts from them and swap ‘em over.

My 2009 first row bench seat brackets are 32.5” apart, after carefully reviewing the photos from the ‘95 bench seat, those are also spaced at 32.5”!!!
I still wonder if they will lock-in to the modern latches?

My 2008 e350 has a high top and tall rear doors. I will miss those on this van. I am tempted to find a donor van and transplant a high top this v10. Im actually tempted to remove the hightop and doors from my other van, as it is rusty and its days are numbered, so it doesnt have much resale value.
The rear tall doors, would add a lot of work to the project, but damn they are handy. I can walk any of my small motorcycles right up a ramp into my van, and only have to duck a little at the rear.