Has anyone installed seats into there van, need some advice?

AdventureRider · 01-05-2009, 02:56 PM

I purchased all the stock hardware & two stock Ford seats a little over a month ago, & I still dont have them in

, I realized this wasn't going to be a quick job as first thought.
First of all, my van didn't come with the thread certs in the floor (half do & half don't,) to bolt the seats to, so I was told that I could drill through the floor, then bolt them in, not the best idea IMO. But I did look into doing that & there is allot of things in the way that will have to come down & out (heat shields, etc.) just to make it happen. So since I've had these seats I have looked around, talk to some great local welders, searched online for other idea's etc. But as of yet the seats are still sitting in the garage.
This is a real bummer, my kids/family can't go in the van because all I have is the two front seats and for a family of 5 that doesn't work. Well my wife & I really want to take advange of our new van with the family so I NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT, so any help or advoce would be greatly apericated!!
Thanks all

PecksTank · 01-05-2009, 03:37 PM

Adventurerider,

Look inder the van. There should be several seats of metal bungs that look like very thick(.5" or so) washers that are factory spot wleded to the floor of the van. These are the stock seat locations. They are aranged so that you can either mount indivual capatins cahirs or the factory bench seats. I belive that all vans have these. Mine came as a window cargo van and they are there. It will take drilling from under the van on some and then some very carfull measurements to locate the others from inside. They then have to be taped. There are also singel bunges for the seat belt mounts.

Eli

AdventureRider · 01-05-2009, 03:48 PM

Thanks for the advice, but because my van came windowless those are not there, but I will check again to make sure.
I even called a few Ford dealers and all of them had the same reply, because my van was ordered without windows, no thread certs or anything for seats, then there next reply, "good luck".
Thats why I've though about some sort of a way of welding them in, not sure.
I'll keep trying, thanks for replying!

jage · 01-05-2009, 04:32 PM

I don't believe welding is safe. The floor is not meant to support the seats as a surface, and by the time you got down to something viable to weld to (still not safe - cracking welds vs. bolt shear) you might as well have drilled.

I would say take the time to move the heat shields and whatnot and do it right. Since it is bare it might be possible/feasible to pull the body instead of trying to work around everything. Not something you'd do in your driveway of course.

LeadDoggy · 01-05-2009, 06:18 PM

Hows about getting some metal about 2" wide, 3/16 or 1/4" thick and 2" longer that the seat mount width (6" or so) drill holes for the factory mounts and weld on nuts for the factory bolts. Next drill and tap a 1/4" hole on each end. Mount the said metal strips onto the bottom of the floor with the 1/4" tapped holes. WaLa, no welding nuts to the floorpan of your van. All holes can be drilled for the inside.

Jammyauto · 01-05-2009, 06:19 PM

My '05 Panel van that I bought empty from SMB has all the bosses under the floor like Eli's but the holes are not in the floor. I don't think windows or not has anything to do with it.

skrivan · 01-06-2009, 02:47 PM

take a few pics from underneath the van and let's have a look.

also---if you do end up having to drill and bolt the seats in, be sure to use 1/2 inch dia bolts. Factory seats are bolted in with 12 mm fine pitch bolts. there should be some 'release' plates that actually bolt to the floor and then you can remove the bench seats easily. are your seats the 'releasable' type?

if i can, i'll take a pic of the underside of my truck and send it tonight or tomorrow.

skrivan · 01-06-2009, 09:08 PM

i cant figure out how to resize the pics so they fit in the gallery.

**BroncoHauler** · 01-06-2009, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skrivan

i cant figure out how to resize the pics so they fit in the gallery.

You'll need something like Microsoft Office Picture Manager or Photoshop to resize them. If you can't locate an application you have that will do this, if there are just a few pics (I don't have broadband) I should be able to do it for you.

Herb

AdventureRider · 01-06-2009, 11:51 PM

I will do my best to get some pictures posted quickly, but we have received over 3 plus feet of snow in the last 72hrs here in SLC. So getting under the van is not going to be very inviting at the moment but I'll get them down ASAP.
Again I would like to thank everyone for jumping in and offering suggestions, idea's and possible solutions, this is very important to my family.
Cheers all