I pulled the back passenger Captains Chairs and rear bench seat in my 2005 E350 for the trip to Alaska so I could put a couple cots in. That worked fine, but now that I have some time, I'd like to have the back passenger Captains Chairs fully recline for sleeping, or have a bench seat that would make into a 6' bed even if I needed to build an extension to sleep fore/aft. If I could turn the drivers seat 180 and use it in combo with a second row relciner that would work too.

Has anyone else messed with this type of conversion, or know where I could get some ready made parts to do the job?

 

The E150 Chateau has a bed setup. I think it's standard. Might be an easy swap for you,

 

Im pretty sure that the bed thing was dis-continued in 1999 or 2000.

 

zsales
hoosiervan
cpcparts
I'm pretty sure one or more of these sites sell conversion van parts, and seating.
I would hate to have to go without my electric sofa-bed. Google for conversion van parts, and you'll get more.

 

Our '88 E150 Clubwagon XLT (basically a chateu) has a manual folding rear seat that is a full size bed. It has an extension the bolts to the rear frame of the seat. You might look around in the junk yards.

 

My '94 has a factory rear bench that folds into a bed as well. The bed is probably 6'4 or so in length and the width of the normal rear seat.

It has the captains chairs in the middle positions. I'm not sure if the seat spacing is the same in these models or not. All of the above mentioned seats are on quick release bases so you would need those as well if your van isn't equipted with them.

I would also suggest a 3" gel foam mattress topper if you intend to do very much sleeping on the factory seat / bed combo because it isn't very comfortable.

Gene

 

I know my Aerostar center buckets recline almost all the way flat and it has the fold down rear bench that converts to a bed. The thing is it not a bolt in and requires brackets.

I bet if you hit a junkyard you might find a seat cheap, I was working on a Chevy conversion yesterday and it's folding rear bench/bed was just bolted to the floor with brackets.

 

Thanks Y'all,
I've got a lead on an outfit in So. Cal. (from googling conversion van parts) that builds custom bed/seats. But before I commit, I'll see what the bone yards have to offer. I'll check out the older vans and the Aerostar - I can weld up my own brackets... Would be niced to find a bench/bed that is a direct replacement for the 3 person rear seat, but doesn't look like there's anything out there like that.

 

How tall are you? I was able to sleep semi-comfortably on the 4-passenger bench in the rear of an 03 15 passenger E-350 that I used to have.

 

Jeff,

Why don't you go to your local junk yard and have them run a locator for a Chateau rear seat / bed combo. They have more sources available than we do and may find one accross the country somewhere. Hopefully it will be closer for shipping cost.

Tell them that you want the floor brackets and bolts that hold the brackets down. I'm not sure if they match the holes or location of your stock seat or not, but if they do your set. There is no need to weld anything and you would loose a the ability to flip two levers and remove the seat when you want to haul something.

The removal feature reminds me how heavy the seat is. You probably want your junk yard to find one in your state or region that you can go pick up or you may pay $250.00 for the seat and $500.00 to ship it!

I have seen the OEM seats in brown, blue and grey so you may be able to find one to match your interrior. You may want to post another thread asking for the latest year that someone has the factory seat / bed combo in. Mine is a '94. Most of them see little use so if it matches your interrior it will probably be ok.

Good luck with the hunt.

Gene

 

A bit late on the reply but maybe it'll help others out: I watched Ebay for months and you'd occasionally see someone selling OEM bucket seats from a chateau trimline van.
Make sure you get the bases with the seats. Bolted right in where the front bench used to go. The kids have nicer seats to sit in than the parents :-(

BTW, I scrounged around junkyards and every seat in any van I saw was completely thrashed/soaked/nasty - y'all might have higher quality junkyards than we do in Oregon, but by the time it's junk here it's really JUNK

 

I was at www.pullapart.com and they had a van that had a fold down seat/bed and an extension that went on the back of it to cover the space from the seat to the door. I could not remove it because it was bolted to the underside of the van and my wrench kept slipping off. I probably could have gotten it if I crawled under the van resting on rims ...

I did get the fully reclining swivel seats, but, had to leave the swivel base there for the same reason. Now I find the plush buckets are too high to use as a front seat ... unless I mod the seat frame. Only paid $20 each for the buckets. Maybe I will use them where the fourth row seat is suppose to go.

SC where you live might be close enough for a pullapart run? They had a few vans with the reclining seats that allowed you to turn almost the whole back into a bed.

 

rebocardo,

Was the seat that you could not get out in a stock Chateau van?

I have a '94 Chateau and it is not mounted as you discribe. It has quick release bases for all of the rear seats, both of the captains chairs and the bench / bed seat as you descibed.

The brackets for the bench work differently that the ones for the captains chairs though.

I think the bases that they mount to are bolted into threaded holes in the floor rather than having nuts on the bottom. You might want to take another look to see if the seat you found might be that way as well.

Good luck,

Gene

 

> Was the seat that you could not get out in a stock Chateau van?

No, after market conversion. They were bolted to the floor with washers and did not use the factory holes in the floor. Unlike the two bench seats I got out of a church 12 passenger van which use the factory holes and brackets.

I really wanted folding benches so they can be used for camping, this will do for now. What started me on the quest for folding seats was finding that the only bench seat/bed that came in the van was bolted to angle iron that was welded to the floor.

What Moron that did that should have his MIG welder taken away. Luckily I found it before I put all my kids in there. I was able to cut the angle in 1/2 then almost pry the booger welded section off of the floor to access the nut underneath it.

I had a 1980 E-150 a long time ago and bought a brand new 95 Aerostar and have been really enjoying this used E-250 bus. My kids love it too. I do not know what it is, I just plain like the older full size Ford vans.

Especially the 4x4 part, been using it for my tree business pulling over trees

 

This is a bit late but I am about to take apart the back benches from my 2013 E350 to see if they can be made to recline to flat. That would be ideal if the back two benches folded down. One should be able to modify the frame to it pivots. Any luck I'll post some photos