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Reps given, wish I could give even more, this is very cool.
I gave him some for you Tom. This is thread, and the OP, epitomizes what FTE is all about. I don't even have an Excursion, but this is great. I might do this to my crew cab rear seat, which didn't come with head rests.
I found a set of 4 Lincoln Navigator 2nd and 3rd row headrests that match my Ex's interior. I also found a local upholstery shop that has done this before. YIPPEE! Now I am on the hunt for the headrest guides. I need 4 locking side and 4 non locking in tan. Going to do the 2nd row middle seat as well while we're at it.
Looking forward to seeing this, are the Navi guides still available from ?
Looking forward to seeing this, are the Navi guides still available from ?
No, they are not still being manufactured but I did manage to find some. I chatted with Fordparts.com and through them they were able to locate the part number and the dealerships that still had some. There were only 6 sets left across the country!! Waiting to hear back on pricing... Another site that helped me locate the guides was http://www.rearcounter.com/.
To anyone else doing this I highly recommend finding the sleeves BEFORE you decide on the headrests. They seem to be the harder part to find as both lfthrdr and I have found.
Edit: Found 4 sets of headrest guides. Half at a dealership in Texas that charged an arm and a leg and half online at http://www.nospartswarehouse.com/.
Grand total for 4 leather headrests and 4 sets of guides was about $230 and I still have to pay labor to install...Merry Christmas to me.
I went to the Gold Mine today to source the parts for my third row headrest install. Great ideas in this thread, and my hat is off to the OP for how he did it.
The pictures will tell the story of how I got the parts out of an 00 Excursion second row seat. I paid for the seat ($50 with lots of weather damage), and I cut it up and left the parts I didn't want behind (99% of it). You could also get the same parts from the second row of an Expy.
Then I moved to the passenger side:
I will install mine in the coming week or two and post some pics of how simple (or hard) this is using these parts. I am expecting very simple. I paid $50 for all the parts, so it is very cheap and my headrests will match my stock interior EXACTLY
Wow, I really like your idea nicmike. You won't have to compromise your seat frame by cutting into it AND you have your guides already. Were you able to get the headrests too from the same car?
When I did my install, I had a full 2nd set of 2nd and 3rd row seats to work with. I had the option to do exactly what you did, cut out the entire bracket, instead of drilling new holes like I did. I didn't do it for this reason:
if you just cut those brackets off of the old seat frame (grind down the welds) and weld it to the 3rd row frame, the headrest retainers seemed like they would be mounted too far forward in the seat.... meaning there would be very little cushion between the steel and the back of someone sitting there.
You could take those pieces, weld them to the 3rd row frame so that the retainers are centred on the frame, then cut away the frame enough to allow the plastic retainers to go "through" the frame.
Either method can work..... when you know how to cut, grind and weld!! I love it! Good luck
Wow, I really like your idea nicmike. You won't have to compromise your seat frame by cutting into it AND you have your guides already. Were you able to get the headrests too from the same car?
You could take those pieces, weld them to the 3rd row frame so that the retainers are centred on the frame, then cut away the frame enough to allow the plastic retainers to go "through" the frame.
Either method can work..... when you know how to cut, grind and weld!! I love it! Good luck
First of all, I liked your write up and pictures so much that it made me want to do this. Again, my hat is off to you, sir. I am not trying to re-invent the wheel, as your method is clearly very sturdy and successful. I just had the opportunity to get these parts super cheap at the Gold Mine (my honey hole for parts here in CenTex), and I am going to try to make it as simple as I can with these parts without buying anything else (if I can!). I think I can do it with a little less drilling/welding than you had to do
I totally hear you on the concerns with the thickness of the seat cushions in the third row, and I have already been considering that. I may very well need to flatten the frame out a bit (like the frame on the second row I got them from was - check pics again) to make the brackets sit correctly in the cushion. The positive side of getting the brackets is, I can angle them if I need to so I can achieve the correct headrest placement in relation to the top of the seat cushion.
Looking forward to giving this a try, and I will post pics to add to this great thread you started.
Stewart, I should be able to conjure something up for the tech folder if this is a success.
A little ahead of schedule on this (this never happens to me). Got the brackets removed from the pipe I cut out of the seats I borrowed them from. This is looking very promising if I can figure out how to flatten the bar on the third row seat I am going to put them on.
Since the thickness of the 3rd row cushion is an obvious concern, you can now see how the bar this WAS mounted to was made more narrow to accommodate the cushion it used to be mounted in. I might attempt to emulate this flattening effect, or I might not. Need to take some measurements of the seat thickness on both 2nd and 3rd rows.
Stock Excursion headrests ready to go in. Need to clean them up a little more. Still some dirt in the stitching.
Got my headrests today that I ordered off of ebay. A little disappointed. Color is lighter than our interior. More of a tan and our interior is more of a beige.
Also posts seem crooked. Maybe hard to tell in picture. They also reek of Lysol. Will crooked posts be a problem sliding or safety concern?
?
I am not trying to re-invent the wheel, as your method is clearly very sturdy and successful. I just had the opportunity to get these parts super cheap at the Gold Mine (my honey hole for parts here in CenTex), and I am going to try to make it as simple as I can with these parts without buying anything else (if I can!). I think I can do it with a little less drilling/welding than you had to do 
