For mounting just get some 1" thick aluminum bar at least 2" wide, drill for the mounting bolts, and drill and tap for the seat holes. Bolt the bar to the truck and then bolt the seats to the bar.

 

Hells no! The bolts need to be anchored to the reinforced plated on the floorboard. In an accident the bolts will shear straight out of the alunimum and who (whom?) ever is sitting there will be cursing your name until you get to Heaven/Hell where they are waiting for you (because they will die a horrible horrible death).




Also yes I saw you said 1 inch thick, but that will raise the seat 1 inch plus some for the extra hardware plus the extended bolts will be able to handle less pressure without shearing off as well.

 

Everything on an airplane is bolted to aluminum.

The engines on a 747 are held in with 4 9/16" bolts into aluminum.

 

I have never had a 35MPH front end collision in a 747... I don't think I ever will either. The possibility of a crash where the seatbelt/seat alone is what saves me in a 747 crash will be the day I buy stock in Oceania Airlines.

 

You know what, I think I will retract my statement. Snowseeker, you know about a million times more about metallurgy and welding and the properties of those things and I just understand them on paper. If it's good enough for you then it's good enough for me

 

LOL...Who need any seats in the back? I sit in the front.

 

I'm sorry, do you not take the wife to a secluded area and "run out of fuel"? I do and I'm all over the back area!

 

I don't understand it all either. Thats why i have graphs, index cards, and whatnot.

The only problem with aluminum is fatigue, it doesn't like it. Besides that though a tapped aluminum bar 1" thick will hold a bolt very well. I don't have the info right in front of me but I believe 1" of threaded hole in aluminum has enough hold to shear a 1/2" grade 5 bolt (or something close to that). Thats something close to 16,000 lb tensile strength.


However, what I would be more worried about is the 1" aluminum bar itself bending, cracking, and breaking off from either the seat mount bolts or the floor mount bolts in the event of an accident with a big enough person in the seat. But then again we have to look at the seatbelt is 2/3rds mounted to the pillar of the vehicle and only the latch side is part of the seat. So in the event of an accident the seat should only see 1/3rd of the forces.

Hmmm, even though it would hold the bolts fine I would personally not use aluminum just for the idea of it fatigue cracking over time and the possibility it may deform and break in an accident if the mounting bolts for the seat are to far away from the mounting bolts to the floor.

But then again I would cut apart and remake the entire lower end of the seat so it bolted in without an adapter and would look near stock. Thats just how I am.

 

I thought you could swap the bases and bolt them right in?

 

Only if the bases bolt up to the seats the same.

 

I know that most of the racing organizations struggle constantly with race seat mounting in all sorts of crazy race cars. With a typical stock floorpan, you won't fail if you have a 4" square 1/8"-thick steel backing plate for the bolts. Those of us that don't know any better just do that for all seat and harness bolts. The main downside is that it is a two man operation to install/remove.

I have close to a dozen of these under my car (I have a passenger seat for students and in-car coaching 5-6-each):



But, my seat mount brackets themselves are aluminum
http://mazdaracers.com/store/product...-seat-bracket/


and bolt to my fiberglass seat:


I've seen guys flipping 20 feet into the air with this exact setup. I specifically chose every component based on the result of an extremely violent crash I witnessed first hand. I even chose the same bolts and washers the guy had in his car.

A lot of NASCAR seats are made of aluminum

http://www.butlerbuilt.net/products/...I_Speedway.jpg

 

All of those don't have seatbelts integrated into the seat though. You can sit on a milk crate with a 5 point harness and be ok too.

 

Even better with a 6pt harness. Harnesses are connected at 4 of the 6 floor connection points. The two back points hold the seat and lap belts. Two for the sub belts and two for the front seat mount bolts. I agree that the job of the race seat is simply to keep you from flopping around while the belts do their job. But, given the strength of what I have, I would trust those plates to hold a truck seat.

 

Introducing the new Sparco race seat! Simpson should have theirs out soon as well

 

Hi All,
Just thought I would post what we do at work with aluminum/bolting things to them.
If we are concerned about fatiguing in aluminum quite often we will install helicoils into the aluminum. Our engineers have stated that this will increase the strength as the aluminum will not fatigue. The other option is to drill thru the aluminum and ise a bolt and nut instead.


Just my .02 cents.


Rob