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There's a bit of discussion going on in the Comfortable Seat thread about what seats bolt into what cabs. I remember running into this on Dad's truck, and I know there have been other threads about it, but none of them seem to be definitive.
So, I turned to the catalog and, in doing so, came up with a question for y'all: Did the full-sized Broncos have different floor pans depending on what seat they got?
I ask because of what the catalog shows with regard to seat tracks. This snippet from the catalog seems to say that Broncos with a bench seat take the same tracks as a regular cab truck, while those with a bucket seats take different tracks. But, I know that the Bronco bucket seat tracks will not fit my regular cab's floor pan. So, the implication is that the floor pan differed between Broncos with bench seats and those with buckets.
I find that really hard to believe, but am asking for the collective wisdom of y'all. HELP! What am I missing???? If we can get the differences figured out I'll document it.
I find that hard, if not impossible to believe as well Gary... especially since there was already a different set of bench seat mounts for the Supercab trucks. Why wouldn't FSB's with a bench use that mount? Sounds like it's time for another junkyard trip...
There's a guy, Diesel_Brad, who's on this forum a little and the '87 - '96 forum a lot, who has done a lot of trucks and a lot of seat swaps. He is very clear that Broncos and SuperCabs have the same floorpan (in the front seat area) regardless of seats. And the same for all regular cab and crew cab (front and rear of crew cab). I THINK he applies that to everything from '80 - '97. I KNOW he applies that to all '86 - '97 trucks.
I've seen a lot of other people say other things in threads, but every time I have I've seen them run into trouble. Something like you can swap seats between a SuperCab and a regular cab, but in the end there's quite a bit of modification required, or the seat doesn't sit at the right height or something.
Now Gary started this off about seat tracks. I don't know for sure how that works out. I know on my '97 crew cab there is a pan in front that attaches to the floor and the tracks, seats and center console/seat attach to the pan. In the rear I think there are just brackets as a part of the rear bench that attach to the floor. So I could take everything out of the front and put the rear bench there. Or I could take the bench out of the rear and put the front pan, along with the 40/20/40 seats there.
I believe the front bench seats in crews were different from the back seat in that the front benches could be adjusted and had the backs finished nicer (since they could be seen from the rear seat). And I think benches from regular cabs are a little different yet, in that they can be adjusted but aren't necessaryily finished as nice. But they are all interchangeable as far as fit goes.
I'm less sure of Broncos and SuperCabs. It's been a been a long time since I had a SuperCab. But like the regular and crew cabs, I could easily see there being different seats and tracks depending on options, but with all of them still attaching to the same floors.
Bronco bucket tracks work with 4wd SuperCabs. I was reading Luke76's build thread today, and he mentioned something interesting about bronco seats
Originally Posted by Luke76
That meant I had to come up with a floor mounting system of my own.
I went through a bunch of extended cabs at the junkyard that had factory buckets and most of them had the same style of tracks/brackets
These tracks unbolt from the stock seats and as you can see I bought a few of them from the JY to see if they could be modified. The passenger and driver's side are identical in this style.
However the big problem was that they didn’t fit my floor-pan at all. I’m not entirely sure but I think the difference has to do with 2WD vs 4WD and some extra humps and bumps in the floor to account for the transfer case. My truck is 4WD and I guess the ones I found at the yard must have been 2WD. I never did figure out for sure if that was the problem but again, the type of bracket pictured above was very common at the yard and simply didn’t fit my floor.
Finally I found a Bronco that seemed to have what I needed. The passenger seat has the cool flip-up feature although I’m not sure I really need it. This bracket unbolted from the stock Bronco seat and fit my floorpan perfectly.
All of the benches use the same mounting, regardless of cab, both styles of floorpan have those holes. It's when you get into buckets or split benches that things start to change.
I've never dealt with mounting actual reg or crew buckets, but on the 40/20/40 they mount to a pan that bolts to the bench mount points, where an ex cab and Bronco mount directly to the floor.
All of the benches use the same mounting, regardless of cab, both styles of floorpan have those holes. It's when you get into buckets or split benches that things start to change.
Correct, 100%
I've never dealt with mounting actual reg or crew buckets, but on the 40/20/40 they mount to a pan that bolts to the bench mount points, where an ex cab and Bronco mount directly to the floor.
Yes the only way to make buckets or 40/20/40s BOLT into a reg cab or crewcab(without making your floor into swiss cheese) is to use the 40/20/40 seat pan from a reg/crew cab
Here is what I learned..from a project that I did a couple years ago. ...1984/Regular Cab..(Gary now has the bench sat and door pockets ) The seats I used are '86 BRONCO/LOW back..if there is a difference from high back..I don't know...The seller told me that 2 of the track holes are the same..and I would need to drill 2 new ones and use a shim..Remember that the passenger seat is a lean-forward setup..I removed carpet and set the seats in.To get the most legroom, I drilled all new holes..although 2 did align with the Bronco track. These seats also mount higher..as you will see when tilt is all the way down.I used lug nut spacers from a Corvette for shims. That was all I needed. Big fender washers on both side of pan...Finished..May not pass Gov't crash test, but I doubt they would come loose. 2 bolts for the matching console..and the same holes for the Bronco carpeted door pockets instead of the hard plastic ones. Pictures are on the Forum..thanks..Jerry..
Ok, this is starting to make sense. Let me see if I understand correctly.
There are two different floor pans - regular cab and crew cab trucks share one, and Broncos and Supercabs share the other. And both pans are drilled for and accept the bench seat tracks. But, the bucket seat mounts attach to the floor in a different spot, and only the Bronco/Supercab pan accepts them. In fact, to directly attach buckets to a regular/crew cab pan requires a lot of drilling and spacing. However, the base or pan for the 40/20/40 seats mounts to the bench seat holes and accepts the bucket seat tracks, so it makes mounting bucket seats a bolt-in arrangement.
Is that correct? And, do all of the Bronco/Supercab bucket seats attach to the pan?
Gary..It took me about 15 minutes to center, drill and shim the '86 seats..Took longer to get the holes through the carpet...I didn't know about the big frame part that you have. I though they all bolted to the floor. Worked for me !!
About the only thing I can add here is... my brother's 1996 Bronco has high-back bucket sets, no mounting pan; I got some replacements from an early 90s pickup with some sort of larger cab, don't remember if it was a 4-door version or merely one with a back seat... but they fit right in without any problems.
What I found in my 6.9 truck with Bronco seats is that when you try to use as many existing holes as you can the drivers side doesn't end up centered behind the steering wheel. Its just enough that it feels odd. Mine had been previously installed in a crew cab so I only needed to bolt them down, they were already modified to sit properly on the floor pan.
If we can get the differences figured out I'll document it.
