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I just picked up a 2013 E150 with leather and captains chairs and I would like to modify it to seat nine with all positions having a headrest. I do not like it that the bench seats have no headrest in them. Seems like a basic safety feature that I want. Anyway, I’m looking at swapping seats, preferably another set of leather captains chairs but I can’t seem to find them. I’m also looking at transit seats. Looks like they just bolt to the floor. Has anybody done people this? Anything else to consider?
I put a single seat in the rear of my 99 e250. It was a work van, so no seats back there from the factory.
What a pain in the butt! To do it properly, you'll need to drop the fuel tank and some heat shields. I made a custom base with a swiveling bucket seat. I ended up bolting it through the floor in three places. All three were on the body support crossmembers, so at least two layers of steel. I also used large fender washers, lock washers, and grade 8 bolts.
I also replaced the base of the front passenger bucket to a swivel out of a 94 conversion van. Three holes lined up enough to drill holes or use current ones in the base. I had to weld an extension on the base for the fourth hole. That one was much easier.
I'll say you'll need plenty of rust penetrant for any current hardware on the exterior of the van.
So far it doesn’t look too difficult. It appears that two of the bolt holes from the captains chair line up with the bench seat bracket so it will be simply a matter of unbolting the bench seat, and putting in the captains chairs with two bolts while drilling two more. I plan to put a carriage bolt in the three open holes in each side with some plumbers putty under the head.
In the back it looks pretty open underneath to reinstall the bench. I have ordered the seat belt from ford and it looks straightforward to install. The biggest part will be getting the holes drilled in the right spots underneath. I’ll probably drill up from the bottom with a small drill bit and then a bigger one down from the top so I know I’m centered in the crossmember. Not a lot of options for putting it in a different spot, so it’;s just copying the setup from the factory.
Here are some pictures of what I have. My two new captain chairs on order have not arrived yet but they are mocked up in the approximate position they will be after install. you can see that the second row captains chairs have four bolts holding them down. Each of these bolts attach to a crossmember running across the body. The third row bench has five bolts, three of which are in the same location as the captains chair. It looks like I will have to drill the fourth one.
what is interesting is that the bench seat bracket does not appear to be the same as the ones use in the fourth row of the bigger vans. I don’t understand why. Adding the seatbelt looks to be an easy job. The crossmember for the fourth row is missing underneath the back to match what’s in front. I can’t figure out if I would need to buy the crossmember and install and drill into it or just get a flat plate to attach
to, but the rear holes for the fourth row don’t line up with a crossmember that is present on mine.
Something I've found helpful when installing anything that's to be bolted to the floor is this scheme:
Showing is how I secured a fully loaded Snap On double bay tool box that's about 39" tall, located just behind the front seats like this:
To achieve the most secure and stable mounting the box sits just about in the middle of a cross member so using the aluminum angle shown I drilled holes through the floor that are on either side of that cross member. Fitting the aluminum channel on each side I capture three different cross members spreading any load over them, nothing is attached only to the floor sheet metal.
FWIW this tool box recently suffered a rear end collision that was significant but the box didn't move a bit. Long story short you're on the right track mounting the seats to the most solid points available whether they're factory parts or of your own creation.
Good luck on your project---you seem to have it well thought out and proceeding nicely.
I just picked up a 2013 E150 with leather and captains chairs and I would like to modify it to seat nine with all positions having a headrest. I do not like it that the bench seats have no headrest in them. Seems like a basic safety feature that I want. Anyway, I’m looking at swapping seats, preferably another set of leather captains chairs but I can’t seem to find them. I’m also looking at transit seats. Looks like they just bolt to the floor. Has anybody done people this? Anything else to consider?
I've been wanting to do this in mine. Please keep us updated with pics. Good luck!
