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Has anyone ever added a middle seat to the second row of a 2019 Expedition? My wife and I have an Expedition with bucket seats in the second row and are wanting to convert it to a bench seat. I found a middle seat on eBay for $225 and it just came in today. I am now needing to find the hardware and possibly spacers or any other mounting hardware to instal it in the car. Has anyone done this yet. Any tips or tricks to know before I dig into it?
Does anyone have a 2019 with a bench seat? Would you be willing to share your VIN so I can use your VIN to look up the parts I need? I would really only need the last 8 #'s of the VIN.
I can't help you directly as I don't own a 2019 Expedition...yet, but I do have a couple suggestions. Jump onto Cars.com and do a search for a 2019 Expedition matching your trim level and options, more than likely the VIN is listed in the vehicle basic information or a photo of the door tag is included.
Just a random one I picked from some recent searching:
Todd - were you able to figure out how to install the middle seat in your ‘19 Expedition? I’m considering doing the exact same thing and would love to compare notes.
Originally Posted by Mr. Mohon
Has anyone ever added a middle seat to the second row of a 2019 Expedition? My wife and I have an Expedition with bucket seats in the second row and are wanting to convert it to a bench seat. I found a middle seat on eBay for $225 and it just came in today. I am now needing to find the hardware and possibly spacers or any other mounting hardware to instal it in the car. Has anyone done this yet. Any tips or tricks to know before I dig into it?
Yes I did. I did it about a year ago so let's see how much I remember. I started by pulling both seats from the second row and part of the door seal to expose the edge of the carpet. I then lifted the enough to look under and see what was needed. Where the seat goes is a piece of foam under the carpet. I had to get that completely out from under the carpet to get to the metal. By lifting the carpet up a little bit and looking through the holes from the side seat you can see the bolt holes for the middle seat. The holes for the center seat are covered under a little piece of black tape. I then cut 4 holes in the carpet for the new seat. There are spacers for the seat that need to sit on the metal when it is bolted in. I test fit the seat to make sure it fit. Then I cut the foam to allow the same clearance. Now you can instal the center seat. There is a wire that you run under the carpet and it plugs into the wiring harness of the car or to one of the side seat. You do need to remove the arm rests from both seats. They remove easily but they leave behind a metal stud about 1/2" in diameter and stick out about 1/2" as well. I just put a rubber cap over it and called it a day. All in all it took about an hour and a half to do.
It took the guys at the service counter some time to find the right bolts and spacers. Its kind of not asked for often so its not in a really obvious spot when they look it up in the computer. Also they often mistaken it for the third row when looking it up.
I know it looks like I hacked the carpet up but you can't see it when the seats are installed. I didn't take any pictures of the seat installed but it just looks like a bench seat. When all the seats are up or down you can't even tell anything has changed. The only way to tell is from the arm rests being removed.
Hope that help. Let me know if you have any questions and Ill try and help out.
Thanks Todd! I really appreciate the additional details on how you did this. The picture was also extremely helpful. A few more questions:
Do you happen to have the part numbers for the items you had to purchase?
Does the new configuration have any issues? I was wondering if there was any rubbing on the leather caused by the metal studs left from the arm removal - I know you covered them with rubber.
Thanks so much for this valuable info. I’ve been scouring the internet and you are the only one I’ve found that has actually documented doing this.
Originally Posted by Mr. Mohon
Yes I did. I did it about a year ago so let's see how much I remember. I started by pulling both seats from the second row and part of the door seal to expose the edge of the carpet. I then lifted the enough to look under and see what was needed. Where the seat goes is a piece of foam under the carpet. I had to get that completely out from under the carpet to get to the metal. By lifting the carpet up a little bit and looking through the holes from the side seat you can see the bolt holes for the middle seat. The holes for the center seat are covered under a little piece of black tape. I then cut 4 holes in the carpet for the new seat. There are spacers for the seat that need to sit on the metal when it is bolted in. I test fit the seat to make sure it fit. Then I cut the foam to allow the same clearance. Now you can instal the center seat. There is a wire that you run under the carpet and it plugs into the wiring harness of the car or to one of the side seat. You do need to remove the arm rests from both seats. They remove easily but they leave behind a metal stud about 1/2" in diameter and stick out about 1/2" as well. I just put a rubber cap over it and called it a day. All in all it took about an hour and a half to do.
It took the guys at the service counter some time to find the right bolts and spacers. Its kind of not asked for often so its not in a really obvious spot when they look it up in the computer. Also they often mistaken it for the third row when looking it up.
I know it looks like I hacked the carpet up but you can't see it when the seats are installed. I didn't take any pictures of the seat installed but it just looks like a bench seat. When all the seats are up or down you can't even tell anything has changed. The only way to tell is from the arm rests being removed.
Hope that help. Let me know if you have any questions and Ill try and help out.
Glad I can help. I do not remember what parts I actually used but I'll attach the invoice from when I installed it. I do not notice any rubbing or wear marks from the arm rests stud but I also do not fold the seats very often. If I did move the seats more ofter I would probably cut the shaft shorter or take the seat apart and remove the shaft all together so it does not rub but it will leave about a 1" hole in the leather from where the shaft was. A good upholstery shop might be able to close up the hole if you wanted to go that far. I will try and take pictures of it but in order to do that I need to pull the car seat.
Glad I can help. I do not remember what parts I actually used but I'll attach the invoice from when I installed it. I do not notice any rubbing or wear marks from the arm rests stud but I also do not fold the seats very often. If I did move the seats more ofter I would probably cut the shaft shorter or take the seat apart and remove the shaft all together so it does not rub but it will leave about a 1" hole in the leather from where the shaft was. A good upholstery shop might be able to close up the hole if you wanted to go that far. I will try and take pictures of it but in order to do that I need to pull the car seat.
hey thanks for all the info. i’m going to be doing the same thing. just a couple questions. thanks
Fold your arm rest up and you sill see a little zipper to take the fabric off and expose the hardware. I forget what the spacers part numbers are but it was in the diagram from the parts department when they found the bolts. They hold the seat off the floor to the same height as the other seat. You definitely need the spacers. Try to document this better than I did and come back and update with pictures if you end up going through with this.
I just bought a 2021 expedition from the same dealership you received the parts, north bay Ford. And currently experiencing buyers remorse for buying captain chairs rather than 3 seats in the 2nd row. I too have a baby and three seats makes more sense. After installing the middle seat does it slide up or is it bolted to the frame. Can you send pics of your 2nd row. And where did you find the middle seat to buy? Would love to talk to you more about this. Kmjacks19@yahoo.com
Fold your arm rest up and you sill see a little zipper to take the fabric off and expose the hardware. I forget what the spacers part numbers are but it was in the diagram from the parts department when they found the bolts. They hold the seat off the floor to the same height as the other seat. You definitely need the spacers. Try to document this better than I did and come back and update with pictures if you end up going through with this.
by any chance did you find your order for the spacers? Would you be able to ask the dealership for your order history to get the part number? Thanks!
Todd - were you able to figure out how to install the middle seat in your ‘19 Expedition? I’m considering doing the exact same thing and would love to compare notes.
Jeff, did you end up converting your bucket seats to a bench seat? I am purchasing a 2022 expedition with bucket seats but need a bench seat. I am curious about the process. Anything you can lend will be helpful thank you!
Todd, thank you for your description. I am buying a 2022 expedition with bucket seats but I need the bench seat. I just wanted to clarify something. Did you just add a middle seat but kept your original bucket seats? Is there an option to just put the entire middle row bench in? Just curious about the options.
Originally Posted by Mr. Mohon
Yes I did. I did it about a year ago so let's see how much I remember. I started by pulling both seats from the second row and part of the door seal to expose the edge of the carpet. I then lifted the enough to look under and see what was needed. Where the seat goes is a piece of foam under the carpet. I had to get that completely out from under the carpet to get to the metal. By lifting the carpet up a little bit and looking through the holes from the side seat you can see the bolt holes for the middle seat. The holes for the center seat are covered under a little piece of black tape. I then cut 4 holes in the carpet for the new seat. There are spacers for the seat that need to sit on the metal when it is bolted in. I test fit the seat to make sure it fit. Then I cut the foam to allow the same clearance. Now you can instal the center seat. There is a wire that you run under the carpet and it plugs into the wiring harness of the car or to one of the side seat. You do need to remove the arm rests from both seats. They remove easily but they leave behind a metal stud about 1/2" in diameter and stick out about 1/2" as well. I just put a rubber cap over it and called it a day. All in all it took about an hour and a half to do.
It took the guys at the service counter some time to find the right bolts and spacers. Its kind of not asked for often so its not in a really obvious spot when they look it up in the computer. Also they often mistaken it for the third row when looking it up.
I know it looks like I hacked the carpet up but you can't see it when the seats are installed. I didn't take any pictures of the seat installed but it just looks like a bench seat. When all the seats are up or down you can't even tell anything has changed. The only way to tell is from the arm rests being removed.
Hope that help. Let me know if you have any questions and Ill try and help out.
03-10-2020, 06:16 PM
