I had a 10 inch sub and woofer installed behind the drivers side rear seat and now due to the depth of the speaker box I cannot raise the bottom of my seat. I hate the loss of the storage and wondered if anyone had a similar situation and possibly a solution.

 

I purchased a seat relocation kit from LMI Welding...the 1520 SA kit. It allowed me to move the rear seat forward about 2 1/2" which gave me the clearance I needed for my 10" subwoofer. There's still plenty of "knee" space for rear passengers. The rear seat now has a slight recline where it sat straightup previously. I did have to ditch the Ford foldaway under seat storage in favor of a DU-HA under seat box.

https://www.lmiwelding.com/kits_supercab.htm

 

Thanks JP. How hard was the install?

 

I didn't find it too difficult. I first maxed the brackets out at about 3 1/4" forward, which I then backed off to 2 5/8" or so once I realized I could go back a bit without hitting the sub. I installed my sub box after moving the seat forward.

The rear passenger side seat back wall bracket was a pain. Had to finagle a bolt into a slot in the wall and then get the bracket and a nut onto it without dropping the bolt into a small void in the rear wall...was tricky.

With the driver's side rear seat back bracket extension, I had to shim it a bit to get the vertical slide to work right, but that was only an issue at the max 3 1/4" forward position.

You can unbolt and separate the rear split seats if you need to, but it's not necessary and I didn't have to. Having a bit of extra recline to the rear seats was a bonus.

If you have Ford's underseat foldaway storage box, and want to keep it, you need to find another way to secure it. It has to be moved forward with the seat and then you can't use it's current floor bolts. I found it a bit gimmicky anyway. In order to fold it away, you have to empty it. The DU-HA underseat box has more space and you can remove it entirely without emptying. I still have the Ford foldaway box (including bolts) if someone want's to make me an offer.

The nuts and bolts involved are big and tight, and access can be limited. The provided hardware was solid. Just be patient and you'll be fine.

LMI Welding has a video of the install. And I think someone did a writeup with pics...maybe on the F150 site.

 

I just purchased the 1520 SA kit, did you have any pictures showing what it looks like now since it was moved forward? Did t make any noticeable difference other then the little bit of extra recline in the rear seats?

 

Not sure what pics you're looking for, but here are few of the rear seat area after the kit was installed. Rear seats are positioned 2 5/8" forward and the kit raises the seats about 1/2" or so.

With the new Du-Ha under seat box, my floor mats still fit...both weather mats and carpet mats. There's still plenty of leg space in the rear area with the front seat positioned for a 5' 9" guy. The slight additional rear seat recline actually makes a big difference in seat comfort.

 

jpcarro11, totally unrelated to the seat position, but can you take some pictures of that Du-Ha box? Is it fastened to the seat brackets, or is it just sitting on the floor? I was looking at one for my super cab but can't seem to find much for pictures of how it mounts.

 

Yes, the DU-HA box comes with a couple thumb-screws and pre-drilled holes that lineup with the screw holes in seat base bracket.
With my seats positioned forward and slightly upward, there was a 3/4" gap between the seat bottom and DU-HA box. I found some 3/4" neoprene pads (12" x 8") with one sticky side and stuck 3 of them to the underside of the box.
With the box now raised, had to re-drill the holes in the box to lineup with the bracket screw holes. While I was making modifications, I saw I could get a better fit by trimming some of the box lip where it met the bracket.

 

Okay, that answers all of the questions that I had. Thanks a lot!

 

Would it be possible to install the lower bracket to push the seat bottom forward, but leave the factory top bracket to give more recline to the seats?

 

Possibly, but would restrict how far forward you could bring the seat bottom. The extension brackets for the seat back allow the brackets to reach and latch to the rear wall brackets. Then when you raise the seat bottom, the seat back brackets glide up and down properly. This could end up being very limiting in that motion.

 

So this kit actually makes behind the seat storage useful - on both sides, with a bonus of more under seat storage with negligible cabin room lost.?

 

I wouldn't say you get much more in the way of under seat storage. But it opens up some behind the rear seat storage. You will lose a couple inches of leg/knee space depending on how far forward you choose to move the rear seats.

It also opens up a bit of a visible gap where you can see behind the seats. You can see this in my pics in this thread. I didn't care about the gap but some may.

If you have Ford's foldaway under seat storage, it will have to be moved forward and secured in a new way (currently bolts to floor), if you want to keep it.

 

My kids complain about the upright position of the rear seatback on longer trips... After having installed this kit, would you say it's possible to only move the seat bottom like ~1.5" forward and just give some recline to the seatbacks, perhaps with some modifications to their brackets or something? I have no need for access to, or additional storage behind, the seats and really just want to make it more comfortable for them. Appreciate any feedback.

 

Do you know where I can buy this kit. It shows the website is no longer available when I try clicking on the link you provided.