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Hello everyone, I have a 1978 F150 Ranger regular cab in need of a much better bench seat. Have found one in a 1988 F350 single cab, looks good - driver side has a little wear but not broken or sagging. Will this year 1988 F350 bench fit my cab with its rails and bolt up, or will I need to switch the rails?
thanks Kelly
You will probably need to reuse your 1978 rails, I did on my projects seat upgrade. That is if you want to reuse the OEM bolt holes in the floor. Otherwise I bet you will have to drill new holes, if you have to use the newer seat sliders. A tape measure will help you out to figure that out.
I was given a 89 XLT bench seat for my 88 custom back around 1990. So I took my vinyl 88 bench seat and put it in my 77. It was a perfect swap. I just swapped the 77 rails onto the 88 bench. It does sit probably 2” higher. If I keep the seat for the restoration, I’ll have to figure a way to lower it.
Rich has mentioned using a newer crew cab rear seat. I called the local salvage yards last year, but nobody had one. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for one.
Yes, the 78 rails should fit on the bottom of your 88 seat. I put a 2000 ish Super Duty crew cab rear seat on my 79 rails. You might take the 88 seat it its current rails and test fit it in the cab, just to see if it lines up with the current hardware holes. If not no worries, read on.
Put your 78 rails back in the cab, set your 88 seat on top of those 78 rails. Roll the windows down and close the doors and get an even gap/measurement from the door panel to the seat edge.
Then open the door and carefully get in the truck (try not to move the seat around) and set on the seat to check for a comfortable seating angle. I had to install riser tubes on my seat. If it's comfortable, mark the current position of the 78 sliders on the underneath of the 88 seat frame. Remove all, drill, install sliders, reinstall seat.
You can see the new holes I had to drill in the lower part of the track to get it to bolt on.
The square tubing I used as risers.
Seat and sliders on top of risers.
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Bench seat
