I'm looking for a seat to replace the original bench in my '48 F-1. The seat is in excellent condition, with reasonably fresh padding and upholstery, but like a lot of old Ford vehicles, the seat springs are part of the "suspension," as in it bounces. I'm softening the original suspension spring packs on the truck, plus the tires are radials, so I don't need help from the seat springs for a comfortable ride.

I'm thinking a seat from a modern mini or mid-size truck might fill the bill, with better contouring and support, and without seat-spring bounce. It wants to be about 52-53 inches wide for the base as well as the back.

Any suggestions . . . good places to start?

TIA for any and all suggestions.

Mike Bishop
Santa Rosa

 

Look at seats from a late model mustang. They are really comfortable, and I think they would look great in your truck. Not to mention, they are power seats.

 

I have bucket seats out of a 2000 Ford Escort on the original seat frame. They are nice and comfortable.

hotrod48

 

You also need to think about the seat back - the distance between the steering wheel and the front of the back seat. You need to be able to sit easy and not have the steering wheel rubbing on your belly - our cabs are not as deep as the more modern ones.

Some of us have grown a few inches in the front since we were lads!

 

The early Ford Explorer and Ranger seats are the perfect width. The Rangers had Bench, Buckets or 60/40 split. The Explorer had Buckets and the 60/40 split.
Some of the early Rangers had the post type Head Rests that can be removed and recovered.

 

I have 85 Ranger 60/40 split seat and the width is perfect fit .

 

Ranger seat works great.I have had a couple of F1's with the ranger seat.I will be using the same seat in my current 48 project.

 

I think about that a great deal of the time at my age. I still favor the hot rods from my youth (early '50s) but have discovered that most of the old Ford tin has shrunk over the years.

One of the features I'm hoping to find in a late-model bench seat is a thinner seat back than the 6-inch couch cushion in my F-1. I'd like to be able to recline it back a few degrees and move me back a couple of inches from the steering wheel.

The Ranger bench sounds like it may be what I'm looking for.

Mike

 

I used either the middle or rear seat out of a Dodge Caravan. Width is perfect. I made my own seat brackets. That way I could make the height and angle I wanted it.

Later,Bill

 

ranger seats are the ticket

 

Mike,

That's exactly what I did with the 90 Ranger regular cab bench seat I am using in my 48. With a little work you can utilize the stock 48 seat tracks and bolt it in the same place as the original seat. I sawed about three inches off the rear legs of the original brackets and added some angle iron to recline it and it still clears my gas tank with no problem.

Vern

 

When you installed new seats what height did you set the front top surface of the seat at? I am looking at floor to top of upolstory. My original seat (slightly beat down measured 14 1/2 inches. Right now I have a set of 90 Ranger split bench seats (from my old truck) tacked in place at 16 inches since with the 3 1/2 inch tilt back I(same tiltback as my 03 split bench tiltback), it otherwise seemed to sit too low. I am 5' 10" and wanted my line of sight to be in the middle of the windshield height on my 49. Anybody?

 

I don't think my measurements are going to help you. I'm 6'2" and also wanted to see through the center of the windshield so mine is lower than the original seat since the Ranger seat bottom is thinner. Looking out the windshield with the original seat I was looking through the upper 1/3 of the windshield. When I attached the original seat bracket it was perfect for me so I didn't have to change the height at the front. I also used a bench and the buckets might be a different height...

Vern

 

I would love to see some pics as to how you fellas adapted the original seat frame to a Ranger seat. This is my next battle. I have a Sonoma seat because I wanted 60/40 with an armrest.

Anyone use a seat with integrated shoulder rests? Seems like this would solve two issues at once.

 

I made a seat riser out of 1 " square thick walled tubing. The Ranger seat rails (on which I had to modify the feat from mounting on a curved floor surface to mounting on a flat surface) mount thru bolted to the tubing which is in turn mounted at an angle to gain a tilt in the seating surface (I reproduced the tilt as originally mounted in the Ranger). The width worked such that I welded tabs with drilled holes to the bottom of the fabricated seat riser allowing the use of the original 49 seat mount locations.
Unfortunately I am still without a digital camera or I would post a pix.