I have a 85 F250 XLT Lariat Extended Cab with 6.9L Diesel and 4spd. Right now, it has the folding bench seat in the extended cab and the captains buckets in the front with the big console between them.

My question is how do I get more room in the extended cab for seating? I know some of the Ford extended cabs came with jump seats, are they any better? I have also heard of people raising the height of the rear bench and getting some more room that way. Anyone have any experience with anything that worked?

 

As a kid I spent several years riding in the back of my dad's 74 supercab - with my knees in my face - so anything you can do to get the bench seat higher off the floor would be an improvement. I know I've seen kits for this in the JC Whitney catalog. I don't think jump seats would be much of an improvement, even if they sit higher I don't particularly care for riding sideways and I'd think shoulder room would be pretty tight. The fact is the back of these trucks doesn't have much room to work with, if you're approaching your teen years or older you're probably not going to be very comfortable back there.

 

As the original owner of an 83 SuperCab (that's what they're really called), I can tell you my experience......
Mine has the bench in front and the bench in the rear. I wanted the additional seating that the wide rear bench offers.....you can get a boatload of kids back there!
The factory mounted the seat kinda low for some strange reason. It reduced the accessabilibilty under the seat, but more important.....rear passengers had their knees up in the air, and could barely see over the front seat....horrible!
Around 84 there were seat lift kits available that raised it about 4" I guess. I had it installed and I love it. I don't believe Ford ever offered it but I could be wrong. Maybe the later 80s trucks had higher seats installed???The top of the seat back now comes up to below of the glass (instead of below that bulged out area of the plastic panel). Passengers sit like in a chair, great visibility out front. Seat still folds for one big flat space. I put that black no-slip tape on there so stuff doesn't slide around and believe me it did! Of course it's not the ideal situation climbing back in there, but back in those days the extra space in a pickup was a novelty and welcome.
I'd check with some parts yards to see if they ever were installed by Ford at a higher height....you might get lucky. Some of these aftermarket places may still offer it.

 

The bench seat in the back of my 93 supercab is still just a few inches off the floor, Ford never did raise them in that generation of trucks. Shop around for a seat "lift kit" if that's the direction you want to go, as I said I know JC Whitney has them (but they're not cheap). If you're handy you might be able to fab up something yourself, I suppose.

 

jump seats are more roomy, jump seats in a ranger ext cab....man you can actualyl stretch out..granted...your only 2 inches off the floor, but still you have leg room, 2 people + jump seats are funky, but take this into consideration as well, when no one sback there...theres ALOT of room for crap.

 

Well, as luck would have it and FWIW, while on a vacation trip a few years ago I also logged quite a few miles on jumpseats in the back of my uncle's Ranger supercab. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a pleasant experience! For short trips you could make due with a milk crate as far as that goes, but if you're spending any real time at all in the back of one of these older supercabs a raised bench seat - for kids at least - is going to be more comfortable. Adults of any size aren't going to be comfortable, period.

 

I'm usually the driver, but I have ridden back there....with the lift kit there's still plenty of headroom for adults, your legs kinda go sideways. You can line up about six kids across the back, one in the front center and two adults....that's a 9-passenger truck. For a jaunt across town I'd say it's better than taking a second vehicle or riding in the bed!
Let's remember.....it's a pickup truck first.

 

A fellow that I used to work for had a '95 F-150 with the lifted rear bench. I'm 6'4" and could actually ride in the back seat in relative comfort, but only for about an hour max. He also had another F-150 without the lifted seat, and it was impossible for me to get comfortable in that one.

 

I have a 1980 Supercab (was that the first year for the longer cab?).

I have a jumpseat that looks like a Ford original and another jump seat that looks like an add-on. Is the original Ford jumpseat kind of off-white and fairly hard - not much padding?

I have buckets in the front with a large console between. The front seats sit very low and flip forward for access to the rear. Anybody else notice this on the early 80's, or do I maybe have some kind of replacement seat?

Thanks.

 

Take a look at the 1981 Brochure, It should be very simular to the 1980.

Look at picture six. It deals with supercabs. and shows the interior of one.

http://www.msnusers.com/81f-150/shoebox.msnw

The Supercab was first made avaliable in 1974 I believe....

The First Ford Crew Cabs were avaliable in 1957 as a Fleet Only Vehicle option, sold to Railroads, and logging companies etc... and only became avaliable to the general public in around circa 1969.

If you find a pre 1967 Crew Cab, you found yourself a very rare truck indeed.

 

Thanks for the photos of the brochure. They took me back!


I remember now how low they mounted that rear bench seat. That lift kit makes a world of difference.

 

You can make your own seat lift with no problem. I had a 1984 and removed the seat and fashioned my own brackets to lift the seat up. It is not hard to make. Go to a steel scrap yard and for about 10 bucks you can get all you need. Just remove the seat, draw up something to work, and make it. Saves a lot compared with buying a kit and is more fun.

 

My dad has had extended cabs, Supercabs, since the 79 he bought when I was a kid, now 2 different 84's, but the seat has always been low with them, I imagine part of why was to make for more storage room. Anyway, the 90 Chevy I had was extended cab, but the seat sat fairly high, and that made it so it wasn't all that uncomfortable. The seat had more countour to it, and the bottom was a little bit longer, so it wasn't too awful bad to ride back there then. I had an 89 Ford that had the jump seats, and they were about like riding on one of those cheap fold down boqat seats, not much for padding.

 

Ok...research pays off! Here is a link for anyone who is interested:

http://www.lmiwelding.com/seat1.htm

Just what I am looking for and custom made to fit my truck. Thanks all for your input