Removal of Middle Seat In Second Row
 

Has anyone removed the middle seat in the second row? I was looking at doing this because we have 4 kids and it would help the older ones getting into the back and not having to step on the folded middle seat all the time. If anyone could come up with some pros and cons it looks pretty easy to take out you just might have some exposed brackets in the floor?

Have you tried taking the plastic covers off of the hardware near the carpet? Probably some T bolts you can remove. shouldn't be too hard.

If you are going to do without one of the seats, why not just leave one of the side seats of the seconds for in the folded forward position?

Yes I took off the covers and your right berry1234 it does look pretty easy I was just wondering if anybody else had done it and what they thought of the setup or if they ran into anything unexpected. rbarbot2 the wife doesn't like the idea of having a 15 month old and a newborn right next to each other, that and getting kids into car seats in the middle are a pain it would be easier for the big kids to walk through an isle in the middle than crawl over that folded down seat. Thanks for the idea's

why dont you just trade it in and get one with Captains chairs.

And take a huge financial hit? Unbolt it and throw a mat down. Good to go.

I would take the one out of my 03 every now and then. Make sure you have a mat to throw down over the holes in the carpet.

It was an easy removal and made it easy(er) to get in the third row. However, the lack of inboard armrests was a drawback but it is anyway... :)

I did this with my 04 excursion and I loved it. I did get some seat frames from a junk yard so I'd have armrests. After I got it uplostered it all looked factory. I cut up some floor mats and put them under the carpet so the holes were less noticable. This set up worked fantastic for our three boys. Oh yea we ordered oue 03 expy with this package and its the envy of all the moms in the neighborhood. Just ordered 08 expy limited with it as well. You may want to take off your seat covers and with any luck you may have bolt holes to bolt on armrest brackets. Hopfully that helps.

Thanks for the info brandon this will be my weekend project. As far as the armrests go I'm not to worried about it there will be kids with car seats in them for at least the next 5 years.

Got any pix of this?

middle seat
 

Great thread!!

Addresses a slight problem I have had in how I would order/ buy an expy (hopefully soon, you know, up to my --- in alligators right now).

I would really like to have 2nd row capt chairs, but will need that 3rd seat occasionally. Any ideas on how that middle seat would fit between 2 capts chairs?

Don't think you'll be able to use the middle seats with factory captain's chairs due to the armrests getting in the way. However, that also depends on how the armrests come off and what is left behind.

I know some Ford trucks (Super Duty) have a metal stop that protrudes after the armrests are removed and that stop is welded to the seat frame.

arm rests
 

TX--

I can see how the arm rests might be a problem. I think that a work around could be done---maybe :)

I sold the excursion, but I think I have a pic from when I sold it on the web. The sec row chairs in the excursion are the 40% section of the bench seat. The 04 even had the factory holes in the floor.(check underneath the truck above the driveline) In the expedition the captains are the same seats as they are when you buy the bench. Just with the center removed and arm rests added. The first year you could get sec row cap in the excursion was 02. Before that I don't think you'll find the bolt holes. I bought my seats from car-part.com from a truck salvage in Sacramento. They ups'd them to utah. All for 630.00. Then I paid 400 to get them reupolstered with the covers off my factory bench. I had an xlt with gray cloth. To buy the parts from ford would be around 3000.00, yes 3 grand. It made it nice when we had a baby while our 2nd boy was still in a seat. I'll look for the pics. I won't be back home til thurs so be patient.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/892154/2row1.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/892154/2row2.JPG

Standard floor mat for the "captains seat" version.

-- Chuck

Shoot that looks great! And so much easier to get in. I might give that a try. How many bolts are there?

Did it yesterday their was 7 bolts and it came out easy looks just like what chuck posted I think we are going to like this setup alot.

Expy
 

You guys knock it off :-D. I've been wanting one with buckets and the house frau wants the bench (2nd row). Just a few more "opportunities" to take care of------.

Interesting... the headrests on both rows are totally different than mine. .

That isn't my truck. I have the cloth seats (and a daughter in college!).

Got the photos someplace when I was considering the modification.

Our headrests are a lot taller:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-...2-IMG_0795.JPG

-- Chuck

I did mine this week, the studs for the seat frame stick up a bit, but I cut a anti-fatigue mat to fit in place of the ford factory floow mat, looks good, and is soft enough to form around the studs. A fridge fits perfect in that gap on top of a storage container. (I am getting ready to drive cross country)

That seat weighed a ton, a pain in the as$ to get out, but less than 30 minutes.

Do you recall what sockets you needed or if they are T bolts?

Is that an 07 ? Looks like a good solution with the mat.. Might have to look into this when my second kid arrives as the middle bench will be pretty useless with two carseats side by side.. Atleast this way you can separate the two kids in the middle and use the rear seats for adult passengers..

I don't know what year the photos I posted are from. I had the photos from another source. Ain't my truck. ;)

-- Chuck

I don't recall the size, but they were a standard socket, metric, I think, like 14mm or something like that, nothing out of the ordinary. My wife loves the new setp, I would post some pics, but I am in the middle of packing out all our stuff for a cross-country move.

Thanks for the post.

Chuck - Thank you for your post. That looks great. My question for you is where did you find the mats? Are those custom made? or where did you find them? How much do the cost. That exactly what I want to do with my Expedition.

There are many mats on ebay. Check out this auction #110289864791. It shows the mat you will need.

From what I recall (have I mentioned that the photos are not my truck? ;) ), the mats are standard aftermarket Ford carpet mats for the models with the 2d row buckets.

-- Chuck

Seats and tranny
 

After my earlier post, we bought a "pre-owned" (15.5K) 07 EB EL, couldnt find a "used" one :rolleyes:. The fold down center seat in the second row would work well to make buckets of the outside seats. If only the outer seats had a fold down armrest on the inside edge---! I cant help but wonder if the earlier seats arent more comfortable than the 07's. The 07's are kinda like a piece of plywood with some foam on it---oh well, time will tell.

Dont feel any problem with the shift of the tranny, dont know if the tsb's have all been worked. I am not sure if that is a real problem for most folks. From a roll, it seems to have adequate power to move without the downshift to low that seems to be the problem for some. Maybe we are lucky that it is not a problem----yet.

While I understand some of the posts about the power of the 5.4, I dont see any problem with the 5.4 for all but the most serious towing, especially when coupled with that 4 to one low gear and the 6 speed. For a 6K # (dry wt) vehicle it feels very good.

Hope this isnt too far off topic. At some point I may want to consider pulling out the center seat, particularly if we go on a trip with other adults and no "crumb crunchers" :-X04

I pulled the center seat out for a while. The no arm rests was the deal breaker. Plus, it forced me to keep the rear seats up more often.

I have had my seat out since this thread started a while back, we love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I put a rubbermaid roughneck container that holds all our tow straps, tie downs, tool kit and so on, which easily comes out for hauling extra adults, that allows a car seat at each outer bucket and still room to climb in. I wouldn't reinstall that seat to save my life, except maybe trade in, but I have to admit, this is the 1st vehicle I have had over a year that I am not bored with. I love it more everyday.

well now that I have plenty of spare time I can report that the middle seat went back in after about 3 months. We started hauling some of the kids' friends around and we noticed that the outer seats had become rather wobbly after we removed the middle seat so it went back in and we tightened everything up and its good to go. The one thing the wife did was to get some vinyl and iron on velcro and make a cover for the back of the seat so when the kids are stepping over it to get in they are not tearing up the back of the seat and you can flip the seat back up and not even notice its there. Anyway I think its a good setup just not for us.

enjoy

Do you fold the middle seats up when the kids get into the third row?

Yeh we have somebody sit in the middle alot and it works out pretty good having a cover over the back of the middle seat. The seat will barely sqeak by a carseat on each side.

any chance you have a picture of the second row without the middle seat in?

Why would it look any different than the pictures above??

well yes it will look different, two different vehicles... ,
quite a bit changed from the earlier model year expedition. The whole frame, interior, exterior, etc. Its also quite a bit bigger interior wise.

I don't have any pics and the ones that chuck posted aren't downloading here so I don't know if its just the network security here or if they are gone now. Anyway from what I remember it looked like what was posted before. In fact I remember I thought it was pretty interesting how the interiors between the excursion and expedition el looked identical.
hope this helps.

Can't imagine there's a huge difference in the way an 07 looks and the 03 pictured above. Headrests are different and the covering design but those pictures are a good representation of what it would look like without the middle section for everyone who owns an 03+ Expedition. :)



The Excursion & Expedition have two ENTIRELY DIFFERENT INTERIORS. The Expedition's interior is VASTLY superior than the Excursion's interior in ergonomics, fit and finish and safety. Although the second row in the Expedition could use some sort of inboard armrests :)