Aftermarket rear seats that don't require drilling and have headrests

[aredoubleyou]

Does anyone know of aftermarket rear seats that utilize the factory mounting holes AND have headrests? I currently have a Tom's fold and tumble from the PO. It feels flimsy and causes the floor to flex every time passengers shift positions in it. I'd like to take advantage of the sturdier factory attachment points. I'd source an original (or replica) bench seat, but I have small kids and want to make sure they have headrests. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Galt72]

James Duff offers a Bronco mounting setup for the Best top Trailmax II seat. It is a fold and Tumble seat for jeeps. It comes with or without headrests. Their site is currently down so I can't read the instructions to refresh my memory. I believe it uses the factory seat mounts. You can find pics of high end Broncos using this setup. The seat is narrower than Tom's seat. Here is an example page 5. https://coolmaterial.com/lifestyle/transportation/1973-classic-ford-broncos-alta-build/

 

[Shimmy]

i'm hearing you have two concerns:
1) you feel the toms seats are flimsy
2) you're floor flexes when people sit in tom's seats

IMO, all the tumble seats are practically the same from a structural/rigid standpoint. that leaves you with either fixed back or potential OEM rear seat of sorts. an OEM seat is going to weigh a lot and put even more stress on your floorboard. you may need to beef up or reinforce your mounting locations regardless. for your 2) concern, does your floorboard need work? i don't experience flexing in mine with Tom's rear seat.

 

[aredoubleyou]

@Galt72 - thanks for that tip. Now that you point it out, I do see that same seat on lots of other builds. Never noticed the mounting points before, and that it also is a bit narrower. I'll check it out!

@Shimmy - thanks for your thoughts. I don't think the floorboard needs work as the PO had all rust remediated (with pics from a reputable company to prove it). The interior cab area and under the car were rhino lined after this work was done. I just went into the car so I could better describe the issue, so here goes... When I sit in the rear seat and move side to side or up and down, the seat itself flexes and creaks. That flexing and creaking can be felt by my bare feet on the floor. It's not a concerning amount, but I also don't think it's right. When I get off the seat and hold it by the "legs" that bolt through the floor, I'm able to feel a bit of play when I try to move the legs back and forth. Perhaps if I tightened the bolts, the whole issue would be solved. However, I'm worried about over tightening them as they just have washers underneath the car instead of proper backing plates.

Here are a couple of other things that will help you better understand where I'm coming from:

1. The seat itself is black, and I'm planning to move to a parchment or tan interior at some point - so I'm planning ahead
2. The seat was installed crooked - one side is about 1/2" closer to the tailgate than the other
   1. So regardless of which seat I move to (factory mounts or custom drilled holes) I'm going to have to plug weld a couple of holes and re-drill new ones

I hope all of that background helps. Thanks for listening!

 

[SLOWnEASY]

For the floor flex you might want to consider adding a 2 or three foot strip of 3/16 thick strap under the floor with mounting holes drilled in. Then use some longer bolts to go through the floor and the strap combined.

 

[aredoubleyou]

That's a great call @SLOWnEASY - would you just have the bolts/nuts hold those straps in place, or would you weld them in place?

 

[SLOWnEASY]

When I typed this I was picturing drill and tap on the straps. But really you could just as easily drill only and the nuts with some washers would hold the straps up.

 

[ba123]

For the floor flex you might want to consider adding a 2 or three foot strip of 3/16 thick strap under the floor with mounting holes drilled in. Then use some longer bolts to go through the floor and the strap combined.

I was gonna suggest the same or something similar and ya beat me to it. Def better than trying to find a different seat and realize it flexes the floor just the same.

Fix the problem and THEN go find a different seat if you still want a change.

For that Strap or bar it might help to just add one hole in the center for added support but you can find some great low profile bolts I've used for stuff like this at McMaster Carr like this one:
https://www.mcmaster.com/93615A450
OR
https://www.mcmaster.com/96242A630/

or they also have plenty of black oxide ones you can paint.

 

[SLOWnEASY]

@ba123 when you say add one hole in the center are you talking about adding a third bolt point on each strap? Or is that one of those engineering tricks that I barely understand where the hole does something like adds more sides to the strap and actually makes it stronger?

 

[ba123]

@ba123 when you say add one hole in the center are you talking about adding a third bolt point on each strap? Or is that one of those engineering tricks that I barely understand where the hole does something like adds more sides to the strap and actually makes it stronger?

Sorry, I mean a strap side to side, not parallel with the seat mount and at least one hole in the middle of each strap. Not sure if you meant the same thing but that would add a boatload of rigidity. Hope that makes sense but I don't always paint the perfect picture.

Although, now that I'm sitting down and can really think about this, maybe a better scenario, without any holes, would be a bar side to side and then a smaller bar from each side to the back mount like this, but still adding one in that spot in the middle would make more of an improvement.

 

[SLOWnEASY]

Interesting, I was picturing straps running front to back to resist human body weight shifts during acceleration and declaration.

 

[ba123]

Interesting, I was picturing straps running front to back to resist human body weight shifts during acceleration and declaration.

That might be plenty, I've never sat in the back...was just thinking what would give the most other than welding plates underneath.

I do have the same seat and it seems pretty stable but like I said, I've never sat in it other than how much I did when installing it.

 

[aredoubleyou]

Thank you @ba123 and everyone else who commented. I think I have good options for when I do my interior update next year - same style fold n' tumble with long straps/backing plates (will test on current setup first) or go with the trailmax II seat with the Duff/Lick Creek brackets.

 

[ba123]

Let us know how it works out!