Seat Pivot passenger side

[jamesroney]

I am working on a 67 Bronco with front bucket seats. I know that the original bronco seat hinges the passenger seat back so that it folds toward the door. But I don't know WHY. It makes it impossible to fold and tumble the seat when the door is closed.

I am wondering what happens if you reverse the seat back hinges, and have it fold inwards. Has anyone done this? I would like to be able to fold and tumble the seat when I carry junk in the back. Has anyone successfully installed a Mustang passenger side seat on the passenger side?

I know that the seat in the 66-67 Bronco is basically a pair of driver's side seats from a 66 Mustang. And there is no provision for a seat latch. So before I install a pair of 66 Mustang seats on my Bronco pivots, I was wondering if anyone has done it?

There must have been a reason why the factory used two RH pivot seats in the Bronco...but I don't understand it.

Thanks.

 

[thegreatjustino]

But I don't know WHY. It makes it impossible to fold and tumble the seat when the door is closed.

The seat back folds toward the door so when you pivot the whole seat on the mounts, you can climb into the back seat from the door side. If the seat back folded to the left, it would hit the tunnel cover when you pivoted the whole seat on the seat mounts and would only tumble forward a few inches - thereby not giving enough clearance to climb into the back seat from the door side.

 

[DirtDonk]

And since the seats might have been sourced from a Mustang, which if I remember were available with center consoles, maybe it was an early clearance issue even in the passenger car environment.
First thing I thought of with the question was that it would not work with a Bronco with an aftermarket console, but obviously that would not apply if none were present. But that hump's a big 'un!
Going even slightly taller on the seat back guarantees that they hit the dash when you try to fold them forward. I love my Mustang seats and would never change them, but I do miss the folding forward aspect.
Never tried (or wanted to) moving the mounts rearward, but that might help at some level.

So instead of reversing them James, what about just converting them to a straight fold? Or less of a lean to the right?
Is that even doable for simple folk? Or would it take some serious fabrication? There are always "things to consider" in this kind of thing. As you no doubt are still contemplating with regard to the positioning of the roll cage's front down bars!
Is this that same Bronco by the way? Or one of the other projects?

Paul

 

[4xfun]

Several posts have talked about using Explorer third seats or silmilar seats with built in seat belts. Most of those should fold flat, but I don't know if there is enough clearance to the dash to fold all the way down. I doubt it is very practical for a bronco, but a 1975 Grand Prix came with bucket seats that rotated. Rotating and folding would be a sweet mix.

 

[Speedrdr]

I’m remembering ( I think) that a 1972 Monte Carlo also had the pivoting front seats. They didn’t have the strongest mounting system. Buddy of mine hit a bull one night in his car at about 60 and the impact broke the seat loose from the mount. Didn’t do the hood much good either.

Randy

 

[DirtDonk]

I always thought the pivoting seats were cool. But I never wanted one because I thought they would be too loose floppy and inconvenient. at least to swap into another vehicle.
As a young man I wondered why I didn’t see more of them all buggered up. I think in all the time I was checking them out I only saw one that didn’t work and seemed to be stuck in the get-out-of-Dodge position.
Never did look at the mechanism but it must’ve been fairly robust to put up with all that abuse.

Kind of wondered about the old flip up steering wheels that popped out of your way when you put it in park too!
Must’ve been a complex linkage and I sure wouldn’t want that in a bronco, but it was also an intriguing feature.

 

[4xfun]

Looking at this stuff will start you down a rabbit hole quick. There is an neat history of steering wheel options on this link https://automotivemileposts.com/tbird1961swingaway.html.

 

[4xfun]

I just realized that this could be a hijack. Sorry about that. Maybe someone will bring it back to center with a good flip and fold front seat.

 

[DirtDonk]

Ha ha! Good save of the thread.
I’m still gonna follow that link to the rabbit hole though…