Replace 2nd row bench with Captains seats.

[krsowles]

My wife has become concerned that my 91 Astro's 2nd row bench seat doesn't have head rests. The kids cars seats require the back be put on to accommodate this. I'm thinking about removing the front seats from my parts van and creating a base from the 2nd row bench from the parts van so the seats would clip into the existing floor holes. That would allow for easy in/easy out. They would remain on sliders to adjust front to back individually and the female seat belt brackets would be removed from parts van and incorporated into base as well. I gotta believe back seat comfort would be increased as well as giving my wife some piece of mind. If I remember my measurements correctly, the two captains chairs with armrests are about the same width as the bench, but I need to double check headroom. I know there is enough but I want adults to be able to sit comfortably too. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts/opinions welcome, thanks. Kelly

[MountainManJoe]

Strange, I thought all benches had headrests. (you should really put what kind of van you have in your signature) It might be easier just to find some headrests on craigslist. Up here, people give bench seats away for free.

[MountainManJoe]

Child restraint anchor points.

[krsowles]

Somehow as you posted that I lost my reply! Let's start over...My boys are big enough for booster seats in VT so we only have one set now. The seats will work in the bench seat of the van IF I put the backs back on. Kind of a major PITA storing and swapping them. They use the regular seat belts. My van is a 1991(put in sig. too). I don't believe any astros that old had headrests. 96 and newer may fit, I don't know but the seatbelts are different. If I need to modify something I figure might as well be free seats! Additional comfort for back seats just a plus. Thanks, Kelly

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I think the newer benches with headrests will clip in. Not sure about the seatbelts though.

[krsowles]

I will be double checking the seat belt situation for sure than! Thanks for your picture and help.

[doyoulikeithere]

the clip spots on the floor should not have changed throughout the entire run of the van from 85 to 05, so any bench will clip in. But...
I do know for a fact the the belts in my gen 1 and gen 2 had different size buckles, so I couldnt just swap seats without changing the belts too.
I thought second row captains chairs were a factory option in a lot of the fully loaded gen 1 vans, often referred to as the 7 passenger config, rather than 8 pass.

[krsowles]

Second row captains seats were an option but my understanding is they were bolted to the floor, and if removed, would leave the studs sticking up on the floor. The indents for the benches to clip in weren't there. I'm still researching but thinking whatever I do will require modification . As much as I can't believe it, I'm looking for quick and easy! Using stuff I have makes the Red Green in me proud, too! Thanks, Kelly

[krsowles]

So today I had a couple hours to goof off and decided to play with my van! I removed the two captains seats and a bench from the parts van to see what I could cypher. The bench I tore down to the bottom half of the frame to see what was available to work with. I was surprised at how this project seemed to want to build itself!

I then took the bases off the captains seats and test fit them on the bench frame. Thank goodness my 5 yo was there to help!

They fit pretty well but I decided to remove all springs from the bench


Again, without my sun, you would never have known which springs I was removing! One more test fit.

There will be about 10" between the seats. I will build a little table of some sort for the boys with cup holders of course. I hate chasing sippys all around the floor. I was hoping for more like 2' between the seats because we all know little boys love to fight but for grown-ups the 10" is rather comfortable.
Tomorrow I hope to get my 1x2 rectangular stock from steel pile and make 4 cross braces to mount the sliders to. I will have to cut the front seat brackets off about an inch below slider in a flat line. The sliders have a curve to them. They will be welded to the rectangular stock and the seats bolted back on. The back bar of the bench frame has all the holes and accomodations for the seat belts. Above all, it's got to be safe! My boys are back there! I will have more pics as it moves forward. Kelly

[astroturf]

Looks like you made some good progress.

[krsowles]

Well, I got back at it this morning. Figured I could about wrap it up waiting for it to warm up enough to paint the inside of my brother's 70 chevy I'm rebuilding. I don't have a booth or anything so I need a strong 35-40 degrees to keep garage warm enough. I started working on making the slider brakets fit. I was using a design that could flip sideways if needed so I could put sliders below the bench if seats were going to be too high. I had thought it through and was smug with anticipation!

After messing around with it for several hours I had the first slider bracket ready to try and it didn't matter what I did, it was going to require a lot of modification to make it work. Not quite so smug...I just cut four supports and put them across the frame, recessed.

Now all I need to do is drill the holes and mount, right? Not quite. Four holes the proper size, distance and square was beyond anything I could handle today. I knew my wife would be home soon so the added pressure of working on the van instead of what I'm supposed to be doing was NOT helping!


I finally got them mounted, squared up and cozy Of course I needed to take them off to put a platform on to become a table of sorts. After that, I cleaned it up and shot primer on the bare surfaces.

Tomorrow I hope to get paint on it and my brother's truck cab! For those interested, I also took some time today to double check all seatbelt provisions and I'm good to go. The retractors will mount to the bottom of the bench where they were originally. The female pieces I took out of donor van and will mount under seat bolt like they were designed to. It will be a seemless seatbelt installation, like that thought has never bit me in the butt before! Anyway, that's where it's at for now, more to follow

[astroturf]

Looks good.

[krsowles]

Killing more time, waiting for temps to come up. Cab interior sanded and ready for final clean/tack and spray this afternoon, so I shot seat frame in satin black. Drying now, will leave it to dry with truck cab. Guys have cab ready to spray...guess I'll be doing it a little earlier!



, Kelly

[LiftedAWDAstro]

This will be a great mod! I was thinking about finding a couple captain's seats to replace the middle bench...just for traveling comfort and reclining to rest.

[krsowles]

I have bolted everything back together with the soft paint. It came out pretty well! If I had the time I would have loved to build the framework instead of using the bench seat bottom but at this point in my life I needed quick and easy! There was some minor bending of parts but nothing that required welding or heat except the four pieces of metal put in the frame to bolt the seats to. The female ends of the seatbelts from the captains seats were not used either. Could have been modded to fit but way easier to bolt the females from the bench seat back in and cut off middle seatbelt provisions. I still have to put the cupholders in and get seatcovers for now unless I can come across some nice blue seats. The seats do sit a couple inches higher than the bench did. I'm a whopping 5'6" tall and I fit comfortably but a 6'er might be too close to ceiling. Serves my purpose well and can easily be moved or further modified if need be!
One question, anyone know how to fix/refurbish the arm rests? One of mine not so good!





Thanks for letting me bore you! Kelly