Seats in a cargo van
October 26th, 2011, 12:09 AM
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Seats in a cargo van
I would like to install a 3 passenger second row bench seat in a 2007 cargo van. Has anyone done this? I am to understand I need the rails that bolt to the floor which the seat mounts too, any info would be appreciated. Thanks
June 4th, 2012, 8:14 PM
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Well,
I'm sure you've found your answer by now but just so others will know, yes you do need the rails. I found a guy who had taken the seats and rails out of a chevy passenger van and then sold them to me. I only needed one row. He cut the rails into sections, about 3 feet per seat row so I had a section of rails that fit one row of seats. I actually used the last row seats which were for 4 people, two seats side by side to create a long bench.
I thought about bolting the rails to the floor but realized I would have so much to disassemble, fuel tank, heat shields, exhaust, etc... So, I decided to weld the rails into place. It worked great. We cut the bolts off the bottom of each rail and grinded them flush. There was a problem with the ripple surface of the van floor. The spacing required between rails so that they would be a perfect fit for the van seat, was such that they hit some of the ripples half on and half off the top or bottom surface. To deal with this we welded a flet piece of iron perpendicular to the ripples, at both ends of the rails. We then welded the rails to these flat metal pieces. This created a very level surface to work with and the whole thing turned out great.
I'm not worried about the permanent nature of the rails, now welded to the van floor. The seats will usually be in place, but when they're not, the lowes carpeting I used for the front half of the van will cover them fine. Hope that helps. I can attach pictures if anyone's interested.
I'm sure you've found your answer by now but just so others will know, yes you do need the rails. I found a guy who had taken the seats and rails out of a chevy passenger van and then sold them to me. I only needed one row. He cut the rails into sections, about 3 feet per seat row so I had a section of rails that fit one row of seats. I actually used the last row seats which were for 4 people, two seats side by side to create a long bench.
I thought about bolting the rails to the floor but realized I would have so much to disassemble, fuel tank, heat shields, exhaust, etc... So, I decided to weld the rails into place. It worked great. We cut the bolts off the bottom of each rail and grinded them flush. There was a problem with the ripple surface of the van floor. The spacing required between rails so that they would be a perfect fit for the van seat, was such that they hit some of the ripples half on and half off the top or bottom surface. To deal with this we welded a flet piece of iron perpendicular to the ripples, at both ends of the rails. We then welded the rails to these flat metal pieces. This created a very level surface to work with and the whole thing turned out great.
I'm not worried about the permanent nature of the rails, now welded to the van floor. The seats will usually be in place, but when they're not, the lowes carpeting I used for the front half of the van will cover them fine. Hope that helps. I can attach pictures if anyone's interested.
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