'99 Second Row Seat Swap

[67carry-all]

Greetings all - have looked at the board off and on for awhile and, after getting inspired by 19723dr's project posts, am now signed up.

Project is a 1967 Suburban bought new by my dad. It's in the middle phases of very slowly being brought back to and beyond its former splendor. I have first and second row seating from a '99 Suburban I'd like to put in. The first row doesn't seem to be an issue with installing, but the second row does. Has anybody installed a '95-99 second row without cutting the truck, maintaining the folding seat option, and maintaining decent rear seat leg room? Any help would really be appreciated - thanks!

[suville]

attempting this myself and it looks like the rear floor area will need to be notched in order for this to work, dont see any way around it other than possibly using the third row seat but havnt researched this possibility and dont know how wide the third seat is.

[Frizzle Fry]

Welcome 67carry-all. I'm pretty sure I've seen it done but I can't tell you if/how the truck was modified to do it. But anything can be done if you want it bad enough!

[zac]

I tried this several years ago with the 2nd from an '86. There was too much padding on the back portion of the seat, so it wouldn't lay flat when folded down. Also, the front seat had to be pulled all the way forward for things to fold properly. But later I figured out my front seat isn't original, so that may have been a factor.

I posted my troubles on a now defunct web board, and a guy sent me some pictures of how he did the 2nd seat swap. His would lay flat when folded because he used a much older seat-- probably from the '70s--and it had much less padding. If anyone is interested I can try to post or email the photos maybe next week. But I'm not much of a computer guy, so don't hold your breath.

[IAFF2407]

I just installed '07 Escalade seats, I know they're not the same but they do work. I can fold the middle row in and fold them up with the motors. I'll have to wait for the wife to come home to take pics with me in the front passenger seat and the first seat folded. There is still enough room for me to sit comfortably in the front. I'm not sure about the drivers side for being comfortable while driving with the back down and I can't check right now, no motor - no power. These seats are on ebay a lot and they are firm and comfortable.

Al.

[67carry-all]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I played around with the seats some this morning. Looks like if the rear seat mount is mounted at the front edge of the raised wood floor (similar to the original rear seat mount), this could work. I'll try to get some brackets mocked up in plywood (can't weld!) over the next few days to level and position the seats to see if this could be a go.

suville - I picked up a 3rd row seat a while back for a few bucks as a back-up option with the same thought in mind - seat width measures in right at 48".

[72 sub]

Welcome from the north ! Me and the kids put 05 avalanche seats in our 72. I am 6'4 so i wanted all the leg room i could get so we cut the seat frames and bent so 1" tube so we could slide the seats back. We had to weld the pivot on the seat backs but i think if you raised the seats up a little you could still make them fold.Hope this helps some.

[boostat4500]

My seats are out of a 99' Tahoe, so not sure if they're the same as a Suburban, but probably. I just had to make a few brackets to install them. No cutting or anything, just drilled holes for the mounts. Plenty of leg room and they fold down nicely.

[67carry-all]

Thanks for the welcome and recent pics posted! Boostat4500, your setup matches what I had in mind. The pics are helpful. Any further hints you may have on what material you used for the brackets (looks like square tubing?) and how you leveled the seats against the sloping burb floor?

[boostat4500]

I just made each bracket individually out of a piece of 1 1/2" flat strap. Cut it up and made square stock essentially. Each piece is a little diffferent height, so that was the only was to do it. I'll try to get some pics of the back also for you.

[67carry-all]

Pics of the back brackets would be great! Your pic of the front was helpful - I have an idea and trial setup using 1 1/2" square tube for the front - mild modification to your setup.

[67carry-all]

Ok, thought I'd share what I came up with to mount 2nd row seats. I think they're the same as a Suburban, but these seats are from a '95-'99 Tahoe. With the adapter brackets, I wanted something strong that would also use original mounting holes - figured these are the factory re-enforced areas and I don't like drilling more holes that needed - only had to drill one hole total.

Main adapter bracket is 1 1/2" square tube, 52" long - mounts to the three holes in the floor. Tabs are 3x3 and one 2x2; tab at far right is slightly offset to the right. The "middle" 3x3 in the pic would have been better at 3.5" long to fit the Tahoe seat mounting hole - had to drill a hole in the seat bracket to fit the adapter bracket as shown.

Rear adapter brackets are 2X3 tube on 1/16" plate - they're a about 1/4"-1/2: too high - there's a slight tilt to the seats; shimming the other side helps to level.

[67carry-all]

Here's some shots of the brackets installed. Turns out the left side of the seat set angles slightly differently as shown in the under-seat shots - will need a couple more shims to level and have the seat height and angle match the single right-hand seat.

[67carry-all]

And a couple shots of the seats in the folded position. Nice fit this way, and great foot-room when the seats are in normal position. Feedback appreciated, happy to answer any questions. Nice to have this board!

[67carry-all]

Small correction - square tube is 1/16"; bottom plate of rear brackets is 1/8".

[badboy007]

I bought the rear bench seat out of a 95-98 crew cab pickup. I'm hoping that the install will be a little easier because the brackets are a similar configuration as the bucket seats/front bench seat from the same model of trucks. They recline but don't fold. This may or may not be an option depending on what you want.

[70sarver]

I just saw an old post that you installed 07 escalade seats. I am trying to do a similar install. If you have any pics of the 2nd row seat and brackets, I would like to see them. Thanks

[C20-67_N_MO]

67carry-all very cool setup!

My 'Burb is a '67 and have not thought about this until I saw your post. Very good idea which I may address once I get all my body work done.

[67carry-all]

"67carry-all very cool setup!" - Thanks! I got the idea a couple of years ago from a beautiful high-buck truck at a show. The owner had the seats mounted on the floor which gave a little better head room and room for a third row in back, but really limited leg room in that second row. I've got good leg room and the second row seats can fully fold forward with this set up and had minimal drilling of new holes. If I were doing it again, I'd probably lower all the mounting brackets a bit gain a little more head room. Good luck with your project!