[HO455]

Besides the broken pieces the big deciding factor was the shape of the Ford seat back. It is the same width across the bottom but it narrows up markedly. I decided I didn't care for that look (Photo #1 Ford seat frame on top of 71 frame) and came to the decision to transfer all the pieces i wanted from the Ford seat to a 67-72 seat. This included the head rests, arm rest, and possibly the lumbar supports.
The current seat in the WMB is the most comfortable and pain free seat I have in the fleet. So changing it out is being done with some trepidation. I bought a 71 seat off of Craigslist for $25 dollars a while back with the plan being I could duct tape it in to submission and use it as a temporary seat while the current seat was being reupholstered. What I discovered is that 71/72 seats have a taller seat back than earlier trucks but shorter seat mounts. One of my dislikes with the current seat is the back is too short for me. So by swapping the 71 seat back on to the 69/70 seat that is currently in the WMB I get a taller seat back and get to keep the taller seat mounts without a bunch of modifications to the seat mounts or the bottom frame.
It took 30 minutes with a pneumatic cutoff wheel to strip the pieces from the Ford seat. Then it took another 30 minutes to remove the 2 screws that held the arm rest to the frame. More quality work. Both screws were cross threaded (Photo #2) and one of them had the Philips head completely blown out. Great more unobtainium to obtain.
Another possible problem area is the guides for the head rests. All 4 of them are broken. The top is supposed to have a disk about 1 inch in diameter and a button that releases the detent on the head rest to allow adjustment. The button and detents are gone and the disks were captured by the head rest posts but otherwise disconnected. (Photo #3 shows what is left of the guides.
Once I had everything I wanted stripped from the Ford seat, it was time to start laying things out. First thing I did was measure the current seat in the WMB as to how far it is from the edge of the seat to the center of the steering wheel. I want to have the head rest centered with the steering wheel. That came to 12 1/2".
Using a tape and a big square I was able to lay out the head rest center line. (Photo #4) If you look close I have the center line marked in silver on the top of the frame.
Up next was to modify the bracket that holds the head rest guides. The Ford seat was flattened across the top and our seats are round. Fortunately the guide brackets had lots of material and it was a matter of removing material on each side and then notching the lower edge to allow it to fit over the 71's wire foam supports. (Photo 5)