Am I losing my seat?

[fjrjohnny]

I saw this somewhere, and thought that it might be a way to gain some additional cargo space. Was wondering if anyone else has gone this route, and if so, what were the benefits and/or pitfalls that were experienced?

Am considering the removal of all, or at least most of the 60/40 rear seat assembly in my '09 F350 CC, and replacing it with a deck of some sort. Don't currently have a dog, but am sure that we will in the near future. And like others, would like to have the space to carry extras that the Lance 915 doesn't have dedicated room to haul.

Thanks!

[steve68steve]

Didn't read all replies, forgive redundancy:

I have a 2001 F350 SuperCab. It had a split fold-up rear seat. I pulled the whole thing out with a few torx bits and have not missed it all.

The solid seat back wich spans the whole width of the cab just hangs on two hooks. It's easily removed to create even more space but the inside of the cab is not painted behind it.
An appropriately-sized piece of plywood with strategically placed hooks could take the place of the seat back and be fitted with any number of goodies: gun rack, hooks to hang stuff, shelves/ bins, whatever.

Plenty of room now for dogs, lawn chairs, etc. I haven't tried yet, but I suspect I'll be able to fit two bicycles back there (front wheels come off) without much fuss - more secure, dry, and negates the need for a carrier (hitch mount or otherwise).

...and that's a supercab. Pulling the seat out of a CC would be like having an indoor pickup truck in front of your camper.

[fjrjohnny]

Thanks Butch50 for the images and your ideas. I will use some of your design as a starting template for my project.

[houstonstroker]

I have a 2002 Ford F-250 Crew Cab. The rear bench seat did not fold and did not have head rests. The seat is removable without taking a door off. It just unbolts and slides out. I found rear seats on Ebay out of a 2008 Ford. They fold up and it was a direct bolt in. Plus I now have rear head rests.

[truckcamperonmy]

Has anyone removed the rear seat in a 2000 model Ford F-350 crew cab? Difficulties or advice? Rear door removal? The seat in that model year does not fold up.

I was curious if there was a simple low profile rear "jump seat" that could be installed that could be folded up that wouldn't take up much room, but didn't see anything. Anyone aware of such a product?

[mkirsch]

MacHof wrote:
I am still looking to buy something, so please let me know if you find anything.

Doubtful such a thing exists. The market for it is very limited, as the vast majority of people put... people... back there.

Of the small number of people who go so far to tear the seats out, each has their own unique needs as far as that space goes. Good luck with a one-size-fits-all product that will satisfy enough of them to be profitable.

[Butch50]

This what I did to mine, left seat in but built a platform. On the newer Fords they put in lockable storage under the rear seats but the only problem is when you want to put something in the rear and not have it ride on the seat you have an uneven floor area. So I built a platform that covers this storage area and made the lift up lids lockable so I can still lock the lids down (I know it won't keep anybody out if they want in) and helps keep the platform in place. My wife also made some covers for the back of the seats and console to protect them from getting scared up. Then we got a dog seat cover and used it to protect the rear seat that is folded up.



This shows the lid in the open position with some tools in the storage compartment. The lid is a 2 piece so one side can be opened at a time.



This is on the drivers side with a storage box, I have another one just like it and they stack. Then I installed some tie downs to strap them down to keep them from moving.



This is the passenger side with a 2" foam pad for the dog to lie on.



This is the drivers side view

[fjrjohnny]

The DuHa boxes are nice. I know for sure that something else could be done more economically, and will work along those lines. Definitely going to leave enough room behind the passenger seat so that it can be reclined as needed.

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions.

[travelnutz]

In our crew cab truck with the 60/40 rear seat, we sometimes leave the 60 in place and put my tools etc on the floor and use Tupperware type plastic boxes with lids on top for our canned goods, liquid containers, and other weighty items on top and also on the 60 seat surface. The 40 is folded down flat as GW truck rear seats do for our large dog so she has plenty of room to stretch out. Putting the heavy items forward of the TC and low as possible moves a lot of weight (hundreds of lbs) off the rear wheels transferring it to the front wheels. Our totally optioned out 11'4" TC weighs 3872 lbs as shipped from Lance and the truck handles the weight fine doing this and has for over 70,000 miles now. Yes, you even gain more storage space if needed by removing the rear seat totally. However, we haven't found the need to do so as there's plenty of room for my large tool box and 3 large plastic storage boxes with lids in the 60 area and simply taking them out and putting them on our site when we need the back seat for guests. A couple minutes max and solves both needs!

Don't use see thru plastic boxes and it won't draw the itchy fingers while sitting on your site when you are gone away. Also, the covered boxes keeps the rain out and/or you can put a cheap plastic tarp over them. Where's there's a will, there's a way!

[rickjo]

fjrjohnny wrote:
Great, that is exactly what I am looking for. I know that it depends on what is being carried, but as a side benefit, the loss of the weight of the seats might even equal that of the load of items to be taken along. Kinda like breaking even.

Believe it or not, the most useful parts of my rear bench mod are the cheap Wally World drawers that I built in. Having a space for gloves, hats, small items, etc. has been a huge benefit. It just required a rectangular hole in the side support positioned so that the drawer frame attaches to the support but the weight of the drawer is on the floor. Nothing heavy in the drawers anyway. The jack paraphernalia is more toward the rear of the cab so it is not a concern for installing drawers.

Rick

[MTRhino]

I will second the Du-Ha endorsement. We use the truck without the camper way more than with (unfortunately) so still need the seats. With the Du-Ha I can put a ton of stuff under the seat and still haul passengers without everything rolling out under their feet every time we stop. The other big plus is out of sight/out of mind as everything is hidden from prying eyes when parked at the mall. We throw a canvas tarp over the seats when camping or needing to haul things in the back seat to keep from spilling or staining the back seats.

[jimh406]

I store things on and under my back seat from time to time. I imagine the seat is approximately 4-5 inches compressed.

I don't find using it that way a problem since you can literally put things from the top of the seat to the roof if needed since you can't see out of the back anyway. I also have one of the Du'Ha underseat storage compartments. http://du-ha.com/index.html My dog crates go on top of the seat. The advantage of this approach is that it isn't obvious that you have anything under the seat.

Obviously, if you took out the seat, you couldn't carry passengers at any point without reinstalling the seat. Since I use my truck without a camper, permanently removing the seat isn't a good idea. In bad weather, we typically use my truck to travel even without the camper.

[MacHof]

We removed the 60% of the rear seat in our 2011 GMC Sierra 2500, extended cab. Easy to do, no sensors, and it opens up a huge amount of storage.

I started a thread on rear seat storage. The thread shows what we built in the back of ours, but the real purpose of the thread was to ask if anyone knows where I can buy a nice storage system.

I am still looking to buy something, so please let me know if you find anything.

Cheers, Henrik

[fjrjohnny]

Great, that is exactly what I am looking for. I know that it depends on what is being carried, but as a side benefit, the loss of the weight of the seats might even equal that of the load of items to be taken along. Kinda like breaking even.

[rickjo]

fjrjohnny wrote:
Did either of you have to worry about any sensors?

Nothing like that in my 2004 F350

Rick