Greetings from N Dak! Just came aboard so please forgive my ignorance if this has been discussed before but I've looked around and haven't been able to find any discussion on seat exchanges. I have a 59 Apache Fleetside thats been on the farm since day one thats seen its fair share of labor from hauling cattle to grain and everything between. I'm in the final stages of the project and have tryed to keep it as original as I can. Just wondering if anybody could give me some ideas on seat replacement. Are there any pickup seats from other models/years that would change out fairly easy that would fit the cab. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
Welcome to the Forum, This Has Been Discussed here,So you Might try a Surch in the Past Threads! I Have seen Some Guys Use bench Seats Out Of late 80's and Early 90's,Gm Trucks If I remember Right they were Slightly Wider Tho.You Might Have to Do a Junk Yard Search and Measure Something there,My Son Put a Seat Out Of a Late Model Toyota with buckets and Center Console fold Up type Of affair in His 85 Chevy Truck and It seams it would fit Into into my 58 Cameo, I was Going to Try and put it into My Cab and test Fit it,But He was to Quick and Had the thing Bolted into His Truck!,I can Take Some Measurments and ask him again what year and Make it Was out of.one Nice thing is it had its own seat Belts bilt in which would make it Nice for Our year trucks! Anyway,there are a great group of Guys Here that Can Help, and will I am Sure Respond with more Info For You! Good Luck With Your Truck! Allen
Welcome mark ! Although I like the rock hard bench seat (I have a bad back) I understand your interest , take a tape measure to yopur old seat and jot that down (width from left to right) then take a hike to the junkyard orcar shop and begin measuring seats , keep your mind open as some seat that looks FUGLY in it's current vehicle might be just the ticket once trimmed to match your Task Force . Remember ; never , EVER use seat belts attached to thwe seat or the frame ! they *must* be firmly attached the the CAB'S FLOOR and well gusseted , YOUR LIFE depends on this ! .
I Am SORRY Nate!But If you get into a Bad Wreck With a Seat that has seat Belts Bilt into It,OR NOT, in one of Our Year Trucks,Your Life Is Pretty Much DEAD Anyways! No Air Bags Or Side Air Bags, Cab Full Of Steal thats going to To Wrap your ASS into IT! COME ON MAN, GET REAL!
I have used a seat from a 1980 truck made it a bit higher,so you can look a little further down the road it's 150cm width and just fits in to the cab (rubbing the the doors a little bit) I made a few brackets myself(cannot adjust it) But the seat is quit hard and when I go to fast thru a dip or bump it hurts my back. probebly that's why the original benches are so well cushioned So, be carefull with that! The factory assembly manual say,s the original benchseat is 56" and the totaal hip room is 61" so maybe you can use this for measuring the other bench/seats Let us know how you went Because I'am also searching for a replacement In the old day's I saw a lot off cadillac benches in the apache's But I do not know which year they where happy Hunting
I'm Real ! Your comments here indicate you know not wherof you speak . Yes , these old trucks are indeed DEATH TRAPS ! . Nonetheless , I've been in the junk end of The Auto Trade since these were just trucks and not old ones at that , I've seen more dead people than I ever wished to and seat belts *must* always be well gusseted to the FLOOR never the frame nor the seat .
Nate,The New Seats Have the Seat belt, Bilt to the Frame as a hard Point Holding you to the Seat and then The seat Is fully Secured to the Body of the Truck,Most Ive Seen have the Third Point secured to the Vehicles Cab Pillar Also,Take a Close Look at some of the New Cars and Trucks!!! Amen, to all your Wonderfull Words Of Wisdom!and to what ever Blows Up Your Dress COWBOY!!!
Understood ! But ; You're comparing Apples to Kiwi Fruits here ! in an old truck , the seat may not stay attached to the floor in a crash . Seat belts MUST be floor mounted & well gusseted to boot ! .
Nate is correct. on my 57 there is a raised section of the floor that the original seat bolted to. I was able to attach my front seat mounts there. the rear part of the floor i reinforced by using 6" x 3/16" diameter washers and TIG welding them to the inside the cab and underneath the cab.Make sure you have good metal to weld to.Then i bolted the rear through the 6" washers.I skipped a step ,fab everything up first position your seats where there comfy,mark your holes and drill.Bolt the washers in and weld in place. This will give you a wider and reinforced surface area to mount your safely and securly.the seat belts mounted to the seat is a good thing,but if the bolts pull out of the floor board,you and the seat are along for the ride. Good luck Bobby
I am Not talking about Mounting Any Seat to Just The sheet metal Floor board! and Never was I Implying to take any Loose Seat belts and Bolting them Or welding them to say a Stock Seat (Never Would I Do That)if the seat (Belts)Are Loose and you are going to Mount them to the Floor, YES they need to go into the stock mounting Locations and if not they need to be Fully secured ie;welding in washers gusseted, plated and what have you to make them FULLY secured to the floor and NOT the Seat. NOW, if you are going to Say Mount a new different seat into an old truck Yes the seat needs to be Fully secured to the floor and not just Bolted down to the sheet metal. My I add with grade 8 Bolts too! As for the newer SEATS with the Seat belts Bilt into Them,the ones i Have seen Mounted into the older trucks have Factory Mounts Fully strengthend, Fully Gusseted mounting attachment Points to the seat FRAME. Iam Talking about a Three Point System were it crosses your Lap and then attaches to the Piller (which needs to be Fully secured from Behind the pillar and Not Just Bolted to the sheet metal )for your shoulder restraint. Then this new Seat needs to be Mounted securly to the cabs floor. The seats that I have seen, with belts mounted to the frame would take the same brute force of the incredible Hulk to Rip out, I truly believe! The same force required to pull the belts that are securly mounted to the floor. I was also talking with an Engineer friend of mine and he said that he had read an article on why auto manufactures have made the seats with belts attached to the frames and it said that (And I am Only quoteing what he said the article said)is that it was thought to be Safer in that if you were in a crash you were scured to the seat and hold you say more Firmly than a person in a seat that does not, and upon an Impact the seat gets push in one direction and you being pushed in another,It Kind of makes sence to me, But I will Let you make your own decision on that one!
I Want to Add that If you are going to replace or change a seat out into one of our old trucks,that the thought should be towards Adding Seat belts to One of our Year trucks, Most didnt have them and over All,it would be a good thing to Put into an Old truck,it just makes common sence! Nate,I Hope You will at least agree with me on this one! (Saftey First) May None of US have any accidents in our Trucks Stay Safe! Allen
i think we're all on the same page with different points of view.i would like to see a picture of your seat so i can understand your project a little better.just trying to help. Bobby
Safety Knows No Season ! We agree there . Seats attached to the frame means when your old tech vehicle gets hit hard , the body comes loose and the seatbelt cuts you in 1/2 . How they do it in a new vehicle isn't how it's safe in an old one . I truly wish I hadn't seen the things I've seen to know this .
there is an explanation how to make seatbelts in your truck right from the factory. They where a dealers option when sold new you can find the layout in the 1959 passenger car and truck accessories installation reference manual part no. 987480 page 98-99-100 These are lap belts only I think it would not be wise to trust de sheet metal in the cab on shoulder hight Or you will have to reinforce it If you would like to see the pages on the manual maybe I can scan and send them to you. You will have to explane how ,because I'am not such a compwizzard
Somewere I Have seen a Company that offers three Point Shoulder Harness Kits for 55-59 trucks.What I saw was a stifner that is moulded to go up into the Piller and you drill thru and weld in place to reinforce the restraint and then bolt the harness to it.Now I Cant Find it, but Know its there,Maybe someone will Post It! Looked to Me like a Nice Setup for adding Shoulder restraints to Our Year Trucks, Better Than Not Having any thing at All!
you guys are talking about seats with the seat belts built into the seat what about 2001 chevy silverado seats? the seatbelt is built into it the retracters everything all three points of the belt are built into the seat bolt those in there with some heavy reinforcement around the mounts and im not seeing how it would be unsafe i could see if the mounts were just holes drilled in the body but im talking welding in 4x4 sections of 1 inch plate for reinforcement
Well we finally got around to finding a seat and took it for a ride. Ended up using a seat from an early 70's and proceeded with a saw and a welder and made it to fit. Even got lucky enough to have the mounts fit right on the original holes (should have bought a lottery ticket that day). Trying to add a couple pictures and want to say THANK YOU to your response's when I was stumbling about. Now my next problem is I've got gas in the oil and noticed when I removed the gas cap there was a lot of pressure,new gas cap and carb have been put on so would it be the float not set right or needle not working properly, I didn't touch the carb presuming it would be adjusted to the right float height. Any idea's ?
Nice!!! Looking great! I wish my fleet was that far along. Sounds to me you have a bad fuel pump. Chris
nope,we are not running it and have drained the oil and filter. I did install a new pump early on in the project so would tend to believe it should be good but will check it out. Why would there be pressure on the tank and at the carb if the pump was faulty. I'm wondering if the gas cap itself would be faulty cause it should be vented, right? The cap I bought does have a spring loaded relief on it so it should let the pressure off
