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New guy looking for ideas on rear seating


petermbooth
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Hi there,

As a part of my transition from Dad/Family Van (Honda Odyssey) to Motorcycle Racer Van I talked my wife into letting me get a 2018 TC XL (long wheelbase).  I race motorcycles and so I needed a long open-space van for transporting bikes.  I live in the Northeast so racing only happens April - September.  My hope is to find some type of removable bench seat that I can put in the back of the cargo van for my one remaining kiddo. It would be in the back permanently through the winter and then in the summer it would be pulled in and out for race weekends. I found a guy on YouTube who put a 1990 Ford Ranger "jump seat" in the back of his TC cargo but I'm hoping to figure out a way to mount a bench seat (like a school bus seat) so that my son and a friend can ride in the back.

 

I'll be poking around these forums to see if I can find anything, but I thought I'd start by intro'ing myself and asking if anyone had any ideas or knew of anyone who had done this.

 

Thanks

Peter

Jericho, Vermont

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If you could see the rear bench set-up in the Gen 2 SWB TC's, you would be green with envy  -  Why they never offered this in the long wheelbase version, I'll never know because it's the cat's meow of removable seating systems.  My van has a 60/40 split rear bench and the seat backs fold flat with the tug on a lanyard and then with the tug on a second one, they flip vertically to stow just touching the backs of the front buckets.  Need even more room?  Flip a pair of levers and you can lift either the 60 side or the 40 side completely out of the van.  When you take both of them out, you essentially have a cargo van . . . . but only with a short wheelbase.  It takes less than 5 minutes to take both out and you don't need any tools.  Takes a couple minutes longer than that to put them back in . . . . and the 60 side is pretty darned heavy  -  It contains both halves of the center seatbelt built into the seat

 

I think you could probably find a rear bench seat from an older van which mounts with 4 or 6 bolts through the floor pan and adapt that to your cargo van easily enough by drilling a few holes.  You would need to get the seatbelts as well

 

Don

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Welcome!  Are you planning on hauling your race bike in the van or on a trailer?  Down here racing starts in February with the WERA races at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway and ends with the WERA GNF in October.

 

I have a LWB 6 passenger wagon which I haul my scooter in.  I usually take out the two rear seats and fold the middle buckets down.  The front wheel fits between the two folded seats.  I small racebikje would fit as well, not sure a 600 super sport would fit.  The two rear seats bolt in with 4 bolts each and If you could find a pair you could probably figure a way to mount them.  You would also need to add seat belts for them as the belt is mounted to the body and the latch is part of the seat.

 

Which organization are you racing with?  What kind of bike?  And of course it would be nice to see some photos.  

IMG_5902.jpg

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Just a few options online.  

 

https://corbeau.com/bench-seats.html

 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bst-39437-09?seid=srese1&cm_mmc=pla-google-_-shopping-_-srese1-_-bestop&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_s7fBRDrARIsAGEvF8ReonAAaWz00gxCQBgW6ddS--bMNUVnpHUxMOgU_AHVTYT6DpcwV5IaAhA_EALw_wcB

Bestop TrailMax II Classic Seats 39437-09

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@Peter - welcome to the forum and congrats on your new cargo van.

I'm considering adding a jump seat to my 2015 LWB Cargo van so this is an interesting topic for me.

If the seating is for short distances, then a jump seat would work. Anything longer and I would go in the direction of what Beta Don is referring to and using a decent TC bench seat that you can find from a salvaged van. Those are going to be more comfortable and have a higher safety factor.

 

I think this is the video you are referring today. I was curious to see what that person did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvJR-ix5LTI

 

If you're going to use the TC bench seat, then it would be best to open up the hidden foot well below the cargo deck (see pics below). It's a relatively easy job to do. I can share more pics on that. I opened mine up to use for storage and love having that amenity. Taking the cargo mat out will also expose a variety of mounting holes that exist on all vans, cargo or passenger.

 

Below is an example of a jump seat that I've been considering. I've found several of them that might work. It has a built in seat belt and is a low cost option. Using this would require some type of adapter plate for mounting.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Bestauto-Universal-Contoured-Retractable-Adjustable/dp/B07BBCWGT4/ref=sr_1_16_sspa?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1542259228&sr=1-16-spons&keywords=jump+seat&psc=1

 

P1060399.JPG

P1060384.JPG

Edited by windguy
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Thanks for all the responses everyone.

 

I bought the cargo van rather than the passenger because I need as much height as I can get. My dirtbike is 48" tall and I'm hoping the 49" roof of the cargo van will allow me to put the bike in the van.  My racebike (I roadrace with the USCRA -- United States Classic Racing Association) will definitely fit as it's a 1979 Suzuku T500 and not too tall. (I'll try to attach a photo here.)

 

Because the TC stock seats require getting down below the "false" floor (as people have shown in the photos above) I'm hoping to mount a single bench seat directly to the false floor.  Needing to get down below the false floor every time i want to put the seats in/out seems like a pain in the neck. My dream is to find a basic bench seat that I can mount to the false floor with four bolts.  I'd need to create four threaded holes in the floor for the seat to mount to. Here's an example of what I'm looking for: a selfcontained mountable bench with seatbelts built in. Unfortunately, this one is only available in the UK.  ?

IMG_B168249BCD50-1.jpeg

IMG_7519.jpg

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Not sure what else you haul with your van.  If the motorcycle is the only large thing you haul, and the seating would be in all the other time.  You could fabricate a center floor  that would allow the motorcycle too load easily, leaving room for the seat to go in and leave good room for the passengers legs and feet.

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21 hours ago, petermbooth said:

 

Because the TC stock seats require getting down below the "false" floor (as people have shown in the photos above) I'm hoping to mount a single bench seat directly to the false floor.  Needing to get down below the false floor every time i want to put the seats in/out seems like a pain in the neck. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean there - the stock seat replaces that false floor the vans have, shown in windguy's pics. You would remove the van false floor, stick it in your garage or shed and install the wagon (passenger van) second seat, which then folds flat into the cavity that is covered by the false floor in cargo vans - essentially, the folded seat becomes the false floor. But, if you need two rows of seating in the back (total three rows if you include driver/front passenger), then others have said the LWB third-row is bolt-in rather than quick-latch. 

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The rear seating uses the foot well  under the floor deck.  If the only large thing that is going to be transported is the motorcycle. Then the seating added could be set so that the front wheel of the cycle could ride in between the rear seats on a narrow fabticated platform. 

Edited by G B L
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The newer second row is a split seat with about a foot between them which would be a perfect spot to put a removable wheel chock.  Maybe you can find one salvage or something?  I also use mine for racing but I use a hitch rack as my KTM dirt bike is several inches too tall to fit. 

IMG_1913(1).jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

So not to be an idiot (I just know NOTHING about these vans and the different configurations they come in) would these seats mount directly onto the floor of my van? I would be mounting them in the "way back" by the cargo doors, not up close just behind the driver/passenger seats)

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15-18-FORD-TRANSIT-CONNECT-BLACK-CLOTH-SECOND-ROW-SEAT-NEW-3-PERSON-SEAT/163421479308?hash=item260cade18c:g:RP4AAOSwAOxbsbgK

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Those are the 3rd row seats, 4 bolts each to put in or remove.  Not sure how to go about adding to a cargo van, shouldn't be too hard.  weldmoount nuts are under the floor plus two alignment holes per seat.  In addition would need the seat belt and mounting points for it.  The buckle end is part of the seat.

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11 hours ago, petermbooth said:

So not to be an idiot (I just know NOTHING about these vans and the different configurations they come in) would these seats mount directly onto the floor of my van? I would be mounting them in the "way back" by the cargo doors, not up close just behind the driver/passenger seats)

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15-18-FORD-TRANSIT-CONNECT-BLACK-CLOTH-SECOND-ROW-SEAT-NEW-3-PERSON-SEAT/163421479308?hash=item260cade18c:g:RP4AAOSwAOxbsbgK

 

 

Take a field trip to a dealership.  Take your time looking at the different configurations and play with the seats.  Fold them.  Flip them.  Look at the hardware.  Get a feel for your project.

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