Folding seats with integrated seat belts

AZ Van Dreamz · Oct 14, 2020

This looks great!

Have you posted on how you mounted the L Track to the floor? Also, what do you think the minimum distance from back of driver's seat to back of second row can be?

I am thinking of retrofitting a folding seat or two (or perhaps transit seat(s)) in the same spot.

the_alpine · Oct 14, 2020

bitaria said:
Update on the seats installed.

View attachment 67765 View attachment 67766

Awesome! Im in the planning stages of a second build, and this exact setup is on my list. How do you like the foldaway seats? Is that the go es or the 3pt? Since you've got it on tracks, I assume you remove it... how cumbersome is that??

Would love to see any and all photos youre willing to share and/or installation details!

bitaria · Oct 14, 2020

AZ Van Dreamz said:
Have you posted on how you mounted the L Track to the floor? Also, what do you think the minimum distance from back of driver's seat to back of second row can be?

I didn't take pictures, but I'll do my best to describe the flooring solution.

I pulled off the OEM composite floor, added sound insulation, and cut 5 slots. 3 long slots - 72" and 2 shorter for the seat. Added 3/4 plywood (3 sheets cut to size using composite floor as the template). Plywood has T nuts on the underside with long L track mounted using stainless hardware via these T nuts. There is a layer of insulation between plywood and the OEM composite floor, they are held together by OEM D rings and L track.

The short L track rails for the seat are a bit of a different story. Holes are through the metal with a backing plate and uses 5/16-18 hardware (had to slightly enlarge holes in L track to fit). Frame rail is under there, so its a combo of bolt / nut + backing plate and Plus nuts. Backing plate 'grabs' on the frame rail lip and is a very solid mount.

The seat itself sits on L track studs with double lug base, total of 8 are used.

the_alpine said:
How do you like the foldaway seats? Is that the go es or the 3pt? Since you've got it on tracks, I assume you remove it... how cumbersome is that??

GO-ES Foldaway - Passenger Bus Seats - Freedman Seating Company this is the new version of the seat i.e. spacesaver. Not sure if they still offer this option, but it was possible to order direct from them in your choice of fabrics and options.

It is heavy, helps to have a friend for getting it out of the van. Aside from that it is not hard to remove (I used an electric ratchet to undo the nuts). Seat is usually left in tho, I can transport 3 motorcycles and gear with it in, so no reason to pull it unless we need the extra room for something.

the_alpine · Oct 14, 2020

bitaria said:
I didn't take pictures, but I'll do my best to describe the flooring solution.

I pulled off the OEM composite floor, added sound insulation, and cut 5 slots. 3 long slots - 72" and 2 shorter for the seat. Added 3/4 plywood (3 sheets cut to size using composite floor ass the template). Plywood has T nuts on the underside with long L track mounted using stainless hardware via these T nuts. There is a layer of insulation between plywood and the OEM composite floor, they are held together by OEM D rings and L track.

The short L track rails for the seat are a bit of a different story. Holes are through the metal with a backing plate and uses 5/16-18 hardware (had to slightly enlarge holes in L track to fit). Frame rail is under there, so its a combo of bolt / nut + backing plate and Plus nuts. Backing plate 'grabs' on the frame rail lip and is a very solid mount.

The seat itself sits on L track studs with double lug base, total of 8 are used.

GO-ES Foldaway - Passenger Bus Seats - Freedman Seating Company this is the new version of the seat i.e. spacesaver. Not sure if they still offer this option, but it was possible to order direct from them in your choice of fabrics and options.

It is heavy, helps to have a friend for getting it out of the van. Aside from that it is not hard to remove (I used an electric ratchet to undo the nuts). Seat is usually left in tho, I can transport 3 motorcycles and gear with it in, so no reason to pull it unless we need the extra room for something.

thanks for taking the time to reply. Imagine for a minute that you had installed 2 additional sections of L track for the seat, but perpendicular to the ones the seat is attached to... how hard would it be (not counting unscrewing nuts) to regularly rotate the seat 90 degrees so that it could be used as a “couch” with its back against the van wall?

bitaria · Oct 14, 2020

the_alpine said:
thanks for taking the time to reply. Imagine for a minute that you had installed 2 additional sections of L track for the seat, but perpendicular to the ones the seat is attached to... how hard would it be (not counting unscrewing nuts) to regularly rotate the seat 90 degrees so that it could be used as a “couch” with its back against the van wall?

Hmm should be doable, but you may need to drop the muffler and heat shielding to install backing plates... what's the use case for setting it up this way? When the van is moving I think it's much more comfortable to sit facing forward, and it would be a bit too annoying (at least for me) to rotate the seat when camping. Swivel base would be cool, but I'm not aware of one available for this application.

the_alpine · Oct 14, 2020

bitaria said:
Hmm should be doable, but you may need to drop the muffler and heat shielding to install backing plates... what's the use case for setting it up this way? When the van is moving I think it's much more comfortable to sit facing forward, and it would be a bit too annoying (at least for me) to rotate the seat when camping. Swivel base would be cool, but I'm not aware of one available for this application.

The swivel would be the ultimate. There are some double bench swivels for the promaster bench seat as well as the mercedes bench seat (and many more euro models), but the swivel leads to its own issues as well.

I agree passengers want to be facing forward when riding, was just trying to brainstorm ways to turn the bench into a more "chill mode" friendly setup for when just hanging out. Heres a few renderings of my ideas:

bitaria · Oct 14, 2020

the_alpine said:
The swivel would be the ultimate. There are some double bench swivels for the promaster bench seat as well as the mercedes bench seat (and many more euro models), but the swivel leads to its own issues as well.

I agree passengers want to be facing forward when riding, was just trying to brainstorm ways to turn the bench into a more "chill mode" friendly setup for when just hanging out. Heres a few renderings of my ideas:
View attachment 67771 View attachment 67773 View attachment 67772

Totally doable!

I see you have them sitting on a custom step, you'd need a way to secure it into the floor / frame 'just in case'. If the step has a welded frame and L track secured to that you could do any configuration of L track you want.

the_alpine · Oct 14, 2020

bitaria said:
Totally doable!

I see you have them sitting on a custom step, you'd need a way to secure it into the floor / frame 'just in case'. If the step has a welded frame and L track secured to that you could do any configuration of L track you want.

Ya, would definitely need to fab up a steel frame to get them up to that height. Was thinking it would mnake sense to get them to have the seats at the same height as the drivers seat.

The real question is: without a swivel, would it end up being too much of a hassle to where I end up never even rotating the seats?

Google has some interesting track fittings that may make it more doable:

and these

Folding seats with integrated seat belts

AZ Van Dreamz

the_alpine

bitaria

the_alpine

bitaria

the_alpine

bitaria

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