I had no idea when I converted my front seats from a bench seat to bucket seats in my 1997 F-350 that there was an acutual conversion plate that was needed. No wonder the seats I pulled out of the junk yard required a couple holes be drilled into the floor. I just thought it was because my truck is a crew cab and the donor truck was an extended cab…
It’s been about 11 years since I swapped to bucket seats and installed a 3,200 watt inverter under a center console I built. I always felt like I was sitting a little tall in the truck and after a few years I finally noticed the seat wasn’t centered with the steering wheel. I guess that what happens when you don’t dig in and do your research before getting started on what was suppose to be a simple project. Now I get to tear it all out and start over…
Yes… my truck is a mess…so what… it’s a my shit box
The only place I could find this bench-to-bucket conversion plate was on eBay… junkyards around here provided nothin’. I’m always hesitant from purchasing stuff on eBay but I went for fit. The plate also came with the seat guides. Which was a must. Check out the difference in the seat guides
This is actually a pretty straight forward install. Remove the old seat guides, install the new ones on the adapter plate, then bolt the seat to the seat guides. It only took 4 bolts to get the seat off of the old guides but it took those 4 bolts plus an additional 4 nuts to mount them on the plate. I’m happy the seller provided those too.
Hopefully I can pick this whole thing up and get it in the truck…
The easy part was getting the seats mounted to the adapter plate. Stuffing this setup in my truck was a bit of a wrestling match. It got hung up on everything. I’m just happy my interior isn’t anything to brag about. Let’s just say it ain’t no yuppie rig. No power windows, locks, or seats and rubber floors. Just more things to break in my opinion…. But opinions are like a-holes… everyone has one. Now when I eat sunflower seads, I tend to just throw my shells on the floor mat… I don’t always have an empty cup to spit them into, plus it’s been winter time and it’s frikken cold out. Just pull the rubber floor mat out and dump it in the trash. Simple… hence the mess
So after getting the seats in, I knew I would have to relocate my amplifier for my subwoofer. The amp used to sit under the driver seat but there isn’t room for it now. The seat sets a lot lower to the floor of the truck now. I guess I will add that to the to-do list. I think it’s gonna have to go back behind the rear seat.
The seats now set lower, slide forward and back really smoothly, and I am centered on the steering wheel… what a concept!!!
My old console squished the inside part of the seat and left me feeling like my right hip was higher than my left. That was the skinniest I could make the console to fit around my inverter. I used to only have 13 inches between the seats. Now I have 18-1/2 inches. That’s a big difference.
I got started on mounting my inverter. The first thing I noticed was the mounting brackets weren’t long enough to span the seat plate. It has a recessed section in the middle and the inverter wouldn’t fit inside nor over the top. I thought I had some 1-1/4 angled steel around but I didnt. So off to the store I went. Bought a 36 inch piece and cut it down to 2-16 inch pieces.
Removed the old bracketed and used them to mark my bolt holes for the new brackets. I also drilled holes to mount the inverter to the seat adapter plate. It was tough getting it centered. There really wasn’t much to measure off of.
Now it’s time to start mocking up my new center console. With the inverter setting a little bit taller I’m gonna have to redesign this whole thing.
I’m gonna add some flip down cup holders in the back and I am going to have to do the same in the front. My shifter used to almost hit where I had the cup holders in the old console. The plan is to install them down low on either side of the shifter. It’s gonna be a little wider and I plan on keeping the lower trey in the front along with the 120 volt plug with 2-USB’s
I’m thinking of adding a couple 12 volt cigarette style plug too… just not sure where. I spent a few hours today measuring and mocking stuff up for my console. If my truck was an automatic it would be a lot easier I can tell you that. Lol. Stay tuned for the console build, it might take me a week or so. At least I have got a good start. It may not look like it as of yet…
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