Installing rear seats

[genefewings]

Hi.
Ive got hold of some transit rear seats.
Is it a big drama to install them into the back of a van that never had them originally?
Is there infrastructure underneath that crosses over from other transit models?

[Cider Andy]

There's no infratructure, no. And whilst it's a simple enough job to drill holes and bolt seats to the floor there are also safety implications and, no doubt, Construction And Use regulations to consider. At the very least they would need bracing plates under the floor but there are also specific bolts that must be used - probably some form of high tensile bolt - but I'm not familiar enough with the regs to be more specific.

[genefewings]

Thanks Andy.
Where could i go to find the particular engineering requirements for such a conversion?

[marleymaguire]

My transit crewvan has 3 seats in the back, a double behind the driver and a single behind the passenger, they are simply bolted through the floor with 10mm threaded nuts and bolts with metal plate washers, it states 6 seats on the v5 and there have been no mot issues. I'll be removing mine because it's too much hassle moving motorbikes around with them in

[genefewings]

So the crew van dosnt have big sterngthening beams welded in or anything?

[stevo]

So the crew van dosnt have big sterngthening beams welded in or anything?

I looked on a Tourneo the other day and the bolts going through the floor screwed into what looked like an added piece of metal about 2mm thick. No real additional strengthening there at all.


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[marleymaguire]

Mine isn't a genuine ford crewvan, the seats were added by the previous owner, i've been underneath several times taking them in and out and there is no additional strengthening, remember this is a forum, there will be members who over think and over complicate and others who go the other way, the only point i would look at is if the mot man thinks it's ok that's good enough for me!

[stevo]

Mine isn't a genuine ford crewvan, the seats were added by the previous owner, i've been underneath several times taking them in and out and there is no additional strengthening, remember this is a forum, there will be members who over think and over complicate and others who go the other way, the only point i would look at is if the mot man thinks it's ok that's good enough for me!

I’m in the process of putting seats in the back of mine so I’m in the same boat. It’s better to be safe than sorry though and for the sake of adding a few plates to strengthen them I think it’s well worth it.


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[Cider Andy]

the only point i would look at is if the mot man thinks it's ok that's good enough for me!

Mine would be surviving the head-on collision to then be killed by the two belted passengers in the rear flying forward taking the seat with them....

[ned]

the only point i would look at is if the mot man thinks it's ok that's good enough for me!

Mine would be surviving the head-on collision to then be killed by the two belted passengers in the rear flying forward taking the seat with them....

I concur, overkill on the strength of the mounting points is nothing compared to the value of anybody (especially family) travelling in the van.

I reinforced my floor with 2mm steel plates under the van and on top of the floor.

[marleymaguire]

I must clarify, the metal plate washers fitted on mine are around 2 inches square and 3-4mm thick, these were fitted on the seat side and underside, i think there are four bolts on the single and five on the double, this makes a total of 18 plates, my seats aren't in at the mo so if you want me to take some photos of the bolts and washers let me know

[Cider Andy]

I must clarify, the metal plate washers fitted on mine are around 2 inches square and 3-4mm thick, these were fitted on the seat side and underside, i think there are four bolts on the single and five on the double, this makes a total of 18 plates, my seats aren't in at the mo so if you want me to take some photos of the bolts and washers let me know

They should do the job, they'd take a lot of tearing through the floor.

[mjsroofing]

I looked at a tourneo once and it had L shape tabs welded to chassis.

As for MOT, they don't test the seats only the seat belts .
The seats could be glued in and pass an MOT.

[shovelheadrob]

Don't forget that this counts as a modification as far as your insurance company are concerned. I had a proper conversion done with removable seats by CoTrim, it wasn't particularly cheap, but as I use the van commercially I needed to be 100% legal & safe.
My rear seats fix to rails that are bolted through the floor with strengthening plates underneath. They also have compliant 3 point seat belts built into the seats.