Middle bench seat is much more beefy, especially if you are hauling kids
and car seats.  It can be installed facing backwards.  I did this  in my
7-passenger '86.  If you raise the tracks about an inch, the seat can be
taken in and out by simply removing 4 bolts.  (The seat belts are integraI
with the seat framework.) I cut  1" pine boards and bought longer bolts to
raise the tracks to the height of the carpet.  This way you don't have to
remove the sill and pull up the carpet.  There are several sets of holes,
too.  The 2 person bench can be moved away from the window (more centered
in the van).  Better air flow to the back seat!

                                                                  Jay

James B Robinson <jr@RATWERKS.COM>@gerry.vanagon.com> on 07/29/2002
02:39:39 PM

Please respond to James B Robinson <jr@RATWERKS.COM>

Sent by:    Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>

To:    vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:
Subject:    Re: swapping middle seat for rear-facing seats

As I feared. Anybody got any thoughts on how much they prefer the jumpseats
over the middle bench or vice-versa? I'll be using this bus as an only car
to carry between 1 and 5 adults and 1 or 2 toddlers about their museum
visiting, camout going, grocercy shopping days.

On Mon, Jul 29, 2002 at 02:06:52PM -0400, Ben T wrote:

>> How hard is it to swap the middle seat in an 85 for rear-facing jump
seats?
>>  Is there more to it than just finding suitable seats and bolting them
in?

> More like drill and bolt on. Lots of both. If yu decide to go the
factopry
> route, then it's drill, wled, bolt on.
>
> The factory wleds in the floor locating slots and reinforces and welds
where
> you have to bolt on the back of each front seat.
>
> BenT
> http://hometown.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/index.html

--
[ Jim Robinson -- System Administrator -- ratwerks.com ]
I am a boomer. My generation looked nuclear annihilation
in the eye and said "No thanks, I'd rather drive a BMW."