2004 seats in 90?

[jonsranger]

I have been searching through this thread and the tech page, but I swore I saw a post where someone had done something similar to what I am doing. However I can't find it to save my life.

Anyways, I've got a '90 std cab, and got some nice cloth seats from a 04 std cab, both are the 60/40 style ones. I thought all I had to do was swap tracks. But the 04 seats apparently have more than the 4 bolts holding the track on. Anyone know how to swap the tracks, or can point me in the right direction?

 

[SenorNoob]

If you can post pics, we might have a better idea of what you could do. My first thought would be maybe a flat plate with holes to match the new seat pan and the old tracks. Or maybe take the sliders apart and put the old bottom half on the new top?

 

[Shran]

Having done this several times... it's much more involved than simply swapping tracks. I have '03 seats in my '88 and '06 seats in my '86.

The seats are constructed differently, to begin with. Do you have a bench seat or a split bench/buckets in yours? Both of mine had one piece bench seats, which makes it significantly harder because I only had four seat holes threaded into the floor instead of 8 so I had to locate and drill holes. Split bench or buckets are a LOT easier in that regard.

What I would do is use the tracks from the newer seats because they are riveted onto the seat base. I would modify the floor brackets that are on them to fit your floor pan. On my '88, I had to bend the front ones and move the back ones forward. I think I also had to shorten one of the tracks on each seat as well but I could be mistaken about that.

I tried using first gen seat tracks on the '06 seats when I put them in the '86 years ago. I would highly recommend against doing this... I had to build spacers and all sorts of nonsense to make the seats fit. Waste of time.

One more thing to keep in mind is that the 90 seat belt will not clip into the 04 buckle that's on your seats now so remove it and throw it away regardless of what you do.

 

[Ramcharger90]

I would look for some halo mustang seats. I have 2 I'm going to get reupholstered with black leather at some point..... when I find another 89-91 to move my stuff into.

 

[jonsranger]

Ok, just an update. I did end up getting these seats installed. I found a video explaining how to take the seats apart to remove the seat tracks. So I did that, disassembled the 04 seats to remove the seat tracks. Then removed my original 60/40 non-headrest seats, and removed the seat tracks from them, easy 4 bolts. What I actually ended up doing was bolting the original seat tracks back in the truck, and putting the 04 seats (reassembled minus the adjustment tracks and plastic cover trim pieces) in. I then bolted the seats to the original track with existing holes. no drilling or cutting, just a lot of disassembly and reassembly. Also if you have a manual, you won't be able to use the attached cup holder in front of the middle seat. I will say that while the seats are way more comfy than my old worn out seats. the do feel like the sit a bit more forward than the original. So if your 6ft and over like I am, you're gonna be a bit more cramped, at least in a single cab.