I want to install a 1997 extended cab power front 60/40 bench seat in my 1995 regular cab. Can I keep the seat legs and frame intact? Do I need to mount the seat frame on my existing legs/base? The console needs some work and the seat covers/cloth are dirty. Can I replace the console lid with a 1999 and up model or is there a kit I can purchase. Is it best to remove the seat covers and clean them separate so my power seat electronics will not get wet when cleaning/washing them? Can you clean them with out removing the covers?
1995 to 1997 seat swap
- Thread starter mross3
- Start date
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You need to use the complete seat and frame from the 97. The 97, is on 2 frames. One for the driver's side and another one for the passengers side. The drivers frame mounts to the transmission tunnel, not the floor pan on the center mount. You can not remove the seat cover. It is glued to the foam on these seats. And the console top from a GMT 800 will not fit on a 400 seat. The top is bigger on a 800 truck.
Thanks for the help. I assumed the truck seat would mount to the existing holes in the cab floor, I measured everything and found a few small differences in seats. I wasn’t sure if I could remove the seat covers. The center console top on the 97 is busted on the top back driver side. I can’t seem to find any replacement parts. I will attempt to repair it, unless some one has a link to replacement top console parts they will share.
I really wanted to keep my 60-40 seat. I did repair the console top a few times on mine. When the driver's seat fabric started to get worn from my big fat but getting into and out of the truck over the last 19 years, I tried to have the seat recovered in OE fabric. No one and I mean no one would do the seat. They even could still get the OE fabric, but because the fabric is glued to the foam, they just didn't want to do the job. Finding the Tahoe bucket seats was grate. The fabric is the same as my 60-40 seat had, and they bolted rite in. The only bolt that there was no hole for, was the driver's seat in the front next to the trans tunnel. I never did worry about drilling a hole and putting a bolt there. Also being my OE seats had power lumber, the Tahoe bucket seat on the driver's side is all power. Everything work and was a direct plug in. It's by far the easiest seat swap I have ever done. The floor console wasn't as easy, but I am very happy with the way it all came out.
Supercharged111
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Something I noticed with Tahoe/Burb seats is that they don't flip forward like a truck seat, something to keep in mind.
Yes, I ended up using my OE seat bottom on the passengers side and had to add the cable and handle for that on the Tahoe seat top. So,my passengers seat still slides forward.
someotherguy
Even more awesome in person
The power seat gear is all on the underside of the seat frame and bracketry so that comes along if you move the seats over as an entire unit. The extended cab seats have unique frames to fit the floor of an extended cab which dips down low in the rear for passenger foot room.
So, to make them work in a regular cab you'll either need to cut, shorten, and re-weld one of the middle brackets (the obviously longer one; it swaps sides from the 88-94 to 95-98 seat design change) which can be tricky on the power seats as there's not really enough "blank" area you can chop out, OR, and this sounds like a horrible ugly hack but in reality it's not - you carefully mock the seats up into position (bolt the outer 4 bolts in where your bench seat came out), mark the area of the floor where that longer bracket sits, remove the seat and then pound a big dent in the floor with a sledgehammer. Yeah I know it sounds awful, but the result works great and you'll never see it.
You'll probably also need to drill 4 new holes in the floor for the middle bracket bolts as your regular cab won't have them. Mock up, measure, mark - carefully - before drilling. Then, use bolts with some form of locking nuts, whether they're nyloc, prevailing torque, or plain nuts but with lock washers.. and the largest, thickest flat washers you can find to go under the floor to reinforce the holes so the bolts don't rip through in case of a crash.
Richard
someotherguy
Even more awesome in person
Correct, that front short bracket sits on top of the transmission hump; the rear part of it is considerably longer as the extended cab floor drops down dramatically. If you put an extended cab split bench seat into a regular cab, it will sit very obviously crooked due to this until you chop the back of that bracket down.
Richard
Thanks for the help Richard! Im
Getting close to switching the seats now. I Cleaned the 97 power driver bench and passenger. The consoled top is broke on the back right corner. It will open and close, but still broke and loose. I looked for a diagram online to remove the console from the seat, I could find one. The 3 screws on the right side of the console connected to the seat bracket, I haven’t figured out how to remove. I was able to remove the left side 10 mm bolts out of the console connected to the bracket, but didn’t find a tool to remove the right side. Is there a diagram of the seat and console online that you know of?
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