Seat Swap

My driver's seat has the "lean" - I went to some local junkyards but I couldn't find anything seats that would work.

Has anyone ever tried swapping the passenger seat and the driver seat? I realize the power seat controls would be messed up, but I'm willing to try anything right now - It's killing my back...

I am getting ready to pull mine apart and weld/re-brace the seat frame. I had asked if anyone else has pics/process/tips but didn't really get much feedback.

I will likely be a week or so before I pull mine apart. I'll take pics and see how it works out.

-Stephen

I managed to pull a decent seat from a JY even though I couldn't move the tracks. There are four small screws holding the seat to the track, and if you can get to them you can remove the seat that way. If you can get the JY to lend you a battery, you can move the seat back and forth so you can get to the four bolts that hold them down.

If you're going to use a different seat, it MAY be possible to adapt the seat to your original track, but I wouldn't swear to anything.

i used checker auto black leather knock off seats. just made some small brackets to adapt them to the stock elec seat tracks, works great!

-J0N

I took my seat to a auto upholstery shop and had them strip the seat back down to the frame. Took the frame to a welding shop for repair. Upholstery shop put it all back together, and I have been good for over 3 years.

GREAT stuff, guys. I also have the lean. Every time I hit a bump the back of the seat by my left shoulder squeaky-squeaks. It annoys the hell out of me without the radio on. I was going to go buy seats from a boneyard and have them re-done.... that is until I read this post.

I'll do the same as 89gted.

THANKS!!

Did you have it reinforced or just re-welded?

Mine was (for lack of a better term) shattered. The seat frame was jacked up on the top, middle and the bottom. I took all the padding/cover off myself, ( very easy, the hardest part is getting the headrest off) and brought it to my local welder 25 bucks later, i re assembled my seat in the living room and its been working ever since. Remember, I am a 370 lb Caucasian house ape. welding worked for me! All you have to do is remove the seat back in-car, take the headrest out, unzip the bottom of the cover/padding, and slide it off the seat frame. You also have to remove the lumbar bladder, but that is pretty much self explanatory. Its pretty easy. Even with the welding total time spent on it was mabey an afternoon.

My seats are a bit different. I have a base model 1985 Thunderbird. But I'm sure I can do the same thing with it. I'll look into how the seat back comes out/off. I was unaware that it was a possiblity. SWEET. I love these tbird sites. Everyone is so helpful!!!

Hey 85Bird,

Glad to see another Lincoln Nebraska TC owner. I need to repair my seat also. I plan to tear it down, and take it into the shop and weld it myself. If you'd like to do them together, pm me and we'll set something up. Can probably do my sons mustang seat at the same time.

John

I talked to a guy at an upholstry shop today - told he knew exacty what I was talking about and that it would cost about 150 bucks to fix.

I wasn't aware you could easily take the seat-back off...I might try that and see if I can get my buddy to weld it back up. I tried unzipping the cover with the entire seat in-tact and I didn't get too far.

Thanks for the responses!