Bench Seat modification- making a 2-seater out of a 3-seater.
As a part of my sprinter conversion (’14 Crew), I wanted to find a 2 person bench seat that would replace the existing 3 seater in the van. We found doing the sideways 3-step Mambo through the foot well by the sliding door a pain in the butt when going from front to rear. Had no luck looking online for a 2-seater, and didn’t want to spring for captain’s chairs.
I decided to try to cut down the present seat… it turned out easier than I thought it might. Essentially, to retain the two armrests on either side, and to keep the sloping passenger side (right) of the seat-back intact, my idea was to - in effect- cut out the middle seat and slide the two end seats together.
In order to do this, you need to be able to weld, sew, and not be afraid to cut apart your $1400 Sprinter bench seat.
My idea was to keep the floor legs intact to the frame and cut only the horizontals (3 pipes and 4 bars) that make up the seat frame. With careful measurement and cutting, you can maintain the 18 ¼ inch OC spacing of the floor legs on your new seat.
1. Remove the plastic seat back cover - screws on sides and underneath. Remove the plastic pieces of the child seat loops on the outboard seats - grab and pull out.
2. Pry away the seat fabric from the steel frame- attached to plastic pieces that either snap or twist/flip into steel framework. At the junction of seat and back, the “back” bottom fabric curls around a bar and slips into it’s V-channel, and the “seat” fabric curls around THIS and slips on top of the “back” fabric piece. Sounds confusing, but pull and flip here and you will see what I mean - both the seat and back fabric pieces attach to the same rail. (Remember this order for reassembly).
3. Remove headrests and headrest sockets. Do NOT try to pry the sockets upward - I broke the first one trying this. Using a stick of wood cut ½ inch square, one foot long, I was able to reach underneath the socket and drive it upward, hitting with hammer. Popped right out.
4. Seat belt plastic “hood” on top of seat- this is a pin and plug attachment. Using a punch, drive the pin all the way back and pry out the plug with a screwdriver. Punch size is 5/32 (or less). Keep the pins & plugs to be reused. The hood now slides upward - note the grooves in it for reassembly.
5. Armrests - pry away the foam on the side of the seat and the armrest bracket is revealed. Undo the bolts and nuts and slide the brackets outward. Note the alignment of the thin spacer under one of the interior nuts.
6. Seat belt ends/latches - unbolt the seat belt attachments from underneath the seats - note the different bolts and spacers for each attachment here. I put them back into their holes after removing the belt or latch, so they would stay in order.
7. Now you can remove the fabric and foam together from the frame - the seat back is all one piece and needs to be carefully lifted upward over the seat belt brackets on the uprights. 2 sets of hands are a help here. The seat portion easily lifts straight off.
8. Seat belt rewinders - I unbolted these to move them out of the way, and shielded the belts from any cutting/welding splatter.
9. Where to cut? You have 4 upright frames (seatback) with 3 legs attached. In order to maintain the correct spacing for the floor legs, I found that the vertical “tubes” on the front and back of the legs makes a great spacing reference. Edge to edge, you need to keep 17 ¾ “ between these. I made the cuts on the horizontal pipes & bars so as to provide access for grinding and welding - did not cut right next to the vertical seat frames, so there would be room to sand, grind, and weld pipe-to-pipe.
As a part of my sprinter conversion (’14 Crew), I wanted to find a 2 person bench seat that would replace the existing 3 seater in the van. We found doing the sideways 3-step Mambo through the foot well by the sliding door a pain in the butt when going from front to rear. Had no luck looking online for a 2-seater, and didn’t want to spring for captain’s chairs.
I decided to try to cut down the present seat… it turned out easier than I thought it might. Essentially, to retain the two armrests on either side, and to keep the sloping passenger side (right) of the seat-back intact, my idea was to - in effect- cut out the middle seat and slide the two end seats together.
In order to do this, you need to be able to weld, sew, and not be afraid to cut apart your $1400 Sprinter bench seat.
My idea was to keep the floor legs intact to the frame and cut only the horizontals (3 pipes and 4 bars) that make up the seat frame. With careful measurement and cutting, you can maintain the 18 ¼ inch OC spacing of the floor legs on your new seat.
1. Remove the plastic seat back cover - screws on sides and underneath. Remove the plastic pieces of the child seat loops on the outboard seats - grab and pull out.
2. Pry away the seat fabric from the steel frame- attached to plastic pieces that either snap or twist/flip into steel framework. At the junction of seat and back, the “back” bottom fabric curls around a bar and slips into it’s V-channel, and the “seat” fabric curls around THIS and slips on top of the “back” fabric piece. Sounds confusing, but pull and flip here and you will see what I mean - both the seat and back fabric pieces attach to the same rail. (Remember this order for reassembly).
3. Remove headrests and headrest sockets. Do NOT try to pry the sockets upward - I broke the first one trying this. Using a stick of wood cut ½ inch square, one foot long, I was able to reach underneath the socket and drive it upward, hitting with hammer. Popped right out.
4. Seat belt plastic “hood” on top of seat- this is a pin and plug attachment. Using a punch, drive the pin all the way back and pry out the plug with a screwdriver. Punch size is 5/32 (or less). Keep the pins & plugs to be reused. The hood now slides upward - note the grooves in it for reassembly.
5. Armrests - pry away the foam on the side of the seat and the armrest bracket is revealed. Undo the bolts and nuts and slide the brackets outward. Note the alignment of the thin spacer under one of the interior nuts.
6. Seat belt ends/latches - unbolt the seat belt attachments from underneath the seats - note the different bolts and spacers for each attachment here. I put them back into their holes after removing the belt or latch, so they would stay in order.
7. Now you can remove the fabric and foam together from the frame - the seat back is all one piece and needs to be carefully lifted upward over the seat belt brackets on the uprights. 2 sets of hands are a help here. The seat portion easily lifts straight off.
8. Seat belt rewinders - I unbolted these to move them out of the way, and shielded the belts from any cutting/welding splatter.
9. Where to cut? You have 4 upright frames (seatback) with 3 legs attached. In order to maintain the correct spacing for the floor legs, I found that the vertical “tubes” on the front and back of the legs makes a great spacing reference. Edge to edge, you need to keep 17 ¾ “ between these. I made the cuts on the horizontal pipes & bars so as to provide access for grinding and welding - did not cut right next to the vertical seat frames, so there would be room to sand, grind, and weld pipe-to-pipe.