Hi everyone,
I searched for this on the forums a bit and did not find a ton of resources (really just one thread if I remember correctly) so I decided to document. I started out with a stock, non reclining seat out of a 2020 crew van. I am going for a "westfalia" style layout, so I wanted the bench seat shortened to 2 seats. The challenge is that you need the two outside legs since they lock. So cutting off the end seat was not an option. Also, the middle seat is wider than the two outside ones to accommodate seat belts. So what I did was cut the middle out. I measured over 1-1/4" from each leg and put a piece of blue tape as a cut line. I started the cuts with a cutoff wheel, and followed them up with a sawzall. I wont cover disassembly, but the cover just unsnaps from all the little wire like pieces. I cut those as well, trying to preserve their wholeness as much as possible for reassembly.
Now, this is where I had a learning moment. If you look at the picture above, you can see that on the drivers side of the bench, on the front rail, they sleeved that piece into the rest of the seat. If I had been careful, I could have used a cutoff wheel and preserved this sleeve and saved a step down the road. By preserve it, I mean only cut the outer most tube. Again, I cut 1-1/4" over from the furthest drivers side leg and ended up cutting off about 3" of that inner sleeve.
Moving on, I got some tubing at my local metal supplier and proceeded to sleeve the two pieces together. I used 1-3/4" round tubing inserted into the rear lower tube, and it was a perfect fit. I cut a 12" piece so I had 6" on either side and drilled holes in the bench to rosette weld it in place. Now keep in mind that I can weld, but I am not a welder and had the guidance of a friend to complete this.
I searched for this on the forums a bit and did not find a ton of resources (really just one thread if I remember correctly) so I decided to document. I started out with a stock, non reclining seat out of a 2020 crew van. I am going for a "westfalia" style layout, so I wanted the bench seat shortened to 2 seats. The challenge is that you need the two outside legs since they lock. So cutting off the end seat was not an option. Also, the middle seat is wider than the two outside ones to accommodate seat belts. So what I did was cut the middle out. I measured over 1-1/4" from each leg and put a piece of blue tape as a cut line. I started the cuts with a cutoff wheel, and followed them up with a sawzall. I wont cover disassembly, but the cover just unsnaps from all the little wire like pieces. I cut those as well, trying to preserve their wholeness as much as possible for reassembly.
Now, this is where I had a learning moment. If you look at the picture above, you can see that on the drivers side of the bench, on the front rail, they sleeved that piece into the rest of the seat. If I had been careful, I could have used a cutoff wheel and preserved this sleeve and saved a step down the road. By preserve it, I mean only cut the outer most tube. Again, I cut 1-1/4" over from the furthest drivers side leg and ended up cutting off about 3" of that inner sleeve.
Moving on, I got some tubing at my local metal supplier and proceeded to sleeve the two pieces together. I used 1-3/4" round tubing inserted into the rear lower tube, and it was a perfect fit. I cut a 12" piece so I had 6" on either side and drilled holes in the bench to rosette weld it in place. Now keep in mind that I can weld, but I am not a welder and had the guidance of a friend to complete this.
