3rd Row Seating In A 92 Explorer

[_BEYONDER_]

I'm planning to mount a middle seat from a dodge caravan ( has built in carseats ) into my 92 explorer. Just looking for info or links if anyone else has done it?

I know i have to remove the stock brackets from the seat, planning on using some 4" U/C channel mounting to the stock locations of the seat and running the same channel underneath. Any suggestions of info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[_BEYONDER_]

so no one on here has done this?

 

[Will]

http://www.littlepassengerseats.com/ford_explorer.htm

I am dubious about it. In a vehicle designed for a rear seat the roll-over protection should include the rear, the pillars should be designed for a shoulder belt, the body pan should be designed to secure the seat mounts and the belt. Whatever people's limbs could hit in a wreck should be padded.

It might not be legal. I think the Indiana Code says passengers can only be carried in places designed by the manufacturer to carry passengers. If it looks factory, nobody will notice unless maybe someone in the back is injured in a wreck.

I would probably do it, just for running around. We have an suv that seats 8--and we use all the rows--for times when we travel.

 

[_BEYONDER_]

I see, I'm in Canada. ICBC said all I had to do was have it inspected. And it should be ok.

the pillars should be designed for a shoulder belt

I was going to face the seat backwards, the same way they're showing on the website there. I don't follow why I'd need shoulder belts though, I'm planning to use a middle bench seat from a caravan with the built in car seat harness's. Do you think it would be advisable to add shoulder belts or just lap belts over and above the 5point harness's (car seat harness's)?

the body pan should be designed to secure the seat mounts and the belt

in the caravan, on the front seats the bolts run through the floor and through steel plate, that's all. Its not even welded...I was thinking of mounting this seat the same way? perhaps using studs through the seat, steel plate, floor, another steel plate and double nutting it,etc. Is there a way to improve on this?

Whatever people's limbs could hit in a wreck should be padded.

Padded arm rests would work for this? The interior in the back is the same as the front/mid section for padding at the moment.

I thought the rear pillars would have protection for a rollover already? i haven't pulled the interior out yet, but if not, a simple roll cage would add this protection right? nothing to fancy, just keeping it simple?

Any other input is greatly appreciated

 

[_BEYONDER_]

some more thaughts on this, the newer explorers have a 3rd row seating option. What is the difference between say a 2000+ explorer and one from 92? They look pretty much more or less identical structurally i mean. But I'm only going off of pics from online and a few chiltons manuals.

How could I reinforce this area to make it safer?

 

[bcost882]

due if you are into it it will benefit us and everyone if you fabb it in. please keep us posted. and look into the safety dont want anyone getting hurt.

 

[Will]

Yeah, the harnesses should be fine I would think. I don't think anyone puts passengers backwards anymore, though I'm not sure why. There must be some tests somewhere about it.

I don't know the differences in the design of Explorers with 3rd-row seats. Could be none, could be a lot.

I would just sit in the seat and see what a flailing arm might hit. Any amount of padding would mean a lot as E=MV^2 and any reduction in the velocity of a flailing limb reduces the force by the square. A 1/2" of foam pad is a hell of a lot safer than nothing.

It's such a hard thing to predict what happens in a crash that they have to actually crash cars to see. Around town, i don't worry too much about it. It's the longer trips where a driver might fall asleep that worries me. That's why I got rid of my styrofoam Winnebago and converted a bus.

 

[_BEYONDER_]

ok...i have a fair amount of research to do before attempting this....i did look up a few websites tho. Most of the issues were rear impact,etc they went with suv's and mini vans. And since my other option is a mini van (same risk factor) I'm wondering if there is really that much of an issue in comparison of which is safer. That being said, rest assured I plan to do this the safest way possible. I'll post more when I figure it out.

 

[_BEYONDER_]

test fit a seat tonight. Not the seat with the built in car seats, its one without. I'm using this for mocking everything up. This is a pic i took of my kids with there arms stretched out. My oldests hands are about 3 or 4in from the roof, my sons hands are around 7 or 8in. She's 6, so I figure this should be fairly safe.

I've decided to mount the seat facing backwards. I could not find any issues with this. RV's are backwards, some of the newer minivans are, ect. By mounting the seat backwards, it puts the kids heads about 3feet from the back for the explorer. Compared to the foot that is in the mini van.

I removed the base mounting brackets from the minivan seat, am planning to bolt this right to the floor with no gap. Any issues with this? Setup this way the new seat sits at the exact same height as the seat with the carseats on it. Will post more tomorrow, better pics to i think...

 

[_BEYONDER_]

Flailing Arms :




Car seat sits at the exact same height as the new seat with built in car seats will sit :



And just to give an idea how bad an idea this is to put an adult back there....I'm 6ft 2....

 

[_BEYONDER_]

Finished. The whole thing took a few hours to do. Wasted to complicated....basically I used the mounting plates off of a 5th wheel, drilled holes to match the mounting points of the stock brackets and bolted the seat right to the floor. I used angle underneath, there are 3 bolts in the front and 2 in the back. The seat has built in harness's for car seats and since I'll NEVER put an adult back there due to no room, and this is only a temporary measure until I gather enough parts for my truck ( extended crew cab...should hold 8 Adults safely when done ) I never bothered with mounting other seat belts. If I ever decided to I'll either mount lap belts to the steel plate, or modify the pillars in the explorer to hold 2 shoulder belts in the back.

I'm very happy with this so far, the only other thing i want to do is find a cover for these seats so they match my interior. Here are pics of it, I have yet to take a pic of it installed with the carpet in,etc. I'll take that tomorrow or the next day.

One note tho, this is MUCH easier to load 5 kids ( All 6 and under ) in on a daily basis.

Carpet Removed

Seat with built in car seats test fitted

Original brackets on dodge caravan bench seat

First plate mounted

Both plates mounted

 

[_BEYONDER_]

Sorry these pics are so big, i couldn't get the thumbnail link like the last ones for some reason. I still have to post the final installed pic. There were a few differences between this seat and the first one i test fitted, both are the center 2 seater seats from dodge caravans, the first was from a 95 caravan ( w/o built in carseats ), the 2nd was from a 93 dodge grand caravan...to the best of my knowledge the grand caravans are the only ones that came with built in car seats.

The main difference I ran into was the positioning of the kids, the kids sit about 4inches back into the seat ( just an approximation ). So they're more or less in the same spot as the same area as the stock seating. Also I measured a chevy 2500 for heights, etc. In a rear impact with this vehicle, it would have to push the rear end of the explorer right into the rear tires before it would most likely cause fatal injuries. I'd see most possibly a broken leg? But even for that they'd have to go through the bumper, the rear receiver and possibly the axle and tires.

Cost for this....I'm not 100% sure, It cost me nothing. I had the seat from one of the many vans i have, the 5th wheel mounting plates my father inlaw had sitting around, bolts, to the seat i reused the existing ones, going through the floor in the angle,etc again my father inlaw had ( hes a mechanic so he has no shortage of bolts ). Time wise, I think this took maybe 3 hours. But that was putting it in, pulling it out.

I think the 5th wheel mounting plates are WAY overkill, but we workedwith what we had. My original plan was to drill holes through the floor pan, and mount with angle using the stock mounting positions on the new seat, HOWEVER we soon discovered that where the holes line up, there is a box beam under there so it wouldn't work, hence the 5th wheel plates. I would assume any 1/4" platting,etc would be fine. Oh I forgot to mention, the middle seat from the caravan fits perfectly, about 1/2" play on each side.

I'm open to any thaughts or suggestions on this, especially how to make this safer in an accident scenerio. I was thinking of possibly reinforcing the sides underneath the side panels? Any thaughts on this? I'm not thinking of a complete cage, just possibly using 1 x 2" u channel along the sides to reinforce in case of a rear impact?

I'll post the finished pics tomorrow.