Swapping bench seat for bucket seats

My next project after lowering the truck. Just a few questions though.

1. Has anyone done it before and has pics?
2. How much do factory xrunner/pre runner seats go for?
3. How difficult will it be to install? ( i have a welder )

 

That sounds good, but... the bench seat if im not mistakin, only has 2 bolt rails, on of the left side next to the door, and one on the right side next to the door. so i would think i'd have to weld another rail wouldnt i?

 

ill check next time i go out, thanks alot man

 

Dunno if you found the seats you were looking for or not. Regular cabs w/auto trans pose different issues. Seats are a straight install, as previous post indicates bolt holes are predrilled and threaded. 05-08 driver's side should be plug-n-play for airbag; passenger isn't. Seatbelts are an issue, bench buckles don't fit the bucket clasps and would need to be replaced, but can be worked around. Auto shifter is different in other cab layouts from reg cab which means console can't be used.

 

are the seat belt harnesses all wired the same? The air bag sensors all that crap?

If I found a bench seat I might play with putting it in my sport. Its so "pickupy". Don't know as I'd love it. But it usually offeres up some leg room.

 

Hate to disagree, but based on my first hand experience swapping in 07 buckets into an 05 reg cab, benches and buckets have specific seatbelt configurations and wiring harnesses. Each configuration has unique seatbelts clasps wired to each seat. The belt buckle that extends/retracts from the side is sized differently for each application (bench buckles are larger) so would have to be replaced.

The wiring, at least for 05-08s is identical for the driver's side. There are 2 connectors (one black 2-pin, one gray 4-pin) for the driver's side for bench or bucket. For the passenger's side, the bench has one black 3-pin connector while the bucket has one 6-pin gray connector. The passenger's side is definitely a sticking point regardless of which way you're swapping seats. I agree that the bench provides a greater amount of leg room, buckets have what could be as much as 2 inches less of rearward travel. The buckets however provide a better vantage point since you sit a little higher. Finding the wiring harness for the particular application (bench or bucket) is very tricky. I haven't found that part number yet.

Air bags in the seats are an issue on 09 and later Tacos I think. Since we bought the 05 used, the driver's side bench had been thrashed. Not a very robust support, which is why we pursued the bucket seat swap. Make sure the bench has all of the requisite hardware and seatbelts. Going from bench to bucket is managable, I'm not sure how the reverse could be done without a lot of shade tree engineering. Good luck. I'm sure there'll be some disagreement on what I've explained, but I'll take pictures when we replace the bench seatbelt buckles with bucket buckles.

 

I have kinda given up on the idea, but thanks alot for the info! If not used by me, hopefully someone will come across it

 

Awesome! goodluck and show pics

 

i thought about doing it ,, but NO MORE. i thought it would be way more room in the back. I am still trying to find a way for more room in the back for road trips!

 

pics anyone has done it already???

 

wanna see pic if chokeroom

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/140308-finally-got-new-seats.html heres fj seats in a taco and the issues he had

 

Did you ever find the part # for the passenger side bucket wiring harness so the sensor will work?

Did you ever replace the bench seatbelt buckles with the bucket buckles?

 

No, I haven't located the part number for the female wiring harness, but there are only 3 wires of the harness that need to make contact for the airbag light to go off (assumption on my part). As for the seatbelts, no again, but I'm going to buy new fronts for a 4D Taco with the reason being the set up would be more similar to the reg cab than the belts from an access cab which are in the access doors as opposed to a fixed element in the truck body. I've also seen pics of an 05 reg cab SR5s which have buckets and manual trannys, but those part numbers don't seem to come up. Sorry I couldn't be more precise.

 

I'm trying to do the same but I have a four-door Tacoma and I'm trying to swap out my rear bench for 2 bucket seats..
I would have 4 bucket seats total..

if I do it I will take pics and show everyone how I did it. patience it might be awhile