Front Seat Bolt issues

I recently took my driver's seat to install a powered subwoofer for my son. The job went well but when it came time to put the seat back, the front right bolt won't engage with the threads. It seems too short maybe. I don't remember any issues taking it out. I've attached some pictures. it seems that there is a gap between the body and the threads. I looked under the vehicle but there is a plate covering those openings. Is this a common thing, not being able to get that bolt back into place? The bolt isn't stripped. I can use it on the front left with no issues. The bolts are both the same length. I can also take the seat out and mount the bolt with no issue. It just seems that the threads are not reaching far enough. I was going to bend something into a J shape and trying to pull the nut side closer but wanted to check before I did that.

 

It's common to have some trouble aligning them and getting the carpet and pad compressed. Try sitting in the seat. Or, loosen then others up and get all started before tightening any of them. In particular, loosen the opposite, diagonal corner.

You may also have to pull on the leg to align. They can get spread a bit while out of the vehicle and sitting in the ground. If it's spread, it may be hitting the trans tunnel part of the floor.

 

I tried putting it in and making that the first bolt. no go, it seems like whatever it's bolting into in the floor has moved somehow. you can see that gap in the picture.

 

I have bucket seats in my truck and have taken them out several times. When reinstalling them, sometimes it's a bit difficult to get all 4 bolt holes aligned properly.

Assuming the seat is out of the cab:

1. To align the driver side seat, first slide it all the way back on its rails.
2. Look for a 1/4" diameter pin just behind the front left bolt hole on the seat. That pin goes into down into a locating hole in the bottom of the cab.
3. Put the seat into the cab as squarely as you can. It helps to move the seat back all the way forward.
   
4. Work the seat around a bit until that pin goes into its hole.
5. Partially thread a bolt into the hole that's just in front of the pin so the pin does not come out. Don't thread it in too far though.
6. Work the seat around until the other 3 bolt holes line up with their respective holes in the cab. They should all line up enough so you can hand-thread the bolts into their holes.
   
7. Put the remaining bolts into the holes but don't tighten them yet.
8. Now go around and tighten all 4 bolts to secure the seat.

That works for me. This last time I did it I had a small problem, but after I lined up the pin and got it into the hole, everything worked out fine.

 

Verify the alignment pin is seated properly.

 

The alignment pins are seating. The other 3 bolt go in no issue.

 

Are the threads in the welded nut stripped/ rusted away?

 

I've seated the pins. They appear to be fully seated. It just seems that there's a gap of about 1/2 inch between the hole in the body (red) and the frame and the bolt just isn't making contact. Both front bolts are the same length. The rear bolts are a larger diameter so I know I am using the right bolt. As you can see from the picture, the seat is resting firmly onto the carpet and up against the body. I think the issue is that gap between the body and the frame.

 

No, I can thread either front bolt into the hole without the seat.

 

Did you use a longer bolt on one of the other holes? You could always hammer the welded nut underneath the truck to push it up towards the bolt.

 

It's been a while since I've taken my seats out, but iirc, the rails can get offset which would make bolting them in almost impossible.

Try pulling the seat adj lever and moving the seat around a bit. Also, just starting all the bolts before tightening any of them should help too.

 

I don't see how this is possible unless the mounting rails on the seat got bent somehow.

What you are describing has happened to me too. The root cause is always that one of the two guide pins near the two front bolt holes on the mounting rails was not correctly seated into the sub floor of the cab.

 

There's no access to it that I can see. The only bolt hole I can see for the front seat is the left rear.

 

You should be able to see all of them from what I remember.

 

I crawled under and did not see. Cannot see daylight through the bolt. I'll look again in the morning.

 

Are the cables for the sub under one of the legs? Or throwing something off somehow

 

No. You can see the picture I posted. The seat rail is flat against the body. There is a big gap between the body and the nut. I'll post the picture again.

 

I thought that was just the carpet, sorry

 

So if you reach in there with a hook can you pull it up? Or does it move?

 

Have you tried running the bolt in with out the seat installed to see if you can close that gap? You may have pushed the nut away slightly while backing the bolt out and it just needs to be pulled back. If the original bolt doesn't reach, see if you have one same thread that is a tad longer.