Whats brown and sticky and ruins your floorboard?

Well, the plot thickens.. Been super busy the past week so just getting around to putting the seat and trim back in last night.

Dropped the seat in and now the rear bolt holes don't line up. Didnt even cross my mind at the time, but Im pretty certain one side of the front sub-assembly would have moved rearward as I hammed the huge dent out.

Anyone have any clever ideas on how to fix this before I dig out the BFH again? Given that this is semi structural and potentially safety related I want to put a little extra thought into it haha

 

Doesn't look like much, but it is

The other thought I had was to brace up some 2x4s against the bottom of the rear seat and use a bottle jack to get a more controlled force.

 

Split the difference and open up both holes a bit with a dremel.

 

Any give in the seat brackets if you loosen them up?

 

Thats a no-go. They are threaded holes for the bolts. No nuts.

Surprisingly very little. There are also 2 locating pins and holes up front inline with the bolts. Those are also tweaked cause its all one bracket

 

The lever that you pull to slide the seat fore and aft, pull that, and then try aligning the holes. I've removed my seats plenty of times and occasionally I'll pull that lever without realizing it. Each track slides independently of one another and they can become misaligned.

At least I'm pretty certain. It's been awhile since I've had the issue but I think that's what I did to fix it.

 

Sure as shit worth a shot before I pull everything back out.. Little bit skeptical tho. Both bolts and locating pins in the front are seated, and both rear bolts are off by the same amount.

 

Are your front bolts loose as well when you're trying to line up the rear? I don't want to sound like a condescending ass but sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple things. Even with those locating pins there should still be a little wiggle room with the fronts loose.

 

Nope I appreciate the ideas. Will look into it all tonight.

Im still like 99% certain though that the floor would have "spread" front to back as I hammered the big ass dent back down. Which in turn would have pushed the right pass. side of the seat bracket backwards as well, cause all that sheet metal is spot welded together.

 

Yikes, looks like this became a PITA. Maybe try using a couple of correctly sized grade 8 bolts, some metal tabs with holes, and a ratchet strap to try and pull them back into alignment? You'll probably end up with a high spot or a small buckle in the floor but at least your seat will be as safe as it can be. Betcha a body shop would try that before replacing the whole floor pan on that side.

 

No, no, no. In the seat bracket not the floor.

 

Ahhh, that could have worked as a last ditch effort. Would have had to cut access holes in the bracket though, as it is fully boxed and theres no way to get a wrench in there.


To be honest Im not 100% sure what the issue was... But I have a fully assembled truck once again!

Started taking everything back out this afternoon but decided to give it one more shot in hopes of not having to rip all the trim out again.

I think part of the issue was those stupid plastic covers on the locating pins. Those were kind of brittle and all torn up. I think, but again not 100% sure that all the plastic bunched up and threw the placement off. Also slid the seat all the way back like @EatSleepTacos said. Not sure if one of the rails was off one pin (not even sure if that could really happen and still be square between the seat and pins) but it was much closer the 2nd time. Not perfect, but damn close! Everything is back in fully assembled, the seat slides, Im happy.

Appreciate everyone's help and input during this adventure.

 

Sweet! Glad to hear it all got worked out.