Front Seat Swap (Town & Country 2nd Row)

[SSWesty]

Good to hear these seats seem to provide good support on long hauls, bad to hear I may have a clearance issue. Well I guess it's good to know about it now rather than learn about after install. It made me double check my current clearance and if I sit up straight I only have about 3/4-1" of clearance to the headliner. So it sounds like these seats will probably land me up against the headliner, bummer. Not sure I want to give up the swivel just yet. Thanks for the feedback, very helpful for sorting through a decision.

[c2mrdale]

[GDTRFB>]

In case anyone is looking for a Tan set in cloth I have a pair for sale. They didn't quite match my dark brown interior as well as i would have liked. I ended up ordering black leather for a closer match to the dark brown panels and carpet. The tan would look great in a van with the light brown door panels and light brown/camel carpet. I'm located in Fredericksburg, VA if anyone local wants to pick them up.

[pipodayo]

Anybody tried to install the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica ?

[tosimplify]

I made the big leap a couple of weeks ago, and man, what an improvement.

Black leather seats from a 2015 Caravan, installed on the stock rails on the drivers side (i.e. no swivel), and on the bolt-on swivel base on the passenger side. Since the slider mechanisms are self contained on the seats, I just made a 1/4" thick steel adapter plate for each seat. Bolted the plate to the original rails, and then bolted the new seat sliders to the plate. Lot's of careful measuring to get all the various bolt holes to line up, but straightforward conceptually. Here's a shot of one during early testing:

Big thumbs up on this upgrade. WAY more comfortable, the sliders work like butter, and the reclining angle is a little bit more than the stock seats. Very napworthy.

[TequilaSunSet]

I joined the herd a while ago... like my black leather.

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_________________
Don't harsh my mellow...
1985 Hightower Vanagon 1.8T- Gone
1972 Panel Bus- Gone
1967 Bug- Gone
1964 Euro Sunroof Bug- Gone
1969/72/63 Sunroof Bug- Gone
1975 Brazilian Bug in the Philippines 🇵🇭- New to me

[Westaru]

Many thanks to the OP for discovering these! I've ordered the smallcar brackets and have the seats ready to go. Really wanted the tan leather, but I couldn't find any. Fabric will have to do.

If I use the smallcar brackets, do I need the sliders from my original seats? Or just the sliders on the new seats mounted to the original swivels? I've read the whole thread, and I know these have 4" travel and the original seats have 6" - but not sure WHICH rails the smallcar bracket keeps?

[tristessa]

[johnnyjewel]

Would like to ask: Are these Chrysler seats firm? I recently spent 8 days on the road -- with a 4 day respite between 2 four day stints. Turns out that sitting on a HARD surface on the painful side (I put a board to sit on) not only did not cause pain but relieved pain, so I'm thinking that my next seats need to be FIRM.

Chrysler seats: firm or soft?

AND, are Recaro seats firm? I need evidence for dropping the big buck on at least one Recaro .
_________________
1986 Vanagon Westfalia Weekender
1958 MG Magnette
2017 Subaru Impreza Hatch

"Everybody matters or nobody matters." Hieronymus Bosch

[Zeitgeist 13]

Recaros are firm.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[fxr]

I can't answer about the firmness, I'm afraid I can't judge from memory - but I used to get buttock ache on my RHS on the originals. I don't on the new T&Cs. That could just be down to the age difference of the seats (wear and tear) or just how my butt fits the T&C contours. Whatever, I'm very glad I fitted them!
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Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[Forthwithtx]

I'd call them firm. I think it's been covered a bit earlier in this post.
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Cheers!
-Karl

'84 GL with 2001/2004 Subaru 2.5L

[webwalker]

[bobbyblack]

Having shamelessly stolen a picture from page 2 or 3, I have a question regarding How-To; So, I have located 8 Chrysler T&C's within my usual drive in U-Pull-It's, and want some experienced person to chime in on the way NOT to Hurt myself. I believe I have circled the 6 locations I believe need ratcheted off. More hints would help. All 8 are early 2000's, and I'm quoted $22/seat. I'd have to guess that is a good deal...

This picture was captioned something like, "just 6 nuts, took about 10 minutes"

I looked further on the web, and see the whole thing, including frame comes out with 3 bolts each seat, but requires some tool to retain the pivot. I am not at all interested in the frame, so can I just partially close the Stow and Go to the neutral spot and unbolt these 6 locations and remove only the seat?

Thanks!

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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[campism]

I would just like to reiterate that the seat pictured on the near side of the bay above in webwalker's post is a middle Stow N' Go from a pre-2009 Mopar van, and the seats that the OP installed, the seats that this thread is about, the seats that are the vast improvement over stock are from 2009 and later Mopars. Compare that bay seat to the seats in TequilaSunSet's post further up on this page. Not the same seat. See my 2005 Mopar van's middle SNG seat pictured below.

You might be able to install the older seats and they might work, but you owe it to yourself before beginning this job to test ride them for some distance. I have these seats in my own 2005 Grand Caravan and I've ridden a couple hundred miles in them (wife driving) and I do not find them to be that comfortable. I'm just trying to save you guys some possible disappointment, expense and trouble. If you try the early seats and like them, then by all means proceed.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[[email protected]]

Yes, unbolt those 6 and separate.

Then you will have 2 nut-serts, and 4 studs. On mine I simply hammered the studs a few times side/side, and then one good wack down and they drove out. Then I installed nut-serts in those locations too. But after installation I found I only needed the forward most one.

[webwalker]

[tristessa]

[yiucycle]

Got a pair of 09' T&C cloth seats on CL for cheap. I didn't want leather because it gets pretty hot here in the summer and leather tend to get hot under the sun.
FYI, my ASI van use a completely different swivel mount than westy van so my adapter mount is different. I also removed the seat slider b/c it was making the seat too tall and i don't need two slider worth of adjustments. Note: It took me a while to figure out how to remove sliders and all the stow n go mounts. Plus watch out for spiders, i found a black widow inside the seat , i think previous owner store the seats in the garage.

I used 80/20 aluminum extrusion that I have laying around and 1/4" carriage bolts(since it slide inside the extrusion channel) as my adapter mounts.

The T&C seat def feel firmer and slimmer in size compare to my old seats. Can't wait to drive it this weekend.

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1980 2.8LV6 Fiero ASI/Riviera Vanagon
"there is no point in being embarrassed of all the stupid shit i done and will continue to do"

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[captincanuck]