5th Gen Seats into a 4th Gen?

[emjohn4]

Did you happen to try the 5th gen center console to see if itll work?

No, I never did. The person I bought the seats from had a center console, but I did not even consider trying it. Sorry.

 

[Solardave]

Hello emjohn4

did you post any pictures of the Gen 4 brackets bolted to the gen 5 rails? I’d love to see what you did there.

 

[lionelcastr0]

Got the back seats installed! I was able to reuse the 4th gen seat brackets, and install the 5th gen seats 'into' the brackets. I had to make 1/2-in spacers to install - while the seat supports were generally the same shape, they necked down at the mounting points.

I also had to use the seat back brackets from the 4th gen; apparently the hooks are a bit different on the 5th gen. So I cut the welds, and bolted them though the 5th gen seats with Grade 8 hardware.

Otherwise, all works and looks good!

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are these back seats the ones that are able to recline?

 

[emjohn4]

are these back seats the ones that are able to recline?

These do not recline; and they do not have the reclining mechanism to do so. I suppose there might be room to recline in a 4th gen cab if one were to get the reclining rear seats from a 5th gen....but it'd be tight.

 

[lionelcastr0]

These do not recline; and they do not have the reclining mechanism to do so. I suppose there might be room to recline in a 4th gen cab if one were to get the reclining rear seats from a 5th gen....but it'd be tight.

ok thanks for getting back to me. yeah i saw in the 5th gens they have some where the rear seats recline. the bottom slides forward so im assuming the back rest would have to slide downward which would probably be a different mechanism on the back as well since the backs of our 4th gens just have the hook.

 

[kenanthebean]

I am curious about doing a swap like this to my 4th get tradesman.
I am wondering however if anyone has advice about wiring an electric seat in where I have had a manual seat stock??

 

[Socalramfan]

Passenger side...

I'd like to meet the guy who invented rivets...and have a chat with him. Removing the 'feet' from the 4th Gen Seat.

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The 'feet' reinstalled into the truck:
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The 5th gen seat - the feet on this one are welded on; and I've already cut them off and ground the welds ground smooth and painted!
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Line up 5th gen seat on 4th gen brackets - mark to drill; drill and bolt to 4th gen brackets; and install!

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I'm going to take them back out once more, and since the 4th gen feet are bolted to the 5th gen seat; have them welded to the seat track. Even though I used grade 8 hardware, the welds are a bit of extra caution, if nothing else!

Rear shot:
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I've got the power lumbar and power seats hooked up via temporary patch harness. Am looking into how I want to build the full harness - need to source a connector for the 5th gen seats so I can re-pin the 4th gen wires to a new connector that plugs in.

After the harness, it'll be time to grab the switch block for the 4th gen heated and cooled seats, then connect it up to see if the 4th gen electronics will 'talk' to the 5th gen HSM module! If not, it will be easy enough to get some 4th gen HSMs and install.

More as it develops...

Old post, and awesome write-up.

Not sure if OP is still active here or not. If you are, do you have any pics of the rails and feet mounted after you welded them?

Excellent job

 

[Ramman2]

Not a bad install. Its currently as functional as my old seat - power adjust. Will work on heaters / coolers soon.

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Hey new to the forum here so I hope I’m doing this right.
I also bought a set of 5th gen 1500 seats to put in my 4th gen 1500. I’m getting a little snagged up on how to switch the brackets over. Did you switch them over or modify the 5th gens or what? Pictures would be great if you have them. Thanks

 

[emjohn4]

Check out post #11 - that might be what you're hunting for.

 

[Ramman2]

Check out post #11 - that might be what you're hunting for.

Thanks! It was. As I said new here and never saw that post. I replaced the entire track on my seats before I saw this… not happy with the results either. While installing it onto the new seats was pretty easy. (The new tracks unbolt and the holes lined up with the old track.) There’s play in my seat and it seems to sit too high. I’ll definitely be looking at your method. Thanks again.

 

[Ramman2]

Did you happen to try the 5th gen center console to see if itll work?

Im working on that with my 5th gen seat swap. It doesn’t look too bad. Currently just have it sitting in place in the truck because I haven’t had time permanently but I think with a little plastic trimming it will look almost factory. My main issue is it’s going to be squeezing the back middle passenger as I have a quad cab. Oh well though. Don’t usually have passengers anyway

 

[Ramman2]

I am curious about doing a swap like this to my 4th get tradesman.
I am wondering however if anyone has advice about wiring an electric seat in where I have had a manual seat stock??

If all you’re wanting is the power adjust it’s easy. Just a fused hot and ground. The 5th gen has a big negative and a big positive wire. (Black and red) Hook up to those and you’re in business

 

[Ramman2]

I ended up using the 4th gen connectors on the 5th gen seats.

Here's the really tricky part (and I haven't finished it yet - found a new toy to distract me). The 4th gen seats...had the HSM below the drivers seat. The 5th gen seats, had the HSM below the passenger seat. So I took the 5th gen PASSENGER seat harness off, moved it to the DRIVERS seat, and moved the drivers seat harness to the passenger seat. That way...the 5th gen seats 'mimicked' the 4th gen setup (with the HSM on the DRIVERS side). When you do this, the seat fore/aft power motor connectors needs repinned to reverse the polarity, the others are fine. If you don't do this, nothing bad happens, just 'front' means the seat moves 'back' and vice versa.

PS: DT is the model designation for the 5th gen.

Attached is a pdf of the excel file (it is a work in progress). PM me your email andress and I will send the excel file. The airbags in the 5th gen connect just fine to the 4th gen computer, you just have to repin the connector. I have full functionality of the 5th gen seats, and have stalled with the passenger side heat (drivers is hooked up, passenger didn't pay for the truck anyhow), and ventilation on both sides. Like I said, new distraction...


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How did you wire in the occupant sensor on passenger seat? It’s a completely different mechanism with 4 wires on the new seats as opposed to a simple 2 wire switch on the old seats.

PS I installed my passenger seat using the method you suggested and it worked great. I’ll be pulling the driver seat back out to switch it over to the newer track soon.

 

[emjohn4]

How did you wire in the occupant sensor on passenger seat? It’s a completely different mechanism with 4 wires on the new seats as opposed to a simple 2 wire switch on the old seats.

PS I installed my passenger seat using the method you suggested and it worked great. I’ll be pulling the driver seat back out to switch it over to the newer track soon.

My 2012 didn't have an occupant sensor on the passenger seat - so there wasn't anything to hook up the 5th gen one to.

Guess I lucked out on that one!

 

[Jake97]

I have a 4th Gen 2011 ram 2500 I am I heard that the 2019+ 2500/3500 models have the same cab box etc.

Has anyone tried swaping all interior?? Dash, seats, centre console?

Thanks

 

[Canadian Mopar]

Yes, they still have the same cab so alot can be interchanged and will physically fit. The electronics is where you'll possibly run into problems.
As far as your question, seats and door panels are an easy swap, dash and center console would be a different story.

 

[Ramman2]

Forgot to add one more file - this is the HSM between the 5th gen and 4th gen.

Super annoying - Chrysler changed the polarity pins for the HSM power in the 5th gen. However, DC connect did not show this!

See attached - again if anyone wants the excel file - PM me your email address.

So have you been able to finish with the heated and cooled setup? If so what was the conclusion? My truck did not have heated or cooled initially and I’m hoping I can get away with only buying a new switch block for the controls. Did you use the 5th gen hsm?

 

[emjohn4]

With the 4th gen HSM, I got the heated seats working; but was not able to get the cooler fans to function.

 

[Ramman2]

With the 4th gen HSM, I got the heated seats working; but was not able to get the cooler fans to function.

How did you fix that? Or is it to cool where you’re at to have to worry about it. It’s been over 100 for weeks down here in tx. I was thinking about trying to use the 5th gen hsm but don’t know if the Bcm will talk to it or not.

 

[emjohn4]

How did you fix that? Or is it to cool where you’re at to have to worry about it. It’s been over 100 for weeks down here in tx. I was thinking about trying to use the 5th gen hsm but don’t know if the Bcm will talk to it or not.

Honestly, I've essentially given up on the cooled seats.

The 4th gen HSM uses a two wire system for the fans, and adjusts voltage for speed, i.e. 8v for low, 12v for high.

The 5th gen cooling fan motors use a three wire system, constant 12vdc, ground, and a PWM speed control.

So, I can either swap in 4th gen seat cooling motors (good luck finding those at reasonable prices), find a universal fan motor that bolts up (unlikely); or find an alternate control system for the 5th gen cooling fan motors (something like a universal PWM controller, but I tried one and wasn't smart enough to figure it out).

Supposedly, somehow in the TCM-2800 (I'm running Russel's 8HP70 swap kit in my '12 Ram, and ditched the 545RFE), I can also program PWM outputs. But again, I'm not really saavy enough to figure it out - there isn't a lot of info out there on it; and I'm not motivated enough to figure it out on my own vs. other projects.

It would be nice to have, but in Ohio, it's not a super important option.