How to: Add Fold Flat Floor to an Express with the bench seat.

[kad]

Got my OEM Fold Flat Floor installed in my 1500 Express with the single rear bench seat today.

I purchased it as a "New Take Off" from Seats And Such via their eBay store. It arrived quickly and was well packaged, but it was almost a month before the weather warmed up enough to install it.

In the meantime I ordered some seat hold down bolts from the dealer (ouch! $5.00 each! *) I ordered 4 as I intended to follow FCA's specs and not re-use the old ones.

* Yes, I know I could have gotten the dealer bolts cheaper online, but not after shipping charges and I could have gotten M14x1.5x55 bolts locally for $1 each or less, but I regularly have my young nieces in the back seat and I feel better with the dealer specified bolts in place.

I also fabricated a pair of small plates to go under the inboard side of each piece to take the place of the seat bracket that does not exist when you have the bench seat. I know others have just put a couple of washers underneath to level things out, but that didn't sit well with my OCD. They are just a couple of pieces of 1/8" flat steel, 4.5" long, 1.25" wide with a 9/16" hole drilled in them, primed and painted with Rustoleum spray.






Now, even when you have the bench seat, the attachment points for the split seat are still there, they are just under a cutout in the carpet. See arrow in the image below. The cutout is held in place by two small uncut bits, a razor knife will free it easily. Don't discard it though, you'll need it later.

Once you have the cutout removed the two threaded holes will be under a piece of rubberized tape each. See arrow in the image below. I did not bother to remove the tape, I just cut holes in it over the threaded holes

Next you'll need to remove the forward bolt on each of the seat brackets. The bolts are an 18mm head. Having been forewarned by my research that these things can be difficult to remove, I had a 1/2" breaker bar on hand and I needed it on the passenger side. The driver's side came out with just the 1/2" ratchet.




Once you've got that done, it's just a matter of growing an extra arm so you can hold the floor piece upright, hold the spring loaded hinge flat and put the new bolt in at the same time. If your species does not grow new limbs on demand you may need an assistant. The holes in the brackets are way oversized, I guess to allow for a large amount of adjustment. To keep everything lined up I did the outboard sides first so I could square the floor brackets with the seat brackets. The picture below is of one of the inboard brackets, you can just see the plate I made underneath it. I did the longer (passenger) side first.

Edit: Someone on another thread asked for more deail on how I got the spring loaded brackets in place, so here goes: You sit them in upright, or at least as upright as they will go since they bump the bottom edge of the seat, hold the assembly up with one hand, rotate the spring loaded bracket down into position with the other, then keeping downward pressure with the first hand, insert the bolt with the second. Or alternatively, get an assistant to hold it in place while you rotate the bracket and put the bolt in.




Here's where the carpet cutout comes in (you DID save it, right?). I trimmed the rounded ends off and using a couple of pieces of 3M VHB tape ** attached it to the floor to hide the cutout area. I'm guessing that the factory split seat brackets must cover the entire area and that's why the cutout is so big.

** Very High Bond - Basically, double sided tape on steroids, yet very thin)




Now just repeat the procedure for the drivers side and tada!

I still need to attach a couple of male snaps to the carpet to be able to use the hold downs for the pieces when they are in their "lid" configuration, but that will be a spring project.


-K

 

[dbull75]

Link?

 

[Shiftkit]

Link?

Here's one from the same seller as OP:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-2017-...028109?hash=item284f0e490d:g:u78AAOSwcldUZlai

 

[teamramrod215]

Can you still access the under seat bins? if you flip up the seat and the floor pieces?

 

[kad]

Can you still access the under seat bins? if you flip up the seat and the floor pieces?

Yes, the floor pieces act as lids for the bins. The bins are still fully usable.

-K

 

[NVKLR]

Double check your bolt sizes before you order. Mine were M12 vs. the M14 size that's listed above. (2014 Ram 3500) Excellent write up, thank you!

 

[kad]

Double check your bolt sizes before you order. Mine were M12 vs. the M14 size that's listed above. (2014 Ram 3500) Excellent write up, thank you!

Useful bit of info to have, thanks. Mine is also a 2014, but it's a 1500 and the bolts were M14. If you order from the dealer just ask for the rear seat holddown bolts and assuming they do the usual lookup via VIN, you should get the correct ones. If you're shopping elsewhere, yeah, good idea to check.

-K

 

[Ghost_RAM]

Looking to add a fold flat to my express quad cab. Looking at the pics, how much trouble do you think it would be to shorten a crew cab fold flat?

 

[kad]

Looking to add a fold flat to my express quad cab. Looking at the pics, how much trouble do you think it would be to shorten a crew cab fold flat?

Quite a bit actually. You'd have to remove one of the supports, relocate the other one and re-cover the entire piece, twice (once for each side). You'd be far better off just getting a Quad Cab floor. They seem to be much easier to find anyway. It's the CC ones that are traditionally harder to find.

-K

 

[2ndA732]

Got my OEM Fold Flat Floor installed in my 1500 Express with the single rear bench seat today.



I still need to attach a couple of male snaps to the carpet to be able to use the hold downs for the pieces when they are in their "lid" configuration, but that will be a spring project.


-K

Not sure if you want the part number, or already have the part number, for the snaps. The Mopar sites will tell you they won't fit, but they do.

Part: 06036443AA
Qty: 2

 

[kad]

Not sure if you want the part number, or already have the part number, for the snaps. The Mopar sites will tell you they won't fit, but they do.

Part: 06036443AA
Qty: 2
View attachment 122340

Thanks. I was just going to get some snaps at the sewing supply store as a few others have done, but this saves me having to figure out exactly what size they are.

-K

 

[Mike Merzke]

Awesome write up! This is on my list of things to do!


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[Mike Merzke]

Got my OEM Fold Flat Floor installed in my 1500 Express with the single rear bench seat today.

I purchased it as a "New Take Off" from Seats And Such via their eBay store. It arrived quickly and was well packaged, but it was almost a month before the weather warmed up enough to install it.

In the meantime I ordered some seat hold down bolts from the dealer (ouch! $5.00 each! *) I ordered 4 as I intended to follow FCA's specs and not re-use the old ones.

* Yes, I know I could have gotten the dealer bolts cheaper online, but not after shipping charges and I could have gotten M14x1.5x55 bolts locally for $1 each or less, but I regularly have my young nieces in the back seat and I feel better with the dealer specified bolts in place.

I also fabricated a pair of small plates to go under the inboard side of each piece to take the place of the seat bracket that does not exist when you have the bench seat. I know others have just put a couple of washers underneath to level things out, but that didn't sit well with my OCD. They are just a couple of pieces of 1/8" flat steel, 4.5" long, 1.25" wide with a 9/16" hole drilled in them, primed and painted with Rustoleum spray.






Now, even when you have the bench seat, the attachment points for the split seat are still there, they are just under a cutout in the carpet. See arrow in the image below. The cutout is held in place by two small uncut bits, a razor knife will free it easily. Don't discard it though, you'll need it later.

Once you have the cutout removed the two threaded holes will be under a piece of rubberized tape each. See arrow in the image below. I did not bother to remove the tape, I just cut holes in it over the threaded holes

Next you'll need to remove the forward bolt on each of the seat brackets. The bolts are an 18mm head. Having been forewarned by my research that these things can be difficult to remove, I had a 1/2" breaker bar on hand and I needed it on the passenger side. The driver's side came out with just the 1/2" ratchet.




Once you've got that done, it's just a matter of growing an extra arm so you can hold the floor piece upright, hold the spring loaded hinge flat and put the new bolt in at the same time. If your species does not grow new limbs on demand you may need an assistant. The holes in the brackets are way oversized, I guess to allow for a large amount of adjustment. To keep everything lined up I did the outboard sides first so I could square the floor brackets with the seat brackets. The picture below is of one of the inboard brackets, you can just see the plate I made underneath it. I did the longer (passenger) side first.

Edit: Someone on another thread asked for more deail on how I got the spring loaded brackets in place, so here goes: You sit them in upright, or at least as upright as they will go since they bump the bottom edge of the seat, hold the assembly up with one hand, rotate the spring loaded bracket down into position with the other, then keeping downward pressure with the first hand, insert the bolt with the second. Or alternatively, get an assistant to hold it in place while you rotate the bracket and put the bolt in.




Here's where the carpet cutout comes in (you DID save it, right?). I trimmed the rounded ends off and using a couple of pieces of 3M VHB tape ** attached it to the floor to hide the cutout area. I'm guessing that the factory split seat brackets must cover the entire area and that's why the cutout is so big.

** Very High Bond - Basically, double sided tape on steroids, yet very thin)




Now just repeat the procedure for the drivers side and tada!

I still need to attach a couple of male snaps to the carpet to be able to use the hold downs for the pieces when they are in their "lid" configuration, but that will be a spring project.


-K

Did you only bolt the front bolt in each bracket?


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[kad]

Did you only bolt the front bolt in each bracket?

There is only one bolt hole in each bracket for the fold flat floor. The seats are held down by two, but the FFF brackets are smaller.

-K

 

[Mike Merzke]

So I ordered my fold flat floor that was pulled out of a 2014 and just laid it in the back just to get a look of how it will be once installed... then I got to thinking. I am going to get some 1/2" plywood and remake the fold flat flooring using only to two outside springs and attachment points. I also will not have the cut out for the cup holder and once finished I will coat the board with Flex-seal so it has a semi waterproof coating. The main reason I wanted to get a fold flat floor was for my three dogs. I am trying to decide on if I use fabric as the hinge or using an actual hinge. I would use all the other hardware included on the original floor. Thoughts?

 

[kad]

I am going to get some 1/2" plywood and remake the fold flat flooring using only to two outside springs and attachment points. I also will not have the cut out for the cup holder and once finished I will coat the board with Flex-seal so it has a semi waterproof coating. The main reason I wanted to get a fold flat floor was for my three dogs. I am trying to decide on if I use fabric as the hinge or using an actual hinge. I would use all the other hardware included on the original floor. Thoughts?

I would go with an actual hinge, something like a piano hinge. I can't see a fabric hinge standing up to dogs for long. Also a piano hinge will keep the floor rigid.

-K

 

[Mike Merzke]

Just an update photo of my fold flat floor mod for bench seats.


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[Mike Merzke]

So I finished the mod to my fold flat floor for beach seat.


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[Mike Merzke]

Ok, and here is where I mention I am looking at putting the hardware back on the original FFF. So spanning the length of the truck does cause a little sagging with three dogs in back and the weight of the 1/2 plywood is really to much for just two springs to be effective. I guess the other con to my little experiment is having to open the whole thing without just accessing one side or the other. Big thanks to @kad for the write up on the mod. Now to switch it to OEM ; )

 

[NapaRam]

Great write up! I just installed my today in my 15 Express. Found it at a junk yard for $125 which I thought was a pretty good deal. I got the old bolt to install the inside hinge. The split seat bracket has a threaded post for the rear attachment but leaving it open doesn't seem to cause too much of problem although I think the could use that same bracket on all trim levels to make this mod a little easier.