Questions for Those Who Have Done Folding Back Seat Mod

[PowrRam]

Here's a pic of the rear seat bolt in case anyone wanted to know how long they were. I suppose if you were going to use spacers under the seat bracket instead of cutting off the hooks this pic will be especially useful to you. You have to decide if there's enough bolt there to be comfortable using a 1" spacer on it.

 

[BWL]

Here's a pic of the rear seat bolt in case anyone wanted to know how long they were. I suppose if you were going to use spacers under the seat bracket instead of cutting off the hooks this pic will be especially useful to you. You have to decide if there's enough bolt there to be comfortable using a 1" spacer on it.


View attachment 133572

They're M12 1.75 pitch 50mm grade 10.9. When I lifted 3/4" I replaced them with M12 1.75 75mm grade 12.9

 

[TXCOMT]

Finally decided to take a hacksaw to my new truck. Yes, it’s the fold-down back seat modification!


I decided to cut off the hooks rather than put in the spacers because I didn’t need to remove the seat and it was probably a faster method. Also, the seat remains the normal height off the floor. Finally, there is no safety compromise by cutting off the hooks that I could see as only about one-third of the hook is being cutoff. When the seat is in its usual position there is still plenty of hook holding the seat to the back wall.

Tools
18mm socket
Socket wrench (longer handle is better)
Tape measure
Hacksaw

You might want or need:
Pry bar
Shop vac


The procedure is:

1. Remove the seat bottom bolts. (I was able to leave one loosened bolt in place and didn’t need to remove the seat from the interior.)
2. Lift up the seat bottom while lifting and jiggling the seat back until you get it unhooked from the back wall. Fold it forward revealing the hooks.
3. Using hacksaw cutoff 5/8” of the hook. File the ends round and smooth.
4. Replace the bolts. Learn how to find the sweet spot and unhook and fold the back seat down.
5. Enjoy newly accessible storage space.


The bolts holding down the back seat bottom are 18mm. Naturally, the basic metric socket set I bought 20 years ago ends at 17mm so I had to go buy an 18mm socket. Wal Mart to the rescue, and it was only $1.48. While there I bought a digital tire pressure gauge.

I have a Big Horn so I’ve got the fold-flat floor with the split back seat. Therefore, there are six bolts to loosen/remove. If you have a rear bench seat you only have four bolts to worry about.

First thing I did was remove the two headrests from the seat back(s). Push in the button at the base of the headrest shaft housing and lift the headrest off the seat. I left the center one in place as it wouldn’t be bothersome.

I had a decent length 3/8” drive socket wrench. Still, the bolts were pretty tight. I’m thinking it would take some muscle to loosen them with the typical 8” long handle on the basic socket wrench. One bolt in the back of each side of the split seat has a seat belt connected to it. Either take a pic or remember the orientation of the seat belt receptacle...

Love this...did you make it a separate post in the DIY section? I may try this over the weekend; thanks again!

TXCOMT

 

[PowrRam]

Love this...did you make it a separate post in the DIY section? I may try this over the weekend; thanks again!

TXCOMT

I did not make it a separate post in the DIY section. I suppose I could link to it there or post it there as well.

 

[SilverRamguy]

Not sure I want to do this. Seems like the seat back would fold every time you lift the bottom to get anything from under. Doesn't seem that there isn't enough room to store much of anything. But that is just me. I'm sure others will make good use of this.
Very good write up, good detail, makes it look pretty easy.

 

[bigdodge]

It doesn't come down unless u pull it down. At least mine is that way. If I just need under the seat I just pullit all the way up without the rear wanting to fall. I did a combination of both. Cut a little and raised it a little.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Jerichobrady]

Best post by far. I agree cutting the hooks is best method.

 

[muddy12]

I’m a little late to the party LOL.

I cut my brackets for two reasons.
1: My 14 Year old son is already 6’ tall, can’t afford to loose any headroom.
2: I have storage lids(assuming they are factory) that are attached to the seat brackets. Lifting the brackets causes problems with the lid latches.




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[McBroom]

If you’ll use 7-1/2” washers per bolt. There’s no cutting on the hooks. The 18 C/C seat hooks are steel with a small plastic cover. When the seat is down it fully hooks as designed.


I Love my 18 Ram 2500HD 4x4 CC
Blue Streak Pearl off-road

 

[Bent]

This was an excellent walk through. I just got done doing this on my truck. I found that on mine I had to cut much more off the hook than 5/8". I also found that after you've cut almost enough off with the hack saw (I peeked over the top of the seat to see how close I was), using a die grinder and a grinding bit took a little longer but eventually got it so it fit perfectly while taking off as little material as possible and still working nice.

Then once it was all done I taped what was left of the plastic piece together with electrical tape so it wouldn't flop around.

I am super happy with how this turned out. Thanks again!

 

[Dapk]

What mod should I do you do if you have a leased vehicle?

 

[PowrRam]

What mod should I do you do if you have a leased vehicle?

I have a leased vehicle and I went with the mod where you cut off the metal hooks on the backside of the seat backs.

https://www.ramforum.com/posts/1769526/

 

[chasles22]

I followed power ram's excellent guide and pics. Much like Bent though i found that 5/8" an inch was nowhere NEAR enough metal. when it was all said i removed more like 1 1/8"++ which i suspect is because i have a 2015 1500 (big horn) and there may have been some small changes to the hardware. for example, my hook had a long smooth taper whereas the photos above showed his coming to a blunt end. no big deal it all worked great, and i was careful to measure with the seat in place before taking off too much metal. Also, side note in case some else is dumb like me. there is a connector for each seat. unplug it. super helpful.

this is a great easy mod, and makes it way easier to do a bunch of crap i need to do (one of my vents leaks, the window seal got folder over in a hurricane and i can't get it fixed with the seat, need to run some cables, yada yada)

check out the pics:






don't forget this connector.




plug end of connector.




first i removed 5/8" waaaay not enough.




after i removed the actual amount of metal needed (something around 1-1/8")




you can see here that i removed past the end of the little bracket about the amount shown.

 

[Murph]

Cut the latches. It’s easy and why would you ever need to “revert back to stock”? Hell unless you pulled the seat forward no one would know you did the mod anyway. I cut 1/2 inch off the latch and works like a charm.

 

[Ndkshns]

How flat does it lay when folded forward?

 

[WY-Dave]

How flat does it lay when folded forward?

not flat at all, imagine the bottom up, then rotate both seats downward.

This mod gives you access tothe small area of storage,
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not to have a flat area, that is a different mod
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[John Jensen]

It's interesting that different year trucks have different length seat back brackets/latches.
I believe that cutting the latch to the plastic/nylon collar is sufficient for all.
In my 2016 the cut amounted to 5/8" removed. It seems some trucks bracket's end piece is longer but cutting at the nylon collar works. Here are pics of my latch.

Before cutting


After cutting 5/8" off

 

[Ndkshns]

I was hoping it would allow it to fold flat. I need to install a bed and didnt really want to remove the seat.

 

[BWL]

You can throw a memory foam mattress on the fold flat floor. That's what I did for my long drives so I can grab a nap in the back when I get tired.

 

[WY-Dave]

You can throw a memory foam mattress on the fold flat floor. That's what I did for my long drives so I can grab a nap in the back when I get tired.

I have been snowed-in in town and the dog beds are great for that. Looks like monday I will be probably be doing it again
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