DC Fold Down Rear Seats

Defininately get a cutting wheel. But that's what I used also.

 

yeah..I did it with a cheap air one from harbour freight and it cut through like buttah..

 

The cheap 4 1/2" grinders from harbor freight are the way to go. They last forever. Any other tool i always buy top quality but a grinder is a grinder. I have 5 of them and leave them all set up with a different type of disc.

 

I used a vice and a fine tooth sawzall blade. Touched it up with my grinder and a diamond blade and then dialed it in with a file. If I felt like switching blades I could’ve done it with a cut off wheel on my grinder but... meh.

 

Portaband saw would work real nicely.

 

Do the back seats fold flat when this mod is completed? ------If they don't fold flat, about how much is it off from flat; 5 degrees or....... ------- Looking to do this, but my main thing is to put the dogs in the back with the seats folded down, and then they (dogs) can be closer to seeing everything out the windows!

 

There’s a slight angle but it’s pretty flat. But there are steel rods and the cushions inside are exposed so you may want to cover it with something. Also, there’s a large gap between the seats and the rear wall so be careful the dogs don’t fall in there.

 

If anyone has a set of cut parts for sale, let me know. I'd like to do the mod, but I'll have to round up help removing the rear seat and it might be too far in the future for a trade to be equitable.

 

Joonbug, Thanks Man! I'll be sure to look out for the gap & build something for it.

 

How many hooks are there? I'm assuming 4.

 

How many bolts attach the seat to the floor and wall? I attempted this last summer to no avail. Felt like something was holding the seat in position even after I felt like I removed all the bolts

 

Yes. 2 per side.

 

Even with the bolts removed, you have to lift the seatbacks off the hooks. Gotta lift it pretty hard.

 

Thanks

 

How am I just NOW seeing this thread?!?

 

I finally got around to doing this on my 2018 Limited Double Cab. It took me about three hours. Some notes I would encourage @JMB to consider adding to original post:

• The seats are held in by (6) 14mm bolts
• After removing the 6 bolts, be sure to pull the seatbelt receivers down and out of the seats before you try to lift the seats out, otherwise they will be pulling against you
  
• You have to lift the seat backs straight up more than you'd think, maybe 5-6 inches, to disengage the hooks, before the seat backs come free to work on. Best done with two people, one on either side. I did it alone and it was a wrestling match for sure.
  
• There are four brackets to remove, each with (2) T30 torx screws. The screws are a bitch to remove, you just gotta take your time and don't strip them.
  
• I cut about 1 1/16" off the brackets -- just below the dot -- and it worked fine. I was terrified that i wasn't going to cut enough off, and I'd have to endure taking those damned torx screws off again, but it worked out fine.

A great mod, and there is a good bit of storage I can access now. I have no idea what I'm going to put back there, but I'm sure something will find its way there at some point. Plus it was a great opportunity to vacuum out behind the seats! Yuck.

 

Had to remove my seat to replace a cable for my sliding back window so, I figured this was as good a time as any to do this mod.

Getting the brackets off was made a bit easier with this 1/4 drive flex shaft.





Used my Porta-Band to make the cuts then touched everything up with the angle grinder and sanding arbor.






Another thing I did when I had everything tore apart was insulate the crap out of the back wall. Had a lot of road noise coming from there and this absolutely killed it.

 

What did you use to insulate the rear wall?

 

Sorry, got called to dinner in the middle of editing the post. It's fixed now.

Sound deadener and heavy foil backed insulation glued to the curtain.

 

Guys you dont have to cut the brackets at all. Take a set of channel locks and bend the loops on the back wall that the hooks grab downward and your good to go. Or use a hammer to knock em downward. Have done it on about 10 tundras and none have ever had an issue with it.

 

Welcome from NY.
How much do you bend them?
Any pictures?

 

I wouldn’t know for sure because I cut mine. But I took about an inch off so I would figure you would have to bend the loop down about an inch. If you were going to attempt this, I would suggest and bolting the seat so that you can get them initially unhooked. Then bending down the loop with the seat in its bolted position. Keep bending it down until the seat finally catches properly and engages/disengages. You will notice that the seat back raises up when you lift the lower seat, and drops back down when you drop the seat.

 

Think I'll cut mine, my luck I bend it and it breaks off.

 

It won’t break. I promise. I was nervous on the first one and after that I didn’t care anymore. I think I literally have bent 40 of them so far and not one issue. Here is a picture for you of it bent down. I think I used a hammer on this Truck and didn’t bother with the Channel locks. I’m pretty sure I’ve given up on channel locks for doing this as it’s to much work.

 

You guys are ingenious! Thx~!

 

I did mine. It was a pretty easy mod. I just followed the instructions on this website.

I did the major cutting with a 4.5 inch angle grinder, but I did some fine tuning, once the cut brackets were re-installed, with a hand file so the seat backs would come down smoothly.

I was hoping there would be enough room behind the seats to mount my Hi-Lift jack, but I don't think there is enough room. I'm a little disappointed. That was the major reason I did this mod.

So, besides mounting AR's, not that there is anything wrong with that, what else do you mount behind the rear seats?

 

That’s how I did my brackets. I store, a collapsible fishing pole, rain gear, an extra sweater, an extra pair of swimming trunks because you never know, rope, and a huge machete that fits behind the driver side seat in the webbing LOL Also a big first aid kit.

 

I threw all my recovery gear in a bag and put it back there.

 

Did this Rear Seat fold-down mod today. Didnt bother cutting the 4 hooks, I just bent the loops down and it work fine. Took me about 20 mins to complete.

 

Makoy339 how did you bend the brackets? with the hammer? did it bend easily and EVENLY? I am assuming you bolted the seat back in before bending to test as you went?