After market bench seats for 76 fj40

[downey62]

Just a throw out to the 40 community. I have a family of 5. I was looking for a front bench seat for my 76 fj 40. I can't fit everybody legally in the cruiser as it is in it's current configuration. Any ideas out there. I do like the rear fold down seats from Iron pig. I'll probably buy those later this year for the back. When I have some more play money just laying around. Thanks for any advice in advance..Cruiser68

 

[Ron B]

When I first got my 40 the PO put in a bench seat out of a ford. One of the first things I did was put buckets in , but thats just me. Heres a old pic.

 

[cjgoode]

Not to hijack or anything but at the same time for the bench seat up front, any front bench seats with 3 headrests so the person in the middle also has one. Want to look into the exact same thing, seat 5 with everyone facing forward for safety.

 

[youmustbecrazy]

5 in a 40! Too cool, post some pictures when it is said and done and loaded, I'm sure many others will be watching this thread. I have read threads of 40 owners selling their rides to move onto bigger rides as the family grew, I'm guessing many never thought it possible.

 

[cjgoode]

Early 40's sat 5 +. They had a bench seat for 3 up front and jump seats in the back that would seat two or more if you had the long jump seats. Three speed shifter on the tree made for no shifters on the floor which was better for the center passenger.

 

[77TLCFJ40]

You might want to find a Toyota pickup front bench. I seem to remember seeing a picture somewhere on MUD, but could not find it.

 

[edin351]

i've got the stock bench out of a 1972 FJ40 if you're interested

The floor shifter does get in the way a little when shifting, but it never bothered me. I just had my friends shift for me

 

[Living in the Past]

The pre 73 seats are a pretty simple install. Then get one of these.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj45-owners-club/134395-4-tree.html

Go to a vacuum shift and dash mounted hi/lo for the transfer case and your set.

 

[My wife said no FJ!]

I've thought about this a lot. I want to be able to bolt out the stock seat, and drop in a "safer" option for DD on the '64, and/or I was thinking of dropping a bench into a '78 I am thinking about as a DD...

rear bench out of a 2009 4x2 prerunner...
rear bench out of a 2009 FJC...
rear bench out of a 2003 4runner

I bet with a little work one could fit the rear bench out of a Matrix.

I did look for some older SR5 bench seats, but comfort, three 3-point seats belts (with both passengers going from right to left) and head rests are on my list as well.

Now if only I could take the time to go and measure these out to see which might actually fit

Anyone here work at a Toyota and can go and measure these?

 

[FJ40Jim]

Here's a bench seat into a 1965 FJ45. Project requirements were:
-seating for 3
-shoulder belts
-more comfort than the old seat.

The last part was easy. The shoulder belts were the tricky thing. There is no place in older FJ4x for a shoulder belt attach point. So a seat w/ built in shoulder belts is required. That narrowed it down to a few cars & trucks. The truck seats were measured and found to be to tall/thick/wide for the FJ45(we wanted to have some open storage space under the seat).

Eventually, the donor seat was a ~2000 buick century. Grey color that went w/ carpet already in the truck, leather for comfort, power adjustment every which way for ease of fit, shoulder belts, seating for 3, and a bonus center armrest w/ 2 occupants. These particular seats also had heaters, but we didn't get the dash switches, so they were not hooked up. Truck lives in a warm climate anyway.

 

[My wife said no FJ!]

Here's a bench seat into a 1965 FJ45. Project requirements were:
-seating for 3
-shoulder belts
-more comfort than the old seat.

The last part was easy. The shoulder belts were the tricky thing. There is no place in older FJ4x for a shoulder belt attach point. So a seat w/ built in shoulder belts is required. That narrowed it down to a few cars & trucks. The truck seats were measured and found to be to tall/thick/wide for the FJ45(we wanted to have some open storage space under the seat).

Eventually, the donor seat was a ~2000 buick century. Grey color that went w/ carpet already in the truck, leather for comfort, power adjustment every which way for ease of fit, shoulder belts, seating for 3, and a bonus center armrest w/ 2 occupants. These particular seats also had heaters, but we didn't get the dash switches, so they were not hooked up. Truck lives in a warm climate anyway.

Those do look comfortable

The biggest problem I see is an attaching point for the center shoulder belt...the 3 pics above have them incorporated into the center seat, but not sure if any of these will fit a 40 with out any serious mods to the seats.

 

[FJ40Jim]

The pictured seat only has a lap belt for the center.
But it fit the bill in other aspects, so we went with it.

Edit: Doh, you're talking about the rear seats pictured above, above.

The rear seats I looked at have a very sturdy seatback on the one side w/ 2 shoulderbelts, but they were heavy. Also, the ones I looked at were in hatchback vehicles and the seatback was latched in the upright position to the body. They were not self supporting, making them non-starters in the front position.

 

[My wife said no FJ!]

The pictured seat only has a lap belt for the center.
But it fit the bill in other aspects, so we went with it.

Edit: Doh, you're talking about the rear seats pictured above, above.

The rear seats I looked at have a very sturdy seatback on the one side w/ 2 shoulderbelts, but they were heavy. Also, the ones I looked at were in hatchback vehicles and the seatback was latched in the upright position to the body. They were not self supporting, making them non-starters in the front position.

Hmmm...this is why I thought of the prerunner, and tacos rear seats first...