So my 97 had some pretty rough seats. Duct taped covered worn out hard leather. My wife always complained about them and didn't like long road trips in them. I rarely used my power seat adjustments in hope that I didn't have to fix the gear. You guys know what I am talking about.
Go back to a year ago or so my good buddy @Redgrrr was parting out a 92 FJ80. The seats were very clean and had manual adjustments. I have always liked cloth better. I did some research and found the mounts are the same but the seatbelt is not. The buckle side on the newer 80 is attached to the seat where the older is bolted to the floor. I read some threads about how hard it was to bolt them to the floor due to the gas tank being where the hole would be. I thought to myself I'll buy the seats and sort the rest out later.
Well jump forward to this September Elk hunting with my brother. My brother put the passenger seat forward most the way to get better access to something in the back seat. Well lets just say my 6'1" brother spent the rest of the trip with his knees in the dash.
So yesterday I tackled this project. I pulled the side cover of the older seat to see what I was working with. My plan was to try and bolt or weld the FZJ buckle to the manual seat. To my surprise there is a factory mounting tab that looked like it was made for it underneath the cover.
I pulled the cover on the near seat and unbolted the buckle.I
I next reemed the hole out to fit the bigger bolt. I put a piece of metal behind while drilling to prevent tearing the plush Toyota Vinyl.
I then cut the capture nut off the newer seats. (Disclaimer the seats will be useless at this point because you will be unable to bolt a seatbelt to it anymore) I knew I was never going to use the seats again. You could also buy the appropriate sized nut at your local hardware store. Looked in my stash and didn't feel like going to the hardware store so this is what I resorted to.
I then bolted the buckle to the tab with the capture nut.
I then put the plastic cover back in place. You can either trip the cover or just flex it a bit. I was able to make it fit by flexing the cover. I hope someone else can use this in the future. I am loving the extra leg room and having full tilt again. Also the cloth seats are much more comfortable in my opinion.
Go back to a year ago or so my good buddy @Redgrrr was parting out a 92 FJ80. The seats were very clean and had manual adjustments. I have always liked cloth better. I did some research and found the mounts are the same but the seatbelt is not. The buckle side on the newer 80 is attached to the seat where the older is bolted to the floor. I read some threads about how hard it was to bolt them to the floor due to the gas tank being where the hole would be. I thought to myself I'll buy the seats and sort the rest out later.
Well jump forward to this September Elk hunting with my brother. My brother put the passenger seat forward most the way to get better access to something in the back seat. Well lets just say my 6'1" brother spent the rest of the trip with his knees in the dash.
So yesterday I tackled this project. I pulled the side cover of the older seat to see what I was working with. My plan was to try and bolt or weld the FZJ buckle to the manual seat. To my surprise there is a factory mounting tab that looked like it was made for it underneath the cover.
I pulled the cover on the near seat and unbolted the buckle.I
I next reemed the hole out to fit the bigger bolt. I put a piece of metal behind while drilling to prevent tearing the plush Toyota Vinyl.
I then put the plastic cover back in place. You can either trip the cover or just flex it a bit. I was able to make it fit by flexing the cover. I hope someone else can use this in the future. I am loving the extra leg room and having full tilt again. Also the cloth seats are much more comfortable in my opinion.
Last edited:
