I've searched this board for awhile and there sure are a lot of people swapping out seats! My 97 regular cab has one huge bench seat. It's destroyed and doesn't even fold forward. I'd like to replace it with anything other than the solid bench. It looks like there is just one bolt in each corner of the huge bench. So 4 bolts total for the entire truck. Doesn't even look like there are mounting holes for buckets or anything else. It seems the 97 is a border year to which they changed some things in 98+? Haven't been able to find anything for the bench owners, so what are my options?

 

all of these will bolt in once you get 93-7 reg cab bucket (or 60/40) seat tracks.

http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/Seats.html

i'm assuming you have a reg cab. don't think ext cabs got solid benches in gen 3s.

you will have to drill two holes in the floor per seat, near the trans tunnel. i did this in a gen 1, and the floor had the dimples where the holes needed to be. i can assume the newer trucks would be the same.

 

The seat tracks should come with the seats when I buy them right? There's a set of 60/40 seats on craigslist right now. Who would sell seats without the tracks, right?

 

they sell them around here without. have to pay extra for them at the yard. just make sure they are a 93-7 reg cab. has to be reg cab. ext cab tracks aren't the same length.

 

for my truck i didnt have to put any holes in my floor the holes just had plugs in them. i replaced my solid bench with a 60/40. there was only one hole that wasnt predrilled and i decided not to drill it since i already have three bolts to hold in the passenger.

 

that's good to know. maybe he'll get that lucky.

 

Figured I'd let you guys know my outcome.

I pulled my bench out to see what holes I had and how everything was set up. Sure enough. All eight holes were pre-drilled in my 97. The four extra holes were not tapped, but I simply ran one of the seat bolts down into the hole and it threaded it EASILY. Those seat bolts are tough as nails. I used one bolt to do all 4 holes and it has ZERO damage to it.

I found a 2001 Ranger at a local junk yard. It had the vinyl 60/40 seats that were in darn good shape. They fit fine, though they sit a little higher than the stock bench I had. About 2". I think it's going to be OK, but it's borderline. Any more and I don't think I'd be able to deal with it. But it's fine. Just gonna take some getting used to. Also, the 01 vinyl seats had the seatbelt clips built in. The seatbelt buckles in my 97 would not fit into them. So I had to remove the seatbelts from the 01 as well. Of course.... both the seats and the seatbelts were all held in place with huge T55 torx bolts that hadn't been budged in 13 years. A real PITA trip to the junk yard. But everything is installed and working in my 97. No real modifications needed.

 

good glad to hear the install went as easy as mine. hardest part for me was getting the boltsto budgee out of the seats. i might upgrade mine to some 2000 style seats with black and grey seats when i update my interior.

 

Glad it worked out for you but do you still have your old bench seat?

 

Nope. It was a year ago. And that seat was TRASHED anyway.

 

Oh we'll does anyone know what all of my possible options would be for bench seats to use in my 97 ext cab ranger

 

93-7 tracks on 83-97 ranger bench seat. front holes will line up, will have to drill holes for rear. then have to do something with your seat belts. also, people have used s10 bench seats, but i'm unsure of the mounting.

 

Go to shop4seats.com they have what u need

 

So I wanna actually do the reverse I hate the bucket seats that came with the truck and I'm a long time fan of bench seats is it gonna be possible to switch it to bench?