Blazer take-out seating set ups?

[cstanley]

What are you blazer guys using for take-out seat set-ups? My thoughts go like this: on a blazer without a roll bar, how are you handling the front seats as they relate to seat belts? I like the look of the modern suburban/tahoe/truck buckets with integrated shoulder belts for safety. I think this is the best option for the front seats.

However, it doesn’t make entry into the back seats very manageable. In this case, the 2nd row tahoe/suburban seats make more sense, because the passenger one can be folded forward for access to the rear seats, but then you don’t get integrated seat belts, which means you have to install a roll bar (to attach shoulder belts) or you can only use shoulder belts when the top in on.

For the rear seat, I think the 3rd row burb/tahoe seats would work great. They have the integrated shoulder seat belts, and the split ones are easier to remove. My question there is how would/could you fab up the seat mounts? Would it be best to cut the section of floor out of the donor tahoe floor and graft it into the blazer floor, so that it includes all of the mounting pockets properly reinforced? Would it be better to just insert the mounting pockets themselves into the original blazer floor?

Does anyone have pics of your installs? I’m not looking for original seats. I want to see options that allow for integrated belts, easier rear access, mounting ideas, etc.

Seats i'm talking about are below.
1st pic is front seats.
2nd is middle seats (could be used for fronts)
3 & 4 are rear seats

i was also looking at Putter's post here

thanks, everyone!

[vtblazer]

Here's something to think about...

Our blazer floors are not built to withstand the stresses applied to the front seat mounts during an accident. (rear ending someone)

Meaning the floor will fail and pretty much catapult you into the dash.

Sorry for the reality check but give it some thought before you go ahead with your seat install.

One way around this situation would be to just use the original factory seat belts, not the newer shoulder belts.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Newer seats rock, but I'd keep my OE belts

[jcfoote60]

I'm curious to know what special re-enforced flooring GM engineered to take care of this problem in the newer trucks? It seems to me a guy could re-enforce the floor pan sufficiently by welding in custom steel plating to compensate for much of the thinness of the floor pans. the outside sheetmetal of the new trucks are like recycled beer cans by comparison to our Blazers it would seem like the floor pans of our trucks could be properly re-enforced to withstand collision. Do any of you have first hand collision-cause and affect from installing the newer shoulder belt seats? Any experiences with real world issues would be helpful.

[Chevyman63]

Originally Posted by jcfoote60

I'm curious to know what special re-enforced flooring GM engineered to take care of this problem in the newer trucks? It seems to me a guy could re-enforce the floor pan sufficiently by welding in custom steel plating to compensate for much of the thinness of the floor pans. the outside sheetmetal of the new trucks are like recycled beer cans by comparison to our Blazers it would seem like the floor pans of our trucks could be properly re-enforced to withstand collision. Do any of you have first hand collision-cause and affect from installing the newer shoulder belt seats? Any experiences with real world issues would be helpful.

[Zoomad75]

I'm running 2002 Silverado buckets in my 75 K5. The brackets I built to adapt to the floor did beef it up a bit. I looked at mine this way. Condition of the floor was good. THe stock seatbelts already go to the floor (not to far from my rear mounts for the seats).

I can say this, I'm not a small dude and I have ZERO oil canning from the floor when I move in the seat. Had I discovered floor movement when I was testing the seat position I would have stopped and added more to the floor.

As it sits, I've got grade 8 bolts from the seat tracks to my brackets (1/4" thickness) and more grade 8 bolts to the stock seat mounts in the floor. Considering the booger welded booty fab toyota seats my K5 came to me with, I made a considerable strength improvement.

You have to be the best judge of your truck. Considering the amount of rust I've seen on some of the projects around here lately, I wouldn't do it unless the floor is solid.

[cstanley]

of course i wouldn't do it without reinforcing the floor that doesn't mean it can't be done. there have been enough posts mentioning the floor reinforcement here to fill a book, and i'm very happy about the concern everyone shows.

so, let's assume that the floor has been properly reinforced. i have been in a wreck before with just the lap belts - not pleasant, and they still don't really keep your head from slamming into the dash or window, or your chest to the steering column.

the intent of the post is just to pick everyone's brain on the seating configuration. i've never owned a blazer before, but hopefully soon. i'm just not familiar with the way the seats would best work.

[Zoomad75]

On my K5, entry to the back seat is not blocked by the belts. Plus the amount of movement in the stock tracks of the silverado seats allows for plenty of pass through room to the back seat.

If you wanted to add 3 point belts, you would have to mount them to a roll bar/cage (like a jeep) or use some street rod style that mount to the lower b-pillar. Problem is the dang belts are hanging in the way to get to the back seat.

[gmcman7202]

it would be nice if somehow we were able to make the bucket seat flip forward like the original jimmy/blazer seats. so you did not have to slide the seat forward, and also tilt it forward, to much movement involved, also hinders the back seat ocupant from getting in and out without assistance, if the need arises. this topic has been tumbling around in my head for a while. i want to use the buckets with the belt integrated, for the safety also, i have also thought about older style pickup or 2 door tahoe seats, with using a harness, but i was really concerned with the ability to get into the back seat, with the extra roll bar posts and all, as i know a few people that did not come out of rolling their jeeps, wearing 3 point belt, that well.

[cstanley]

it looks like maybe the way to go would be to use the take-out front buckets, only get the manual slide on the pass. side, so it can be moved forward quickly without waiting on the motor.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by gmcman7202

it would be nice if somehow we were able to make the bucket seat flip forward like the original jimmy/blazer seats. so you did not have to slide the seat forward, and also tilt it forward, to much movement involved, also hinders the back seat ocupant from getting in and out without assistance, if the need arises. this topic has been tumbling around in my head for a while. i want to use the buckets with the belt integrated, for the safety also, i have also thought about older style pickup or 2 door tahoe seats, with using a harness, but i was really concerned with the ability to get into the back seat, with the extra roll bar posts and all, as i know a few people that did not come out of rolling their jeeps, wearing 3 point belt, that well.

I thought of this when I did mine. Once you get a look at the seat frame/track on the silverado (integrated belts) you will see it's not really an option. My thought was to remove the silverado tracks and some how adapt the original tracks and pass side entry feature to the silverado buckets.

The problem is the since the silverado buckets have the integrated seat belt, the tracks are "beefed up" over the stock stuff. The tracks are really part of the lower seat frame and do not un-bolt. One might be able to get creative and cut the tracks off and fabricate/weld something to the stock K5 seat tracks, but it's going to have to be very well made since the stress of the seat belts in a crash are going through your fab work.

Basically, the stock silverado seats/tracks let it sit at a level even with the stock console, trying to add stock parts without removing the tracks would have them sitting 5 inches higher by my measurements. Might be good if you are built like Mini Me, but nobody else.

Mine did have the stock style setup on the passenger side (which the 75's were similar to the first gen k5's) and when I compared the amount of pass though space you had to get to the back, it was within a couple of inches (both seats forward). Kids are no problem, but full size adults hasn't been a problem in mine so far. The last wheeling trip I was on had 2 buddies riding with me so someone was always getting in and out of the back. With the manual tracks that mine has, I could reach from the drivers seat and pull the seat forward, all they had to do was tilt the back for more room. Wasn't a major pain to us.

Still, You can look for seats from a 99 Silverado (first year for the new body style) since they started out with only 3 dr extended cabs. Those trucks had a ez-entry feature on the pass side seat just like the previous (88-98) extended cabs had. From the back or the side one lever would tilt the back and slide it forward. That might be the one to look for if you want one lever access.