Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

and here's what the original bench seat brackets look like underneath

[Gregski]

so what's the goal here, why are we doing this? why not just get a seat cover?

well a seat cover is roughly $200 bucks these seats were $30

plus not only is the foam shot in my bench seat but the driver seat slants down to the driver door so bad I feel like I am getting scoliosis, I think the springs are completely shot

additionally I want to use the existing bolt holes and not masterdize the cab or the old seat brackets in case I ever wan to go back to a bench seat

[Gregski]

so at first I tried to go for the easy win and bolt the front bracket directly into the front bench seat hole, that was close, but the seat ended up being about 2" off center towards the middle of the vehicle, no go on that

[Gregski]

it was then that I realized it was time to make some metal shavings

it was time to drill out the rear factory brackets / mounts which was rivitted with these big headed nut rivet thingies, PIA to drill out, many a drill bits was broken in the process, yes cutting oil was used whilst drillin'

[Gregski]

so in order to use the existing bench seat bracket holes and utilize the seat belt ones, I had to get creative and fab up a adapter bracket, don't laugh, here we go

[Gregski]

so here's the driver side seat bracket, apologies the pics are a bit blurry it was late at night

[Gregski]

so after at first running out of welding wire in order to finish the driver seat, I than ran out of Argon gas to finish the passenger seat, it ain't easy folks

well here's the driver seat all mounted in, I drove it to work like this today and here's the report

these seats are narrow

the seat is tough, ie hard as a rock

I like how it slides forwards and back with the manual controls

I can't recline it all the way back cause the headrest hits the window, cause these came out of an extended cab so they can tilt further back, but I don't mind that cause I don't need it to go that far back

seat height is good, maybe a bit too tall since I used the 2x2 square tubing and maybe a 2x1 would make it an inch lower instead

[Johns66]

Looking forward to the outcome of this seat install.

[rusty76]

I like it.

[Smniekamp]

Just finished looking through your ENTIRE thread over the last three days haha, I love how you are going about your restoration. Its been really fun to see the progress, keep up the good work!

[Gregski]

well got the second seat in and learned a lot in the process, let me tell you this was a lot harder than I thought

the front brackets were driving me crazy as the inside mounting points are an inch further out than the outside ones do to the contours of the seat pans and not my mismesuring

turns out the gap between the two seats is 20" and twice as wide as the center console, dope

overall I would not consider this an Epic Fail, but it won't be making my Highlight Real, ha ha

I learned a lot, became quite intimate with the whole seat setup and removed and reinstalled the seats a dozen times

as my buddy Mopar Seth said "at least now you"ll be able to take your time and restore the bench seat"

[daddyjeep]

We learn things both from our failures and our success. Thanks for sharing your results.

[Gregski]

and a look from the other side

[Gregski]

just a pic of me picking up a refill of the Special Sauce ($35) for my Lincoln C140 MIG welding machine which I can't say enough good things about

the crew at Matheson welding supply in West Sacramento is Top Notch, thank you so much

[Gregski]

so decided to take a little break from the seat project and go after some of the cab noises on my '74, like I'm sure some of your trucks may have, more specifically I have this annoying whistle coming from my passenger side door but only at highway speeds, I have replaced the door molding / weather strip and the window molding / weather strip, my truck did not have the optional upper door seals, so it may be time to get them, any thoughts? suggestions?

so here we go, this journey may seem a bit unconventional so allow me to explain, obviously in order to adjust the door its best to take the passenger fender off, but I also did it to fix the carnage created last summer by the tire that separated whilst we were going camping, remember that

so we start with the fender, and I was a tad bit peeved fixing this again, since this is already my new(er) replacement fender that replaced the original rusted OEM one

it was worse on the back side than on the front side, but I was too upset to take pics of that side I just layed it out on my lawn and pounded it back to submission, hard to do with double walled sections like this, good thing I have another replacement fender standing by, ha ha but for now this one will do

[Gregski]

looks like my inner fender took most of the pounding as the separated tire spun and flapped around under the truck when it blew

again a bit upset, this also was the new(er) replacement inner fender that I painted to replace the coroded OEM one, again I have yet another one to replace it with but for now it will do, until I can open up my outdoor paint booth come hotter months, hee hee

[Gregski]

Inner Fender Twistology Repair With Minimal Tools And Knowhow

Fun Level = 0

Result = Good Enuff?

it did git a coat of grayish primer before re assembly (just for the record)

[Gregski]

so with the fender off it was time to fix the door gaps on the passenger side door in the hopes of a better fitted / aligned door might get rid of the whistle and the rubbing against the front fender ever since the tire blow out nudged the front fender about an 1/8th of an inch just enough to make it rub, grrrr

which (spoiler alert) it did not make the whistle go away

here are some before and after shots in pairs, first top of the B pillar

[Gregski]

and the A pillar gap of the passenger side door, before and after, before I could run my fingers in that gap it was about 1/2 inch (ok I have lady fingers ok, don't judge me, jk)

[Gregski]

passenger door gap top

[Gregski]

passenger door B pillar gap bottom, so nothing rubs, the door is easier to shut now, and I think it looks a little bit better up close, and great from 50 feet away, ha ha

[daddyjeep]

Looks much better now.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

Looks much better now.

thanks, and the door don't rub any more, win!

[Gregski]

so swunged by the junk yard on Sunday to see what I can find, and came away with this 2004 Dodge Dakota rear fold up jump seat from a 60/40 rear seat setup that will just work perfectly as my center seat, these 97-04 Dakotas be really nice trucks, I like their simplicity, manual seats, and their cabs came in standard, extended, and four door, this came out of the four door

[Gregski]

here's how it attached to the back, so I took the brackets as well