I have a 13 E-150 "Executive Limo" conversion--11 seats. Great condition, but the carpet is cheap and worn out. I'm about to pull all the seats out and re-carpet. Already found an issue.....at least 2 of the middle row of seat's bolts fell out on top of the fuel tank. I'm pretty sure I can get them off the top of the tank, but how do I get them back in?????? Once I get the seats out, I'm going to do some rewiring, ect. I'm really surprised that the holes the seats are bolted through just appear to be drilled straight through the floorboard.....I was expecting factory pre-drilled holes and bolts attached to the floorboard--welded or whatever.



Any ideas on getting the bolts back up through the floor on top of the fuel tank (dropping the tank is NOT an option)?


Thanks in advance!



Executive Limo

 

Most of the time seat and seat belt mountings are welded to the floor and seats secured to the floor. Don't know why the seat bolts were sent up through the floor with nuts on the top except for the place that installed them and you found the boo boo!
The correct way to install those mountings is to have a plate dissipate the load of the bolts holding the seats and belt mountings so they don't pull through the floor in the event of a mishap.
The tank will at least need to be lowered to do the job right. Hopefully , someone will come up with an answer you would be happier to hear.

 

I have a 2012 15 passenger van that came with with the factory buckets seats in the rear. Soon after buying it I removed most of the seats and re-positioned a couple as I converted it into a camper van.

I too was surprised the seats were bolted through holes drilled through the sheet metal after the body was painted at the factory. I had the same thought that it didn't look factory. Each seat base did have large metal plates under the van though that sandwiched the sheet metal with the seat base. The plates fell off with the nuts removed. On mine all bolts dropped in from the top and the nut, washer, and aforementioned plate was on the bottom.

I managed to reach above the tank and exhaust shielding and reach every nut. On a few I could only blindly reach the nut with a wrench. On a few others the best solution was to grab the nut with vice grips (I was working by myself). To make it easier, when I re-positioned the few seats I kept, I welded the nut to the large metal plate and slid the plate where I needed it.

I recently pulled all the seats out and built a full camp interior. I can assure you, with a little creativity you can reach them all without pulling the tank if the nuts are on the bottom. If the bolts HAVE to feed from the bottom though it may not be possible. Good luck.

 

Hi, I’m placing seats today myself. I also need to place the bolts correctly and what I’m very concerned about is correct placement, especially for future things I want to do. Any ideas or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.