Duster fold down rear seat

[Princess Valiant]

So I have a duster with the fold down rear seat option, however it was missing the rear seat bottom.

The upper piece that swings up and down is there only the seat bottom is missing.

Can I get a seat bottom from a car with the fixed rear seat and interchange it??

 

[missing linc]

yes

 

[72bluNblu]

Yup. The bottom seats are the same regardless of the fold down option. I salvaged all the fold down stuff from a donor when I converted my Duster over to a fold down seat, and comparing the lowers side by side between the standard seat and the fold down the lowers were the same. I actually still have the original lower in my Duster because it was in better shape than the donors.

The only thing is it would be better to use a 73+ lower, because they narrowed a little section near the edge where the retractable seat belts come in. The ‘70-‘72 seats go all the way out to the interior panel there. You could work around it, but sticking with a later seat bottom would make access to the seat belts easier.

 

[Princess Valiant]

Yup. The bottom seats are the same regardless of the fold down option. I salvaged all the fold down stuff from a donor when I converted my Duster over to a fold down seat, and comparing the lowers side by side between the standard seat and the fold down the lowers were the same. I actually still have the original lower in my Duster because it was in better shape than the donors.

The only thing is it would be better to use a 73+ lower, because they narrowed a little section near the edge where the retractable seat belts come in. The ‘70-‘72 seats go all the way out to the interior panel there. You could work around it, but sticking with a later seat bottom would make access to the seat belts easier.

Do you think a 72 seat bottom can be narrowed in the frame if it was stripped down for new upholstery.
That is all I have available now is a seat bottom out of a 72 duster.

 

[72bluNblu]

Do you think a 72 seat bottom can be narrowed in the frame if it was stripped down for new upholstery.
That is all I have available now is a seat bottom out of a 72 duster.

That was a difference I noticed just looking at pictures of the rear seats when I was doing research for the conversion. A bunch of people said the fold down seat bottoms were different when I asked the same question a few years back. The only difference I ever found was a “notch” in the later lower seat for the retractable seat belts. Which was confirmed when I compared the lowers from my donor (fold down) to my cars seat bottom (standard) and they were the same. But both of those cars had retractable rear belts.

But I haven’t had a ‘70-72 seat lower to compare the actual frames to the later one. If you post a picture of the lower frame corners I might be able to compare it to mine.

 

[72bluNblu]

Ok, so I grabbed a couple pictures off the 'net and I don't know that your '72 seat bottom will work. At least not with the retractors installed. The notch in the seat is bigger than I remember it being, so the frame is likely different on the earlier versions that didn't have the retractable seat belts.

Giant seat belt retractor

Notch in the seat

Frame from below

Earlier seat bottom, doesn't look like there's any notch at all

 

[Alaskan_TA]

I have a '70 Duster seat & one from a '74 with the fold down option as well. If you need it I can send it out.

In this photo, you can see the difference;

 

[72bluNblu]

I have a '70 Duster seat & one from a '74 with the fold down option as well. If you need it I can send it out.

In this photo, you can see the difference;

View attachment 1715453796

Yeah that’s a pretty big difference.

That notch isn’t just a fold down seat deal though, it was standard from whenever the seat belts went to those retractor units.

 

[Alaskan_TA]

In this case, the one shown is from a fold down seat car, I have the back also. ;-)

 

[Princess Valiant]

I found the assembly in a FSM bought from another member.

Thanks @Alaskan_TA