I got two fork lift seats for 1926 model t. The problem I have is on the passenger side there is an opening in the floor the battery. So I was thinking of using 1/8 flat bar across this opening. And bolt the seat to the flat bar stock? The 1926 has provisions to mount the battery in the pick up bed. Also I migh have to raise the bar stock up 1 1/2 inches to accommodate sliding front to back. The total length of the flat bar is 18 inches. What do you think of my idea? Thanks Jerry
How much is that flat stock going to flex with a 250 lb seat and butt bouncing on it? I would use some 1" square tube to build a frame of sorts.
To be honest, not much........... not much at all. Geez man, it's going to have to be stronger than that!!!
I don't know, man. I would move the battery to a better location so you don't have to mess with the seat when you need to get to the battery. My seats are mounted on the floor cross rails on my 1926 Coupe.
The passenger seat in my 32 is hinged in the front so I can tilt it forward to get under it. The hinge is on the front and the rear sits on adjustable corner posts in each rear corner with a round rubber foot. A seat belt and a fat ass keep it down while driving
If you leave it there, I would put something non-conducting over the battery, seen more than one vw burn up when the seat springs made contact
I put the shelf bracket to figure out how much higher the seat would have to go to clear sliding forward and back. The square tubing suggestion sounds great. But I didn’t understand the hinged seat to access the battery? I am looking for suggestions to make a frame. Kind of like measure twice cut once. Thanks Jerryt
^^THIS^^ I too have seen some pretty toasty VWs because of this. It's a HUGE surprise for the person setting in the seat.
Ok I took everyone’s advice and thought about a better frame. So I looked on the internet and found some already made frames. And I found the hinged frame. I just need to get the dimensions to see if it fits. I emailed the company and hope to hear from them on Monday.thanks Jerry
Hi all. Well I looked into a seat bracket that folded forward and it won't work. On my 26 the length is 16 inches by 14 width. The seat brackets measure cl to cl is 18 inches. Any suggestions I was thinking to put stationary brackets and move the battery to the back. Thanks for all suggestions. Thanks Jerry
I’m curious why a seat needs to slide/change position in a T-Bucket? I’ve only been in one 40+ years ago.
Update on seat bracket the guys at summit racing said if you need 16 inch length from cl to cl . Have a guy cut two inches out and reweld them. Thanks Jerry
This seat thing has a life of its own. Its taking more time to find or build bracket then to get this thing working. Thanks Jerry
Most forklift seats fold forward. Any chance of buying the mount made for the seat. If you can cut the frame the way you need and bolt or clamp it together - the welding wouldn't cost much.
How about damping the forklift seats, and building a nice bench seat that you can pull the bottom cushion out to get to the battery? More people screw up their cars by thinking bucket seats have to be in everything. They will probably be so close together in that T, that they damn near touch anyway. A bench would look WAY better.
Why not buy a short length of C channel off facebook and cut it to fit? Then run some of those external connectors in case you need to jump it or charge it while sitting.
I used the latch and brackets from a removable minivan seat. You have to cut them off the minivan seat frame, then weld them to your seat frame or slider mechanism. Done well, you'll never realize they weren't part of the actual original seat frame. The floor of your vehicle gets 4 of these tpyes of brackets which you can either sink them into the floor if you need your seats to sit lower, or make a simple bracket that bolts to the floor and raises them up. The front part of the bracket is just a "U" shape piece of metal with a rib on the back for structural stability. It just kinda slides into the bar like shown in the picture. The back part of the bracket is a latch and shaped similar to a bear-claw door latch. You tilt the seat and set the front part in, then the back part latches over the bar. Just look at how removable van seat latch mechanisms are built. You can use it to just tile the seat forward for quick access, or pull the whole seat out.
My T is the same as yours and this is what i made for the seat base. It is all bolted together and has a very useful tool compartment and it bolts to the bodies crossmembers. At the front it is only 3'' tall and the bench seat has two blocks of wood that lock in behind the rear lip. Easy to remove and it stays in place and the battery can stay where it is so you don't need to over think it. JW
One thing about you T RPU is that it's a survivor Hot Rod and it needs things that are period to how it is, not throw modern items at it because it's easy or in this case it appears not, but at the end of the day it's yours to do.... please don't make it look ''confused''. JW
The Jalopy Journal
