Jump seats for M-1079

Greetings LMTVers.

My current camper-van conversion for my 1079 highlighted the need for an additional seat up front (2 adults+two kids) and after many hours staring at it and searching for the simplest configuration and installation, I arrived at a solution which is two 2009-2014 Ford F150 center jump seat/consoles installed side by side.

These seats have some specific traits which were helpful to a simple installation:
1. Narrower than 18 inches - there is approx 36 inches between Driver and 'A' Driver seats
2. Integral seat belt.
3. No protrusions past frame bottom. - allows mounting flush to each other.

My 1079 has a gunners deck, so that added to the simplicity. You can simply remove the existing seat, attach 2-3 in steel angles to the gunner's deck and drill holes to match the seat frames. Then bolt the gunner's deck back in the truck and bolt the seats to the angle brackets.

One unforseen advantage of these particular seats is that the 3 adult configuration can still comfortably be accommodated by simply straddling the two seats and use the right shoulder belt in the left seat latch.

All of that and cup-holders too.

Forgive me - I didn't take progressive pictures of installation steps.

Nice clean install!

That is awesome. Man hopefully the kids dont have smelly feet!

Great find!

We have a 1079 for a similar purpose and are also looking at how to expand the seating capabilities. We arrived at two new captains chairs for the left and right and a rear bench seat from an older jeep for the center. I think we're going to have some seat-rubbing by half an inch on either side, but we'll see when get around to installing them.

That looks perfect, great job I believe I'll be doing the same thing. Thanks for sharing.

That looks great; I've been thinking about something like this too. So those seats are from the back of an extended cab truck? Or from the middle of the front row? I have three kids so I need five seats total. I'm thinking of putting a 3 person bench in the back, over to the passenger side as much as possible. Then the front passenger seat will go on rails so that when the kids are in the back the seat can be moved forward a little to give them room.

What do you have planned for the Driver and Passenger? I have looked at 'air' seats and they are pricey...

Pointman

Huh interesting. That's pretty cool - well done.

Ukraine train - they are front center seats. I thought about side facing jumps where the tool boxes are, just didn't think it worth the effort.

Pointman - I am fine with the OEM seats for now, but may go with Fords to match the upholstery. So far I'm into this seat thing for less than $225.00 altogether.

Very cool! I also have a todler and one in the oven and have been trying to figure out safe Long term seating for 4 the lmtv. Do those seats fold forward? I want to be able to access my cab from the camper. I don't actually have a 1079 yet just trying to figure out if this is a camper rig that a family of 4 can travel in safely. Thanks for the info

The seat set up is pretty easy with the gunner's deck. Otherwise it would be just adding a plate which bolts into the body where the original center seat is.

The seats backs fold forward, but not really out of the way
The 1079 is not set up in a way which easily facilitates a pass through. All of the FMTV trucks have the spare tire hoist, aux hyd pump and air cleaner in the space directly behind the cab. Some folks have moved that stuff, but it is a lot of work. Not worth the effort in my opinion - but that's just an opinion.

Yes I have read about the removal of all the equipment behind the cab. My little dream was to only remove the spare tire and tire hoist to allow a small amount of emergency access. Still haven't figured out how I would connect the van and cab together due to the tillting cab and air ride. Still in dream phase.

The box sways too.m as its mounted on springs. IMO, a pass through is almost impossible given the amount of relative motion the two will compartments have.

I wanted a pass through for a while, but with a center bench seat and the food down bed that we'll eventually have in the cab, it was eventually ruled out for our truck.

pkl2fly said:

The seat set up is pretty easy with the gunner's deck. Otherwise it would be just adding a plate which bolts into the body where the original center seat is.

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How are your seats bolted in? Did you just drill through the cab floor and put a plate on the other side?

It seems like you would have to do something special to take the potential load of a passenger in a crash, as their body weight tries to rip the seat off its mounts. With the standard seat, the seat belts are pulling against the seat belt mount points on the cab, not the actual seat. With these seats, with integral belts (cool!), how did you solve that problem?

Keep in mind this vehicle had the gunner's deck in place. I removed the stock seat and the gunner's deck and screwed 4ea 3" steel angles the length of the new seat's rails using approx 100 1/8" sheet metal screws on a 1" staggered(2 row) pattern from underneath. Then match drilled the angles to the seat rails for 1/2-13 cap screws. Bolted the deck back onto the cab (4ea m13 cap screws) then bolted the seats to the angles 4ea 1/2" cap screws gr6 as I recall.

I am confident that the additional mounting hardware is at least as strong as the original mounting especially considering that the likely load in a crash would be a shear load not a tension, compression or torsion load.

I suppose that if you are really concerned about crashing you could run a strap/cable from the seatbelt mounts on each side of the hump through the seat frame. Not particularly difficult except the nuts for the belt mounts are very restricted due to the location.

R/Paul

pkl2fly said:

Keep in mind this vehicle had the gunner's deck in place.

Click to expand...

And your gunner's deck is the standard 1/8" thick aluminum type, correct?

Yes.

I can't seem to pull up your rear bench picture any more. Could you resend it or repost? Love the idea. Thanks

Montanajed said:

I can't seem to pull up your rear bench picture any more. Could you resend it or repost? Love the idea. Thanks

Click to expand...

Might be best to quote the person whose pics you want to see again. As of 1pmish my time in OH all the pics work in this thread. maybe try again? None are "bench" seats.

What is total width of your Jump Seat Combo? Just got a hold of some seats from a Ford Transit and their double seat is is smallish at 37" Just wondering how close that combo is your two tucked in next to each other.