Modification to passenger seat for more legroom

[Captain Skip]

WARNING! This post will probably trigger the Safety Patrol (how many of you remember them from school in the 60’s?) who will publicly scold me for posting this information. This post is about a modification that I made today to my 2024 Odyssey 29V. This is not an instructional or how to post. I am not encouraging, suggesting or recommending that anyone else do this modification. I’m a big boy and take responsibility for my actions, but no one else’s. So you do you and I’ll do me. Another warning, this is a picture heavy post.

We just purchased the motorhome in April, it’s our third Class C. Our other two were on Chevies, not Fords. We liked the extra room in the cab, particularly for the passenger, in the Chevy Express cab and we really didn’t want a Ford. However, we couldn’t get the floor plan we wanted on a Chevy unless we went with one of the lower quality manufacturers. The Commander in Chief is the one who spends 90% of the time in the co-pilot seat while I drive. She has a mobility issue with her hip that makes the Ford cab difficult for her to get in and out of the passenger seat from inside the cab. Yes Safety Patrol, she gets up, goes to the bathroom, goes to the fridge and gets snacks out of the cabinet while I’m driving down the road….oh the horror! In a previous life I was a Traffic Accident Reconstructionist so I could without a doubt bore all of you to tears explaining the physics involved that I had to learn. I finally found out why I needed to know all the algebra, trigonometry and calculus that I failed in high school…but that’s a story for another day.

Anyway to make a long story longer, we bought the 29V on a Ford chassis. I will admit, I am impressed with the handling and the power with the 7.3 engine. There were a few other modifications that I did which I have already posted about but I needed to do something about the space between the passenger seat and the pocket accessory or whatever it’s called on the doghouse. I measured the space, it’s 4 inches with the seat all the way back. I recall seeing people on other RV sites using a couple pieces of steel mounted under the seat track to move the seat back. I pondered and planned and figured this would work.

The base of the factory seat is made from 1/8” steel (yes Safety Patrol I know it has a bend in it to increase it’s strength) while the rest of the seat frame is probably the same or thinner. I estimated that I wanted to be able to move the seat back at least 4 inches to gain legroom by the doghouse. Step one was to remove the seat and base. There is a connection for the seat belt light that must be unplugged before removing the seat. There’s only 4 15mm nuts holding the top part of the seat to the base. I removed them and got the seat out of the way. The two front bolts on the bottom frame are T55 heads, actually the new style Torx head but my old T55 worked. They were tight. The rear of the seat has a stud coming up I believe through framework - the front ones go into thick sheet metal - and has an 18mm nut that comes off. Take the nuts and bolts out and the base comes right out (it’s heavy).

I took a strip of plywood I had in my shop and made a template to figure out how long I needed to make the new rails and where to drill holes. By setting the seat base back 4 inches I guesstimated that I would pick up 3 or 4 more inches of space. I bought a piece of 1 1/2” x 1/4” thick steel - remember the seat base is only 1/8” so I doubled the thickness of the metal. I calculated that I would need 2 pieces 19 inches long and cut them out. Using the template that I made as well as the seat base which was now upside down on my worktable in my shop I marked where the factory holes were and measured off 4 inches for the new holes. A few minutes on the drill press and I had two steel pieces with 4 holes in each one. I placed them on the bottom of the seat base and marked where the through bolt was located on the seat base then drilled a 1/2” hole in each side of the base flange. Bolted the steel to the seat base and back to the camper with it for a trial fit. Somebody must like me because everything lined up and fit perfectly. I hand tightened the nuts and bolts to hold the base in place and remounted the seat. Sliding it all the way back I now have 8 inches of space between the seat and doghouse. I tried getting in and out of the seat and it’s much much easier. Knowing that it lined up and worked, back in to the shop with the base and smoothed down the edges of the cut steel. A quick blast of glossy black rattle can and it looked good. As a point of information (Safety Patrol please note this!) I used Grade 8 bolts and nuts to hold the steel to the seat base. As I explained earlier I can mathematically calculate the foot pounds of energy generated by the weight of the seat moving at a specific velocity…..don’t make me do it!

One thing I noticed when I set the base in the camper was that the front ends of the steel pieces were up from the floor, they were not sitting flat where the bolts connected. That’s because of the thickness of the bolt heads under the steel. Not a problem, a couple thick fender washers took up the space. I made sure that when I put the nuts back on the studs on the back part of the seat that threads were showing above the nut for maximum strength. The two factory bolts on the front are not that long so I decided to play it safe and get a couple longer bolts for there. Quick trip to the hardware store and got two 10mm X 1.50 flange head bolts 2 inches long. They are 10.9 grade for strength. The threaded part of the floor wasn’t all that thick and it was open on the bottom. I’m going to take a look tomorrow and see if I can thread on a couple 10mm nuts just for a little more strength. Normally if something needs 2 nails I use 4 screws…it’s a character defect.

With everything painted it all went back in the camper and everything was bolted down tight. Putting the seat back on was a PITA until I figured out if you hit the slide adjustment you can move the rails individually to line up the studs. Everything buttoned up and there’s lots of room for movement past the doghouse now. At full extension we have 8 inches of legroom and if need be we can move the seat all the way up to 2 inches from the doghouse pockets.

I thought that I was going to lose the ability to rotate the passenger seat around to face into the rear of the coach. Not so much, you still have to do the slide it forward and back while spinning but it still rotates around.

The Commander in Chief came out for a final inspection, tried it out and declared that she was happy with it. It was much easier for her to get in and out of the passenger seat now so it will be much more enjoyable in future travels.

[Captain Skip]

Additional photos

[Kevin Cooper]

Great job. But you may have gone through a lot more work than was necessary. When we looked at a 2018 Alante, the passenger seat was so close, just like yours, that it was a deal breaker. Told the salesman, and he went to his tech guys. Came back and said they would move it. This is what they did. They took out the bolts through the floor that went through a steel plates below the floor, and moved the front two bolts the the back holes. Drilled new holes at the rear, put the bolts through the floor and steel plate. Then the put two new bolts through the floor with rounds heads in the original front holes.
I believe it moved the seat back 9”.

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by Kevin Cooper

Great job. But you may have gone through a lot more work than was necessary. When we looked at a 2018 Alante, the passenger seat was so close, just like yours, that it was a deal breaker. Told the salesman, and he went to his tech guys. Came back and said they would move it. This is what they did. They took out the bolts through the floor that went through a steel plates below the floor, and moved the front two bolts the the back holes. Drilled new holes at the rear, put the bolts through the floor and steel plate. Then the put two new bolts through the floor with rounds heads in the original front holes.
I believe it moved the seat back 9”.

I thought about that but I have a severe aversion to drilling holes in a brand new rig! I did look underneath and it would require fighting with the cat converter shield. I agonized for two weeks before I finally cut the hole in the sidewall to mount my electric cord outside instead of stupid little compartment that Jayco provided. I also figured using the OEM bolt holes and studs built into the vehicle would be stronger than holes I added. Thanks for your response!

[Camper_bob]

LOVE this mod!

Sadly, I think mine is as far back as it's ever going to get. The drop down threshold into my cab goes straight across from bulkhead to bulkhead. I don't have that "cut in" like OP's. The back of the passenger seat already sits over that threshold in my rig.

However, I did discover that if you're willing to give up some cupholders, the front of the doghouse just lifts up and off. It's not much, but it's a little bit more space. I'm not willing to give up that cubby and those cupholders, so ours remains...

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

LOVE this mod!

Sadly, I think mine is as far back as it's ever going to get. The drop down threshold into my cab goes straight across from bulkhead to bulkhead. I don't have that "cut in" like OP's. The back of the passenger seat already sits over that threshold in my rig.

However, I did discover that if you're willing to give up some cupholders, the front of the doghouse just lifts up and off. It's not much, but it's a little bit more space. I'm not willing to give up that cubby and those cupholders, so ours remains...

Initially we were going to remove the cupholder piece too...until we figured out we really liked it as it was useful. I know my previous rig, a Forester, had the floor go straight across the way you describe. One of the things I researched was getting a cupholder piece from an older E450/E350. The older ones had a lower profile cupholder that mounts the same on the lugs built into the doghouse. I just never got around to searching eBay or junkyards to try to find one in decent shape. Might be an option for you to look into.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Captain Skip

Initially we were going to remove the cupholder piece too...until we figured out we really liked it as it was useful. I know my previous rig, a Forester, had the floor go straight across the way you describe. One of the things I researched was getting a cupholder piece from an older E450/E350. The older ones had a lower profile cupholder that mounts the same on the lugs built into the doghouse. I just never got around to searching eBay or junkyards to try to find one in decent shape. Might be an option for you to look into.

Thanks for this!

I may look into it some day, but our "list of mods" is so long at this point that it will likely never happen. We'll end up in a different rig, and this issue will be one more block in that decision matrix.

While that lack of space is somewhat annoying, it's just that for us at this point. On longer drives, the "navigator" is typically not up there anyway as we're rotating 2-3 hr "shifts". The non-driver is often in the back sleeping or working or tinkering. It doesn't seem to bother DW enough to move it up in priority (she sleeps there A LOT while I'm driving), and at 5'10 and 280, it doesn't bother me that much either. The dog has taken a liking to riding there, but he's a Corgi, so his legs are SUPER short anyway! LOL!!

[TaftCoach]

Originally Posted by Captain Skip

I also figured using the OEM bolt holes and studs built into the vehicle would be stronger than holes I added. Thanks for your response!

Careful, that sounds like you're joining the safety patrol.lol

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by TaftCoach

Careful, that sounds like you're joining the safety patrol.lol

Nah, I just figured the engineers at Ford are smarter than me and knew where the strong points are located.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Captain Skip

Nah, I just figured the engineers at Ford are smarter than me and knew where the strong points are located.

Hmmmm, IDK about that "the engineers are smarter than me" part...

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Hmmmm, IDK about that "the engineers are smarter than me" part...

I have it on good authority that they all stayed at a Holiday Inn Express! If they remember to tie their shoes and zip up their pants then they’re way ahead of me!!!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Captain Skip

I have it on good authority that they all stayed at a Holiday Inn Express! If they remember to tie their shoes and zip up their pants then they’re way ahead of me!!!

I try to wear athletic shorts (no zipper) and slip on shoes (no laces) as much as possible! The other day I almost forgot to put a shirt on! It's getting bad!

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I try to wear athletic shorts (no zipper) and slip on shoes (no laces) as much as possible! The other day I almost forgot to put a shirt on! It's getting bad!

Yeah, they didn't include in the owner's manual when we were 15 years old that we'd end up like this!
You're my hero!!!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Captain Skip

Yeah, they didn't include in the owner's manual when we were 15 years old that we'd end up like this!
You're my hero!!!

Wouldn't have read it if they did!!

[Captain Skip]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Wouldn't have read it if they did!!