Backseat Carseat & Pet Setups

[mjmck]

All,

Looking for some insight from other owners on rear seat setups. I have a 1 year old (rear facing for another year most likely) and a 3 year old in a front facing child seat. We are struggling fitting these seats along with a dog in the back on our trips to our seasonal camp (this was the only downside to the Gladiator over our previous JKU). However the bed allows us to carry so much more in terms of camp supplies and kids toys (thus the reason we bought).

The only way to fit everything in the back seat is to put the front facing seat on the passenger side, rear facing seat in the center and fold up the "40" part of the seat where the pup lays on the floor. This setup is so tight that we have to cram the door closed as the car seats are pushed right up to the folded up seat. We tried flopping the two car seats however it was much worse and we couldn't shut the door.

We have only a couple options the way I see it. Get less bulky car seats for the kids (I don't want to sacrifice safety obviously) or build some sort of platform so that the "40" portion of the seat can remain down and cover the foot well behind the drivers seat so the pup (full size husky) can still lay comfortably.

Anybody in similar situations? Ideas I could pilfer? Thanks all.

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[JimWillis319]

I will be having 1 car seat in the back with 2 dogs... What I am firstly going to do is remove all carpet and bedline the interior, and then put all weather mats on top of that (basset hound, hair gets EVERYWHERE and was a nightmare to clean out of JK so no more carpet for me)... I then will be only reinstalling the single seat... And then where the 2/3rds section I will be building a platform similar to the (hugely over priced) goose platform for that side for the dogs to better sit on, and use beneath the platform for more storage.

I imagine you could do the same, just switch which one you will remove? Would give your dog more wiggle room and storage underneath the platform he's on.

 

[mjmck]

I will be having 1 car seat in the back with 2 dogs... What I am firstly going to do is remove all carpet and bedline the interior, and then put all weather mats on top of that (basset hound, hair gets EVERYWHERE and was a nightmare to clean out of JK so no more carpet for me)... I then will be only reinstalling the single seat... And then where the 2/3rds section I will be building a platform similar to the (hugely over priced) goose platform for that side for the dogs to better sit on, and use beneath the platform for more storage.

I imagine you could do the same, just switch which one you will remove? Would give your dog more wiggle room and storage underneath the platform he's on.

For now we have gone back to driving 2 separate vehicles which sucks. We bought one of those u-shaped pet covers that hooks to the headrests of the front seats but he just doesn't have enough room to lay down on the "40" portion without a platform. I think thats my next try. Our pup is a husky and he is HYPER. So we try to limit his space to keep him still.

 

[takeitsleazy]

I will be having 1 car seat in the back with 2 dogs... What I am firstly going to do is remove all carpet and bedline the interior, and then put all weather mats on top of that (basset hound, hair gets EVERYWHERE and was a nightmare to clean out of JK so no more carpet for me)... I then will be only reinstalling the single seat... And then where the 2/3rds section I will be building a platform similar to the (hugely over priced) goose platform for that side for the dogs to better sit on, and use beneath the platform for more storage.

I imagine you could do the same, just switch which one you will remove? Would give your dog more wiggle room and storage underneath the platform he's on.

I took my carpet out and bedlined within a few months of owning my JK- I was single, and crawled the heck out of it. I will mention though, and only because you have kids and pets, removing the carpet will noticeably increase the temp in your cab. Specifically near the foot wells, but throughout as well. If you weren’t aware.

It didn’t matter to me, as a single guy, but that’s part of the reason I traded it in for the JT. Just figured I would mention; it’s not something I anticipated at the time

 

[Cwelroy]

We have two rear-facing car seats and two dogs, but our dogs are only about 30lbs each. I purchased dog car-seats that I put on the floor behind the front seats and they just hang out in those while I drive. Obviously we can’t buckle in the dog seats with them being on the floor, but we can still hook the dogs up to them and they stay put. Probably wouldn’t work for a large husky, but maybe worth looking at.

 

[Whitarmy]

I went to using a diono radian car seat for the kids in the gladiator. Bit on the expensive side but you could convert it until they are able to just use the regular seat. Takes up less room than most car seats and I can go 3 wide in the gladiator. You can mount it forward or rear facing for both the kids and not need to buy another. I also like that there is no more swapping seats from the wife’s car to my truck. This might help fitting 2 close together without the cramming

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