DIY Rear Seat Delete

[AZnative24]

For months I considered purchasing a seat delete. While I appreciate the build quality from large-scale companies, I couldn't justify the price. $750 for 3/4 of a box was a hard pill to swallow, so I decided to build my own. The problem I also had was the under-utilization of space. To be fair, seat deletes on the market are for the masses and need to accommodate the front seats in all positions. If you don't have yours all the way back you're missing out on storage space.

I don't have any photos of the build process but this is the end result. Starting with the top, it's anchored in the back using the two factory bolts. Using a spade-bit, I bored out holes just deep enough to hold the heads of the bolts. This allows you a flat surface to place whatever you want on top. I measured the top so that it would leave a slight gap with the back of the driver's when positioned for me. After leveling the top, I then measured the front panel. Once that was cut and attached, I scribed the sides as the floorboard has a contour. Initially I secured everything together with dowels but ultimately abandoned this idea for good ol' fashioned counter-sunk wood screws. Pocket screws would suffice as well.

When it was all assembled, I then disassembled everything and coated the sides with bed liner. For the top, I cut out the hatch to account for the thickness of low-pile marine carpet and mounted a locking latch. The hatch is secured at the front with the latch and at the rear with a bar that extends underneath the top. Supports at all four corners keep it from falling down into the storage area. Carpeting was the worst part of this build and I'll admit I hid most of my mistakes under the top! But from above it looks great! Since I removed the storage bins both behind the seat and underneath, I built a small bin for behind the remaining rear seat using the same 1/2" plywood and marine grade carpet. It also has a narrow "bar" that runs along the back to cover a small gap.

Overall, I'm guessing I spend around $150 in materials with tons left over for future projects. Measurements are below.

Top
20.5" wide x 40" long

Hatch
9.5" wide x 19" long

Interior
18.25" wide x 23.5" long x 6.5-7.5" tall.

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[greenpickle]

That looks awesome, nice work!

 

[Alpine Warthog]

Definitely looks factory. Love it. I cobbled one together with some scrap plywood but it doesn't look anywhere as nice as this.

 

[nanook12]

I’m planning on something similar, just keeping the single rear seat. Maybe?

 

[SRFRAT67]

That looks awesome!! Nice job

 

[AZnative24]

I’m planning on something similar, just keeping the single rear seat. Maybe?

If I didn’t foresee the need for additional seating I would have deleted the whole thing! But for your case, keeping just one seat and maximizing the platform size is a great compromise.

 

[JTGuy]

I removed both sides and put some carpet down with a pad for my big dog. He loves it . Even with nothing built into it I have lots of secure storage,

 

[AstroZombie]

Definitely looks factory. Love it. I cobbled one together with some scrap plywood but it doesn't look anywhere as nice as this.

send pics

 

[Jteakus]

Nice job, you have skills,

 

[TheTrailGeek]

Looks awesome! Great job!

 

[jpfeif34]

Looks great. Do you have a template for this? Or just the stuff you said above?

 

[montechie]

I deleted my 60% seat and love it. No where near as nice looking as yours, but used extruded bars and a piece of plywood bolted in using the seat bolts. Keep my 55L fridge there when traveling. Also a good way to free up some payload if you don't need the seat.

 

[mclousing]

That one looks awesome, I finally completed my version. Made out of aluminum and 3/8 inch hdpe. Setup so you have easy access to the jack and screw box

 

[alpineovernappa]

That looks great! I did a full rear seat delete, but opted to focus on something that was incredibly easy to remove and very cheap. I went to my local IKEA’s scratch and dent room, where you can buy former display kitchen countertops and laminated particleboard for ~$10. Cut to size, used the rear seat mount bolts as anchor points and screwed some sections of 1/2” dowel to the fronts as legs. I opted to do it in two sections so I could replace either of the rear seats if I need to. This design allows you to reach underneath the platform to get cables or tools or what not even if you have stuff above it. All in I think I spent less than $20 and I’ve had well over 300 pounds on the back platform for tens of thousands of miles. Takes about 15 minutes to swap from a platform to a seat

 

[loganjeeps]

really nice high quality outcome, well done

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