Proper seat cushion placement on 1964 Series IIa

[sopicki]

Hi all,

Time to put the seats in Nellie but not exactly sure about the correct way to install the bases or where the rubber bumpers should go on the seat backs.

The seat bases that I have just have flat wood bottoms. It appears that there should be rails on the bottom of the cushion to locate the cushions between the steel rails of the seat box.

Can anyone include a picture of the bottom of their cushion to indicate the proper location of the wooden rails?

Should the cushion bottom sit even with the front of the seat box or rest against the back of the box?

Where should the rubber bumpers on the rear seat cushions be located?

Thanks for any help?
12535

[sopicki]

60 hits and no replies.....doesn’t anyone have seats in their Rovers?

[cedryck]

There are some frame brackets for the "adjustable" (forward and aft) bottom seats. Don't see any in your pic. Seats either stay in the bracket with a funky bolt, or some have a peg that uses a cotter pin.

[erik88lr]

60 hits and no replies.....doesn’t anyone have seats in their Rovers?

Mine are like cedryck wrote about. Granted I have a '73 Ser. III so it may be different, but the seat bottoms sit in a frame that includes the mechanism for sliding for and aft.

Maybe this will help https://www.roversnorth.com/Land-Rover-Parts/84

[tolonian]

If you don't have the sliding seat brackets then the squabs sit in between the rails on the seatbox and the rubber bumpers mount to the bulkhead behind the seats backs. I'll take a picture of the bottom of the seat cushions later today so you can see the wooden rails.
I think there is supposed to be a triple rail in the middle of the seat box for the center cushion is its narrower then the outside cushions. A little "L" bracket keeps the cushions from sliding forward off the seatbox.

[tolonian]

If you don't have the sliding seat brackets then the squabs sit in between the rails on the seatbox and the rubber bumpers mount to the bulkhead behind the seats backs. I'll take a picture of the bottom of the seat cushions later today so you can see the wooden rails.
I think there is supposed to be a triple rail in the middle of the seat box for the center cushion is its narrower then the outside cushions. A little "L" bracket keeps the cushions from sliding forward off the seatbox.

This is the centre seat cushion.

[sopicki]

Thanks for the replies.

My Rovers seats were certainly replaced by a previous owner at some point with cushions made of foam and some type of pressed paper-board bases. The bases had two strips of additional paper-board running from side to side, one in front and one in back. I assume that these strips were supposed to keep the cushions from sliding from side to side between the steel runners on the seat box, but mine were too short and not thick enough. Because of this the cushions would just slide around with nothing in particular holding them in place. My solution was to cut some oak strips and run them fore and aft on each side of the seat cushion to keep them solidly in the steel seat box runners. I wasn't sure if the cushions should go all the way back against the rear bulkhead, be flush with the front of the seat box or be somewhere in between. I went for somewhere in between with the oak runners up against the forward "L" bracket at the front of the steel seat runner and the leather straps keeping them from sliding back. I also varnished the paper-board as I'm pretty sure it would be quite intolerant of any moisture and I think it looks better too.

Here are a few pictures.

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12592

[cedryck]

I like what your previous owner did though, not stock, but for sure a solid fix.

[sopicki]

Cedryck,

The previous owner of my Rover trashed it badly. He had nothing holding the seat cushions in place. Here's how it came to me.

12596

As far as I can tell (my Series IIa parts manual), seat cushions were originally held in place by leather straps held over buttons mounted in the seat box and rear bulkhead. I'm quite sure the previous owner purchased the seat cushions from a parts business like Rovers North as they appear to be pre-fabricated. I added the missing straps, buttons and rubber bumpers and made the oak runners to hold the cushions in place.

I was really hoping that someone would share pictures of what the original seat cushion set up looked like so I could replicate it (as closely as my parts would allow).

That is still my hope.

Thank you for your kind reply.

[o2batsea]

One more time, you do not have the steel frames that the cushions set into. If you look at the link above you will see it pictured. These are not available anymore. You have to post some ads on the forums that you are looking for a set. Maybe someone can give up part of their parts horde. Good luck.

[leafsprung]

One more time, you do not have the steel frames that the cushions set into. If you look at the link above you will see it pictured. These are not available anymore. You have to post some ads on the forums that you are looking for a set. Maybe someone can give up part of their parts horde. Good luck.


Looks like he has all the framework that would have come in this model. This type of seat track does NOT use the adjustable seat tracks and frame pictured in the link above and mentioned by o2batsea and is not needed. The only thing I notice is that the small right angle tabs at the front of the seat track are missing that the wooden ridge in the seatbase sits against, you will also need the leather straps that hold the seat in place to the knob/stubs on the front of the seatbox. Bob if you want some photos of how its supposed to go together I can send you some - shoot me a text.

-Cheers
-Ike

[sopicki]

Thank you Ike for your reply!

I was able to figure out that the seat cushions needed some type of wood rails to locate them properly between the steel rails on my aluminum seat box. The only other question was where would the cushion have been originally? Back against the rear bulkhead or forward even with the front of the seat box. If you noticed from my pictures I picked just slightly back from the edge of the seat box. The picture you texted me shows that cushion just about where mine are which makes me smile!

I'm curious what cushions would have come originally with my '64. It seems very unlikely that it would have had adjustable seats on rails (as Bill/o2batsea mentions....one more time?) since it had the leather strap buttons for the cushions already installed. Would the original seat cushions in 1964 been constructed of springs on a metal bottom covered with vinyl elephant hide or wood and foam like can be purchased today? I was just wondering if anyone had a picture of an original setup....even though my Rover is not going to be a museum piece be judged by rivet counters.

Just curious!

Thanks!!!!

[leafsprung]

Bob,
Your truck appears to have been fitted with the static seat tracks. It would have come with sprung metal seat squabs with wooden bases wrapped in batting and covered in elephant hide vinyl. If you look in the original parts catalogue there are many types of seats for different configurations and models which differ in detail. Todays reproductions are limited to very basic one size fits all replacements.

Cheers
-Ike