just bought a 97 ram 2500 van and i'm trying to remove the center captain's chairs and seatbelts. its a conversion, so i don't know which parts are factory and which parts were put in by the conversion company. anyone know how to get the seats out, and do i need a special tool to remove the seatbelts?

any info would be great

thanks

 

The conversion company bolted them thru the floor. You'll need to have someone hold the seat bolts with an open end wrench inside the van while you go underneath and remove the nuts. Probably 3/4" or 7/8" size wrench and socket needed.

This can be a tough job. If you have access to a pneumatic impact driver it would make the job a heck of a lot easier.

There are four bolts per chair. Same thing for the rear seat / folding bed unit. Don't forget to seal up the holes when you are done!

Seatbelt anchors use either a T50 or T55 star wrench, can't remember which.

 

thanks for the response, that really helps me out.

one more question though. what do I use to seal up the holes?

 

If you don't have a helper, clamp a vise-grips on the bolt. When you're underneath turning the nut the vise-grips will stop turning when it hits the leg.

 

You can put the bolts back into the holes to seal them up.

 

If the holes are a standard size, use a plastic body plugs. Most parts stores have an isle section with products made by "HELP". You will find a few sizes there. REMEMBER to plug the hole from the OUTSIDE. This way, the over hang lip seals out the road junk.

 

The bolts and nuts you remove from the floor are going to be rusty and generally quite nasty; you won't want to re-use them. The holes in the floor will have been drilled by the conversion company so they will be irregular.

If you have carpet inside the van (which I'm assuming you do) then use of the black plastic Cap-Plugs will be difficult.

I sealed mine using clear silicone, fender washers and 1' long 3/8" nuts and bolts. Place a fender washer through one of the bolts and apply a bead of silicone around the bottom side of the fender washer and drop the end of the bolt through the floor directly on top of the carpet. Apply another bead of silicone around a second fender washer and slip it through the bottom of the bolt against the body and then affix a 3/8" nut and tighten.

Repeat until done. Finish up with some Rubberized Undercoating on the underside where the bolts come thru the floor.

I used Carriage Bolts when I did mine because the round bolt heads don't interfere with cargo on the van floor.

 

I humbly beg to differ. Install them from the outside, then do something like kneel on them from inside and you'll pop them right out.

 

Indeed, the plugs wouldn't last long if installed from the bottom.

IMHO the CapPlugs are a poor option regardless of which way you install them. The seat holes drilled by the conversion company are ragged plus the factory floor is is ribbed; CapPlugs just don't work well for this purpose.

My way is best (he said humbly).