1987 GMC Sierra Bucket Seat Swap

[GMC85HighSierra]

Hi all, I am in the process of installing bucket seats in my 1987 GMC Sierra. I have a set of bucket seats out of a Suburban (same as ones pictured, except I painted them black). I have some questions on the install. I have the brackets that are pictured. I also included a pic of the seats just sitting in the truck.

1. Which way do the seats go? Does the reclining mechanism face the door or face the console? Which way is stock?

2. If the reclining mechanism faces towards the console, how much room is there for your hand to get in there to adjust it?

Any other tips/tricks are helpful.Thanks

[RotaryRocketeer]

Can't speak for Suburbans specifically, but every vehicle I've ever owned has had the reclining mechanism on the outside closest to the door.

[Rich84]

My seats came out of an '85 and only have one armrest. Made sense to me to put the one armrest to the center, which places the adjuster in the center also.



There is enough room to adjust..I think the seatbelt retractor might get in the way on the other side.

[Tiger Joe]

blazer i had with buckets recliners are on the outside of the seat

[GMC85HighSierra]

Okay. I have to agree with Rich84 that the reclining mechanism would face the console. Since your seats only have one armrest, it makes sense to put it on the inside. If you were to put it on the outside, it wouldn't make sense; the door panel already has an armrest-type part on it, and it wouldn't make sense to put a second armrest there. Me though, I'll still have one facing the door panel since my seats have armrests on both sides. My grandpa has a 95 set up similarly (except his are the stock seats), and his one armrest is placed in the center near the console. The picture shows how his is set up (except this is a pic I found of a Tahoe with the same setup). Also, here's a website I found that confirms this. Thanks everyone for your input.

If I can, I'm going to try and take pics and/or videos of the process of installing the bucket seats, so other people won't have to spend a lot of time looking for a how-to DIY bucket seat install.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/183728267/
(In the picture, the seats are flipped around; if you look carefully, the rip is about midway up on the right seat; that's the tear they're talking about on the passenger seat).

[gmachinz]

I've done this swap in my 86 and the Burban brackets arent ideal for a couple of reasons.
1.) the slide adjustment for it sticks out from under the seat too far in a pickup.
2.) the rear bracket ears dont fitbthe floor contour right-you can bend them upwards caveman style but they would look goofy imo.

So here's what I did:

Use a LH and RH set of pickup bench seat brackets for each bucket. Then I drilled 2 new holes in the bottom of each seat for the pickup brackets. Next I shortened the slide adjustment levers about 3" each. Now, the seats line up with the floor mounting holes "except" for the rear inners...thise you need to drill. After setting the seat brackets in place minus the seats, mark the rear inner spots with a sharpie. Then drill the 2 holes out. Next, I welded a nut over the holes from underneath the truck-this way the seat brackets all bolt in just like factory.

[gmachinz]

I need to clarify that I used the Burban seat levers on the pickup seat brackets too-this is why I had to shorten them. The pickup ones bent up 90 degrees against the bottom seat cushion and I didnt like that look as much as the nicer Burban ones so I swapped the seat levers-then i shortened them. After all the mods were done and I test fitted everything-I took the brackets back apart and prepped them for paint.

[GMC85HighSierra]

So I went to go look at the bucket seats again, and this time I took some better pics (ignore wires; have to redo someone's custom radio install). My cat likes the bucket seats too . Just painted them though !

I get how the front 2 bucket seat brackets line up, but the back brackets are still causing me trouble. I know they'll have to be bent up to work with the truck, but I guess I'm still figuring out where stuff goes. Is one of the seat's rear brackets longer than the other? If so, does the long bracket sit near the console or the door?

Also, does anyone have an idea of how I could soften up my seats? I painted them with Krylon, and now they're as itchy as an ugly Christmas sweater ! Thanks

[SCOTI]

I swapped those same late model burb seats into my CC dually. The outer F/R mounting holes on mine were the same. I had to utilize the F inner brackets (tacked to the floors) from the burb & drill the R holes. The floorpan is different from truck to CC truck so yours will require tweaking the inside rears for sure. Mine just required drilling the holes & attaching a nut to the sheet-metal.

Mine had dual arm-rests. We removed the outer arm-rests because they were redundant as the door panel has them. We also placed the recliner mechanism toward the console side. Locating them on the outside made it awkward to adjust vs the inside because of the seatbelt equipment.

You used paint on cloth so they're going to be 'rough' to the touch. You should do cloth w/a dye intended for fabrics.

[bennylava]

Is there a way to get the burb mounts solidly mounted, without having to weld them to the cab floor? I've got everything ready to this swap as well. You can use the outer seat tracks from the bench seat, but you need those burb seat mounts.

[Rich84]

You can drill holes and bolt them in place

[gmachinz]

Yeah-but my arms arent long enough for that lol.

[bennylava]

Originally Posted by gmachinz

Yeah-but my arms arent long enough for that lol.

You must be talking about reaching up from the underside of the truck, to put the nuts on the new bolts.

[gmachinz]

lol yep! I went through a lot of tedious effort to make my bucket seat install appear factory and I wasnt about to nut/bolt them damn rear inner mounts lmao! But if one doesnt have a welder or a riv-nut tool then I guess you do whatcha gotta do!

[andyh1956]

On the seats like yours that I've swapped around I always cut a section outta the rear bracket & welded it back together at the proper angle. Worked great
PS- I aint NEVER heard of someone PAINTING cloth upholstery before...Can't wait to see your next project!

[streetstar]

Originally Posted by GMC85HighSierra

Also, does anyone have an idea of how I could soften up my seats? I painted them with Krylon, and now they're as itchy as an ugly Christmas sweater ! Thanks

What The F----


Id rather deal with mismatched seats in my **** box project than feel compelled to spray bomb them

--- I'll bet it looks nice though