Pony Seats - The Bump Side Build-Off

When I was trying to come up with a plan, I noticed a few factory dimples (arrows) in the center area of the floor that matched perfectly with the studs on the inside seat tracks. Coincidence? Don't know exactly yet, but they positioned the seat perfectly side to side and put the driver seat in front of the steering wheel.

After making sure the seat position was square with the cab, comfortable, and visually pleasing, I went ahead and drilled the dimples out for the seat track studs. After all, it's only metal; I can always weld it back up, right?

Triple and quadruple check the seat position before, during, and after installing different seats in your truck. You spend practically 100-percent of your time inside your truck sitting on the seat, so you'll be happy you made it fit right. Looking from directly in front of the steering column and wheel we can see that the seat is dead-on from side to side.

After a few measurements, I figured out that a piece of 3x1 steel tube would work for the outside seat risers. Remember I'm 6-foot-3 and comfortable with the seat that low. I also decided to jazz up the pieces with some 2-inch speed holes that will make the truck go faster; I wish, but they will look good.

In addition to the holes on the sides, I also drilled holes for the seat track studs as well as another hole and a small cutout to clear protrusions on the lower side of the track.

On the back side, I notched the upper outside edges of the holes to gain access for the seat track studs, which won't be visible from the front. Everything's looking good so far.

One of my goals was to make and install these brackets without welding on the truck itself, so someone with a painted truck could do something similar. I don't have access to a bandsaw, drill press, or a few other things at the moment, so I bought these pre-fabbed 3/16-inch tabs at my local specialty hardware store. They were a couple a bucks each, but saved me even more work than I was already doing.

Before positioning the mounting tabs, I made sure the riser was vertically level.

Once level, I slid one of the tabs in the front and one in the back between the 2-inch holes and tacked them in place. I know I said I was trying to avoid welding in/on the truck, but this was the most effective way to make sure the angle of the tab was correct.