Defender rear seat

gymmaniac · Oct 21, 2020

Hey guys,

Has anyone tried putting the 3rd row bench seat out of a Caddy maxi into the back of a defender?

(e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Caddy...674220?hash=item421d22feac:g:kcIAAOSwRl1eMVmA)

I can't find any dimensions of the seat but the size of the maxi makes it look like they should fit.

Surely one of you has had a go?

cheers in advance,

mick 1986 · Oct 22, 2020

gymmaniac said:
Hey guys,

Has anyone tried putting the 3rd row bench seat out of a Caddy maxi into the back of a defender?

(e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Caddy...674220?hash=item421d22feac:g:kcIAAOSwRl1eMVmA)

I can't find any dimensions of the seat but the size of the maxi makes it look like they should fit.

Surely one of you has had a go?

cheers in advance,

Personally I wouldn’t even think about fitting them. The seatbelt lock is part of the seat frame.

What are you trying to achieve?

gymmaniac · Oct 22, 2020

mick 1986 said:
Personally I wouldn’t even think about fitting them. The seatbelt lock is part of the seat frame.

What are you trying to achieve?

Why would it be bad that the seatbelt lock is part of the seat frame?

Hicap phill · Oct 22, 2020

Landrover seats are upright. These ones slope back so to fix them you will need to move onto the edge. Unless you are fitting these forward facing?

they won’t fit well

bankz5152 · Oct 22, 2020

What ever you fit use the original fitted seat belts.

mick 1986 · Oct 23, 2020

gymmaniac said:
Why would it be bad that the seatbelt lock is part of the seat frame?

The seatbelt should be fixed back to the chassis. It’s not impossible, but it won’t be easy, to secure these seats back to the chassis. It’s up to you, but fitting LR designed parts is far easier, and safer.

gymmaniac · Oct 23, 2020

mick 1986 said:
The seatbelt should be fixed back to the chassis. It’s not impossible, but it won’t be easy, to secure these seats back to the chassis. It’s up to you, but fitting LR designed parts is far easier, and safer.

LOL, LR safer? You're not talking about side facing bench seats secured by a washer here are you?
Show me where belt fixings are connect to the chassis (I'll put the disclaimer that mine's a should point out it's a '98 110), I'm fairly confident you'll find nothing extends to the chassis rails.

bankz5152 said:
What ever you fit use the original fitted seat belts.

There are no seat belts in the back of the original.

JimS · Oct 23, 2020

Side facing bench seats in the back of my CSW were just attached to the tub with large washers, lap belts too. Straight from factory... but it was type approved back then as OK.

To retrofit and modify new seats I'm not sure but it looks like the regs are actually not very detailed as to mounting requirements
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...verting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear
For new seatbelt installation:

bankz5152 · Oct 23, 2020

In the rear there are large tubular bars that extend down to the rear crossmember. In the center and other side use huge 5mm thick spreader plates.

If you use the seatbelts in those seats then best be sure its rock solid. Or youre passengers and the seat are going thru the windscreen.

I fitted RRS rear seats into the back of my 110. They use the original LR seatbelts to prevent any issues at MOT time or in the event of an accident. The seats are fitted on a custom box frame with M10 10.9 bolts across the floor with spreader plates.

mick 1986 · Oct 23, 2020

gymmaniac said:
LOL, LR safer? You're not talking about side facing bench seats secured by a washer here are you?
Show me where belt fixings are connect to the chassis (I'll put the disclaimer that mine's a should point out it's a '98 110), I'm fairly confident you'll find nothing extends to the chassis rails.

There are no seat belts in the back of the original.

Side facing bench seatbelts should be attached to a tubular mount, and this mount should be secured to the chassis with another tubular mount. If you think a washer is safe enough for your passengers, then fair enough, but what will your insurance company think?

Good luck fitting what you decide.

Al2O3 · Oct 23, 2020

gymmaniac said:
LOL, LR safer? You're not talking about side facing bench seats secured by a washer here are you?
Show me where belt fixings are connect to the chassis (I'll put the disclaimer that mine's a should point out it's a '98 110), I'm fairly confident you'll find nothing extends to the chassis rails.

There are no seat belts in the back of the original.

My rear seat belts connect to a big tubular bar that is bolted to the chassis. (at the rear cross member) Original LR fitment.

cappers · Oct 23, 2020

gymmaniac said:
LOL, LR safer? You're not talking about side facing bench seats secured by a washer here are you?
Show me where belt fixings are connect to the chassis (I'll put the disclaimer that mine's a should point out it's a '98 110), I'm fairly confident you'll find nothing extends to the chassis rails.

There are no seat belts in the back of the original.

JimS said:
Side facing bench seats in the back of my CSW were just attached to the tub with large washers, lap belts too. Straight from factory... but it was type approved back then as OK.

To retrofit and modify new seats I'm not sure but it looks like the regs are actually not very detailed as to mounting requirements
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...verting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear
For new seatbelt installation:
View attachment 221801

My 1986 (1988 reg) 90 had 4 flip up sideways facing seats plus belts and I removed the o/s pair for space.
All were fixed to the tub with large bolts and washers with no attachment to the chassis.
So it must be an age related thing.

Al2O3 · Oct 23, 2020

capo said:
My 1986 (1988 reg) 90 had 4 flip up sideways facing seats plus belts and I removed the o/s pair for space.
All were fixed to the tub with large bolts and washers with no attachment to the chassis.
So it must be an age related thing.

Mine is a 96 plate

gymmaniac · Oct 23, 2020

Al2O3 said:
Mine is a 96 plate

Then maybe it's a 110 thing...

Anyhow no tubular mounts fitted and we're veering a little bit off topic here. Personally I think it's just as important to make sure the seat doesn't decide to move around the vehicle as it is to have the seat belts secured. I'm sure the guys at VW knew what they were doing when they put the seat belt lock into the Caddy Maxxi seats.

Unless someone else pipes up it looks like no one has tried this themselves yet.

If anyone did have a caddy maxxi on their drive I'd still like to know the bolt positions - pretty please.

Al2O3 · Oct 23, 2020

capo said:
My 1986 (1988 reg) 90 had 4 flip up sideways facing seats plus belts and I removed the o/s pair for space.
All were fixed to the tub with large bolts and washers with no attachment to the chassis.
So it must be an age related thing.

Ahh, my post about mine being a 1996 plate was in response to Capo's post above, because I was then thinking it was an age related thing. Just read back through the post and found yours is a 1998! Mine is an original CSW with the four inward facing seats. Maybe bench seats were different, or could yours have been retro-fitted? It used to be extremely common to find defenders converted to have windows and seats in the back and falsely sold as CSW because they fetched a far higher price.
EDIT
Mine is a 90

mick 1986 · Oct 23, 2020

gymmaniac said:
Then maybe it's a 110 thing...

Anyhow no tubular mounts fitted and we're veering a little bit off topic here. Personally I think it's just as important to make sure the seat doesn't decide to move around the vehicle as it is to have the seat belts secured. I'm sure the guys at VW knew what they were doing when they put the seat belt lock into the Caddy Maxxi seats.

Unless someone else pipes up it looks like no one has tried this themselves yet.

If anyone did have a caddy maxxi on their drive I'd still like to know the bolt positions - pretty please.

I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t do it, just that the way LR have done it is “approved”.

VW will have their seat bolt directly into heavier grade steel that is welded into structural positions, designed to take the high stress loads in an accident. At least that’s how the designers have done the vehicles we build. Hence they can mount the seat belt receiver into the seat.

If your serious about installing it, have a look at the underside of the seat, see if you can find any mounting points. If you can, make a frame or load spreader plates to match up to the mounts. It won’t be right, and probably won’t be “approved”, but should be safe if designed well.

Defender rear seat

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