I have replaced my Flexsteel cockpit seats with Villa seats. The Villa seats were considerably larger than the Flexsteel seats. In spite of this, the Villa Cockpit seat fit in the same footprint of the Flexsteel seat (after drilling two new holes in the Villa baseplate).
However, the Villa, being bigger in all dimensions, places it too close to the wall to let it swivel around to face the rear of the coach. Also, it is a little close to the steering wheel to be very comfortable on a long trip. I am thinking about drilling four new holes to relocate it slightly. It looks like two inches towards the center will let it rotate, and one inch further from the steering wheel will allow for more comfortable seating.
Has anyone else done this before? Did you run into any problems?
I have some thin stainless steel sheets, like used in some commercial restaurants as wall covering. I am thinking of using it to cover the old holes. With caulking, it should keep wet stuff out of the coach (not to add strength).
All suggestions and advice about accomplishing my objectives, eagerly solicited,
Thank you,
Trent
Will it clear the couch if you move it to the rear?
We replaced the couch with two recliners; there is plenty of room.
Trent
I do not know the "internals" of the area the front seats mount to. So, do not know if there are structural members in the current location and if so if it is a plate (vs box beam in that location) that would offer sufficient strength in a slightly different location.
Aubry at MOT would likely know.
If this becomes an issue, you would certainly use a steel plate in the wheel well to transfer stress of the new location to the OE beams.
BTW, I did a mechanical inspection on a coach yesterday-- they installed new seats and left the old holes totally open/unsealed-- wow. Yup that is on the list.
off center position of the seat with regards to the steering wheel ay also cause some annoyance.
Tim Fiedler
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Foretravel switched mine form Villa's to Flexsteel under warranty, with a note about couch and mounting mods needed. No details on the receipt about how it was done.
Just though of another "how is the seat mounting area reinforced": From underneath (top of wheel well), use a strong magnet to determine where the metal/reinforcements are. That will tell you how Foretravel designed the structural reinforcement for mounting the seat.
No reinforcement is obvious, either on top, or on the bottom. I did have to drill some new holes for the copilot seat. Once I got through the plywood subfloor, the holes went right through the rest of the bottom sandwich with ease. There were oversized washers glued (?) to the bottom of the coach.
I do have a box of those small, strong magnets and will try them on the wheel well areas.
Thanks,
Trent
To move the passenger seat rearward 4" in a SOB we had I used an oversized 1/4" steel plate that had six holes drilled in it as a cantilever . Four of the holes matched the original mounting holes in the floor with the other two holes located 4" rearward. I bolted the front of the plate into the front OEM floor holes and bolted the front of the seat bracket into the rear OEM floor holes through the plate. I welded nuts to the bottom of the two remaining holes in the plate to accommodate bolts to hold the rear of the seat bracket in place.
Forgot to say that the 4" was opportune as it was not only the distance between the front and rear seat mount holes, but also the perfect distance to relocate the seat.