No one drives around in their truck wondering if their seats will support and keep them safe in the unfortunate event of an accident, crash, or rollover. Why should we, our seats are good enough, right? Wrong. For this story, we're looking at how factory seats need to be upgraded, just like new tires, new suspension, and other safety devices. Factory trucks are designed for minimum off-road use and in the event you use your truck for more than just a jaunt to the local fishing hole, your seats may be a weak link inside your cab.
This Ford Ranger was equipped with an upgraded long-travel desert suspension, Nitto off-road tires, and front and rear off-road bumpers. Using the truck for what it was built for, the owner was concerned about overall safety when running the truck up and down desert dunes. Admittedly, the factory seats were replaced with, let's just say, "a quick fix", with mismatched import-style seats. Wanting to step up and do things the right way, he contacted MasterCraft seats for a pair of its Baja RS race seats. MasterCraft's slogan is "Safety in Seating", and after doing our homework, we realized they use mandrel-bent and MIG-welded 3/4-inch tubing, fire retardant heavy polyurethane foam for cushioning, and are covered in Rogue Naugahyde with a center insert of close-weave nylon fabric for added durability. A couple clicks of the mouse later, we ordered a pair of seats and upon their arrival, installed them in just about an hour. Check out how we made this Ranger safer, better looking, and more off-road legit with a pair of MasterCraft seats.
Opening the doors to our extended...
Opening the doors to our extended cab Ford Ranger, the mismatched import-style seats provided little support, even less comfort, and we didn't feel safe while hitting the dunes.
Using a 15mm socket, the four...
Using a 15mm socket, the four seat retaining bolts were removed and the seats pulled free from the truck.
A large Torx bit was then...
A large Torx bit was then used to remove the factory seatbelt locking mechanism. The seatbelt sensor harness was uplugged and discarded. For this install, we did not reuse the factory seatbelt, but rather used a four-point race-style harness.