Swap reclining seats into a '98 Cheyenne 1500?

LSU fan · August 1, 2003

I have a '98 regular cab C1500 cheyenne. I like the truck buy my wife hates the fact that the seats don't recline. I was wondering if the seats in an extra cab cheyenne reclined. If so, could I swap a bench seat out of an extra cab into my regular cab? My other idea was to swap in a bench seat from a 95 - 98 Silverado into my truck. Any idea if it would bolt in? Any and all advice is appreciated.

99-2door · August 2, 2003

Cheyenne seats don't recline. You want a bench seat from a 95-98 Silverado/SLE. They have independent seatbacks and a fold down armrest in the center position. 97 and 98 have a console in the center fold down section. This seat comes in a becnch configuration or a 60/40 configuration. The bench will bolt into your stock holes, for the 60/40 you will have to drill some new holes. It also has power lumbar support adjustment for driver and passenger. The silverado seat is 1000x more comfortable than the Cheyenne seat.

LSU fan · August 2, 2003

Thanks for the info. When you say I would have to drill some new holes for the 60/40 how tough a modification is this? Is it just a couple of holes or do I have to basically start from scratch with the seat mounting holes. I'm going to hit a few used car lots today to find a chevy with a 60/40 in it so I can see how it mounts. Thanks again for the help.

99-2door · August 3, 2003

The outside holes should be the same on the 60/40, but the inside 4 (2 on each section) will have to be drilled. You will have to reinforce the holes with something to give the metal some strength there (some wide washers or flat pieces of metal should work. Some trucks have holes with the nuts welded in already in the inside locations, it just has a little patch glued over the holes from the factory. Not all of them have it though you will have to check your truck. For the power lumbar support to work you will need to wire a fused hot wire and a ground for the seat. The bench seat has one plug on the driver's side and the 60/40 has a plug on both sides. Keep in mind that you still won't be able to recline the seats very far, but it is a more comfortable seating position with the Silverado seats, you at least have some adjustment to work with. The farther forward you move the seat the farther you can lean the backs, but you won't be laying down like in an extended cab

99-2door · August 3, 2003

I should add that there are 2 versions of the 60/40 seat. One version is for an extended cab truck and has the fast forward feature on the passenger's side. You don't want to use this one as it will cause you to have to drill all four holes to mount it (It will work, just a little more work for something you can't use). The 2nd version is for regular cab trucks and 9 passenger suburbans. It has no fast-forward feature and mounts to the same outside holes. To distingush the 2 apart easily look for a lever on the upper seat back on the passnger side. There is also a power 60/40 available, although you don't see many of them ( I have only seen one truck that had this, my brother's 98 K1500). Really you are only limited by how far you want to go with this upgrade. You could even get a set of cloth or leather bucket seats and a center console

LSU fan · August 3, 2003

Man, you know your seats. One last question. You said earlier that the Silverado sear was available in 60/40 or a bench. What years was the bench available? I thought the Silverado had a 60/40 since the early '90s. Thanks for all the info.