Remove 3rd row seats

[Dahai]

I am sure there would have been a thread on this subject, and in fact I am positive I read it last week. However despite using the search function, using all combination of words, I can not locate anything.

Would you please advise how to remove the 3rd row of seats from a SDV6 3.0L, or point me to the previous thread. Not having purchased the vehicle yet, nor currently in Aust, I can not go down and have a look at one.

Many thanks.

[CaverD3]

Easily done but you do not gain much space.
You will lose some weight though. Unlike the Tojo the seats just fold flat into the floor and are there if you ever need them. However if you are going to kit it out with draws then removing them will reduce unnecessary weight and allow you to carry more.

[101RRS]

Can I ask why you want to remove the 3rdb row seats - when folded down they are completely flat and the floor load space behind the second row is completely flat.

However I understand that if they are removed the loadspace is no longer flat but you can store stuff in the spot.

Garry

[Dahai]

There is only the two of us, plus most likely a Rottie or Labrador. The 3rd row is not necessary and in fact would look at the 5 seater Discovery, except it is only 2.7 L (and I have had that discussion on this forum).

So it seems to make sense to remove them, as even though they probably weigh around 100kg total, it is still 100kg. Also removal allows for the space to be used for something I hope.

I am sure I read a topic on this Forum, but as I said, for the life of me I can not locate it again.

[101RRS]

There is only the two of us, plus most likely a Rottie or Labrador.

Doggies like their own seats too :cool:.

[oldsalt]

I removed my third row seats, sold them to another member who needed them, so we are both happy.
I'm happy to be rid of the weight of the seats which I would never need, and I intend to fit a slim water tank in the space left, and then fit a set of drawers and fridge slide above it all, so for me it was a "no brainer" to get rid of them.
The removal was very easy - as long as you have the correct Torx bits - and they are just a bit heavy when finally lifting them out - so be careful !!!
I also removed the seat belts and their fittings - so now the rear looks nice and neat (and weighs a lot less)
cheers

[Dahai]

Thanks oldsalt. I expected it to be more difficult. Did you seal the holes with silicon, or just leave them open? I don't know if they go all the way through the bottom of the vehicle, thus would allow dirt to get in if not sealed.

[DiscoWeb]

Can I ask why you want to remove the 3rdb row seats - when folded down they are completely flat and the floor load space behind the second row is completely flat.

However I understand that if they are removed the loadspace is no longer flat but you can store stuff in the spot.

Garry

Garry,

I think I have read of some members removing the seats and constructing false floors and then being able to store a reasonable volume of water in some flexible vessel in the hollow, or put to some other such use.

Only thing you need to be aware of is that you still need to be able to get to your spare wheel lowering mechanism which is located in the well.

Some have manufactured extension rods to get past that when installing a rear draw set ups but it all gets pretty complicated (can not understand why LR simply did not allow the winder to be activated through a slot in the rear bumper or something which would have made life much easier).

Weight could be a factor, but really 100kg removed would not IMHO make a material impact unless you were hard up against the GVM and setting up for long range touring.

My seats get used so this is not something I need to worry about.

Regards,

George

[oldsalt]

Thanks oldsalt. I expected it to be more difficult. Did you seal the holes with silicon, or just leave them open? I don't know if they go all the way through the bottom of the vehicle, thus would allow dirt to get in if not sealed.

I sealed 'em up, and I don't need to access the spare wheel as I've put it on the rear bumper.
cheers

[Chris Preso]

I took the seats out last weekend. I followed the instructions below from disco3uk website. Once I had worked out what I was doing it took less than 60 mins. I used a Torx bit 45, there are 12 bolts/screws to remove. With my 12 yo son helping remove the seats from the inside of the car, they came out in one piece easily enough. I wouldn't be keen to do it by myself.

Cheers, Chris

I have just taken the third row seats out. Not hard but a bit fiddly.

1) remove the tie down bolts (two on each side)
2) lift the trim covers off. The facer around the seat base locking mechanism is only held on by a couple of plastic clips and pulls off fairly easily.. The carpeted trim is also only held on by some plastic clips and just pulls up. This exposes the seat mounting bolts.
3) Remove the side seat mount bolts. You will need a TORX bit #50.
4) partially lift the rear of the seat to expose the base, lift the plastic covers around the centre mount and remove the four bolts.
5) partially lift the front of the seats, lift the plasic cover around the centre mount and remove the two bolts.
6) Lift the whole unit out. It weighs 50+kg so a second person to help would be helpfull.


It looks like the seats are in two separate sections and are joined by six rivets to make a full unit.
The rivets could easily be drilled out splitting the seats into two and one seat could then be re-installed back into the vehicle.

[AGRO]

I removed the third row seats after fitting a long range tank and spare wheel carrier. I used the LR two piece false floor from a 5 seater to fill the gap and match the carpet. I was lucky to have in my possession the false floor and associated hardware from a previously owned 5 seat D4.

The resulting under floor cavity is great for spares, tools and other "good" things that a bloke might need. Later a flexible water tank may be installed.

I pulled the seats myself but they are heavy and awkward.

[jonesy63]

For those people that worry about the legality of permanently removing the seats - you need to go over the pits and have the seating capacity lowered from 7 to 5. Just something else to keep in mind. For instance, if you're involved in an accident - I'm sure your insurance inspector would love to find out you made this change! :angel:

[Dahai]

Good point jonesy63. However I would have thought that when insuring the vehicle, if you said that the 3rd row had been removed, then it would be listed on the policy. However, certainly something to bear in mind and discuss with insurance befor hand.
I will wait until I purchase the vehicle and have a look at it. Perhaps get the dealer to remove them at the time of purchase.
As there are air bags fitted to the side and curtain, I don't know if they are part of the seat, in which case further care might need to be taken when removing the seat.
Will know more later this year.
Thank you all for your assistance.

[DiscoWeb]

As there are air bags fitted to the side and curtain, I don't know if they are part of the seat, in which case further care might need to be taken when removing the seat.
Will know more later this year.
Thank you all for your assistance.

Dahai,

Happy to stand corrected however as I recall the air bags are not fitted into the 3rd row of seat, they are curtain style bags that come out form the rear pillars. If you have a look at the rear of the cabin you will see the plastic covers marked with "Airbag".

Side impact airbags are built into the driver and passenger seats (I think) which is why you need airbag compatible seat covers if you are planing on putting a cover over the the front seats.

Not sure about the second row but again think the bags are located in the vehicle frame and not the seat.

George.

[oldsalt]

Yep the air bags are in the rear pillars, I swapped my rear covers with the bloke I sold the seats to as he also took my seatbelts and needed the covers with the slits in them for the belts. Putting the covers back on was a bit of a pain as the little plastic plugs kept on bending - same as the plugs used to hold the windscreen side trims, I bought a big bag of 'em from my local LR dealer so I've got some spares for other jobs....
cheers

[Damo83]

Hi guys...

If anyone is looking to offload seats they have removed, I will gladly take them off your hands....and will also give you the rear pillar trim so u don't have the seat belts holes. My mrs is expecting so I need seats asap!! Pm me if interested..:)

[Bushwanderer]

Hi Damo,
What vehicle do you have and is it coil- or air-sprung?

Best Wishes,
Peter

[Damo83]

Hi guys...

If anyone is looking to offload seats they have removed, I will gladly take them off your hands....and will also give you the rear pillar trim so u don't have the seat belts holes. My mrs is expecting so I need seats asap!! Pm me if interested..:)

[Damo83]

Hi Damo,
What vehicle do you have and is it coil- or air-sprung?

Best Wishes,
Peter

Hi Peter

I have a d3 hse v8 with air suspension

[Bushwanderer]

Hi Damo,
Should be fine. ;)

Best Wishes,
Peter

[komodo]

I took the seats out last weekend. I followed the instructions below from disco3uk website. Once I had worked out what I was doing it took less than 60 mins. I used a Torx bit 45, there are 12 bolts/screws to remove. With my 12 yo son helping remove the seats from the inside of the car, they came out in one piece easily enough. I wouldn't be keen to do it by myself.

Cheers, Chris

I have just taken the third row seats out. Not hard but a bit fiddly.

1) remove the tie down bolts (two on each side)
2) lift the trim covers off. The facer around the seat base locking mechanism is only held on by a couple of plastic clips and pulls off fairly easily.. The carpeted trim is also only held on by some plastic clips and just pulls up. This exposes the seat mounting bolts.
3) Remove the side seat mount bolts. You will need a TORX bit #50.
4) partially lift the rear of the seat to expose the base, lift the plastic covers around the centre mount and remove the four bolts.
5) partially lift the front of the seats, lift the plasic cover around the centre mount and remove the two bolts.
6) Lift the whole unit out. It weighs 50+kg so a second person to help would be helpfull.


It looks like the seats are in two separate sections and are joined by six rivets to make a full unit.
The rivets could easily be drilled out splitting the seats into two and one seat could then be re-installed back into the vehicle.

THANKYOU!!!
This information was SO hard to find on this forum. Heaps of people saying "its easy"
Its "easy" enough but its certainly not straight forward. Landrover once again proving theres a right way, a wrong way and a british way of doing everything.
You DON'T need to drill out the rivets to remove them separately.
You'll need a T40 and a T50 torx bit and a 5mm allen key drive.

There are 5 bolts along the rail in the centre to remove - the forward most ones are the most difficult to remove because of the trim (you wouldn't have this issue if removing them as a pair)
The middle bolt doesn't need to come out (as I found out after I removed the seats) its just to support a brace/part of the rest for the base of the seat.

if you undo the front mount bracket it will help you to remove the seats individually as you can push the base up to clear the trim - you don't need to do this but it will make it easier.


As for weight - you'd be lucky to save 50kg (less once you replace them with a false floor etc). There is a reasonable amount of room for a water bladder or similar but people removing them for weight saving are barking up the wrong tree IMHO.
I removed mine to clean under there thanks to my dog deciding to have a spew (I can tell you I was impressed...)
Clearly no one thought about cleaning in/around these seats when designing them

[roverthon]

Does anyone know the actual space gained from removing the third row? I'm wanting to install a 59 litre water tank 865mm (L) x 490mm (W) x 190mm (D)

[NomadicD3]

hi,
Removing the 3rd row gives you an area 880mm wide ie: across the vehicle approx 850mm long ie: rear to front, into the vehicle with a maximum depth of 100mm to the original floor line/level. However the opening is only 100mm deep for about 400mm into the vehicle then tapers up to about 40mm. Also note that the rear floor line is not in line with the tailgate when open.
All this applies to a D3 of course.
good luck
regards
Brian

[pwillo]

I had a custom water bladder made up to fit the space with inlet, outlet and vent. Connected a pump and ended up with a firehose, despite buying the lowest flow pump I could find.

Regards

[dalil]

Disco TDV6 is 5 seater , 7 seater is optional there should be no problem with insurance. I have installed 57 litres fuel tank in that space fully plumbed in with double filling neck and i don't have to use the nonsense wheel carrier in the back.

[DiscoDB]

Disco TDV6 is 5 seater , 7 seater is optional there should be no problem with insurance. I have installed 57 litres fuel tank in that space fully plumbed in with double filling neck and i don't have to use the nonsense wheel carrier in the back.

Hi dalil - so how did you end up achieving this? Would love to see some pictures of your set up.

[dalil]

101514

101515
I am on holiday at seventeen seventy now so i am posting it from my phone not sure if you can see anything.
Transfer to the main tank is by gravity. There is installed T about 300 mm before main tank into
filling hose.
If you would like more information let me know.

[dalil]

More photos.

[Nicky]

101514

101515
I am on holiday at seventeen seventy now so i am posting it from my phone not sure if you can see anything.
Transfer to the main tank is by gravity. There is installed T about 300 mm before main tank into
filling hose.
If you would like more information let me know.

Does your insurer know and approves?

[dalil]

Yes my insurance know that I have second fuel tank, they dont ask who make it or install.
Tank is made from 3 mm steel by licensed place to make fuel tanks.

[DiscoDB]

Looks like a great use of the space. Impressed you fitted in a 57L tank and it would be neutral from a total weight point of view with the weight you saved removing the seats.

[dalil]

The only problem is that the top of the tank is flat and vent is in one corner so if concrete at the petrol station is not level i can fill only 50 around litres of diesel.

[ianmclean]

I took the seats out last weekend. I followed the instructions below from disco3uk website. Once I had worked out what I was doing it took less than 60 mins. I used a Torx bit 45, there are 12 bolts/screws to remove. With my 12 yo son helping remove the seats from the inside of the car, they came out in one piece easily enough. I wouldn't be keen to do it by myself.

Cheers, Chris

I have just taken the third row seats out. Not hard but a bit fiddly.

1) remove the tie down bolts (two on each side)
2) lift the trim covers off. The facer around the seat base locking mechanism is only held on by a couple of plastic clips and pulls off fairly easily.. The carpeted trim is also only held on by some plastic clips and just pulls up. This exposes the seat mounting bolts.
3) Remove the side seat mount bolts. You will need a TORX bit #50.
4) partially lift the rear of the seat to expose the base, lift the plastic covers around the centre mount and remove the four bolts.
5) partially lift the front of the seats, lift the plasic cover around the centre mount and remove the two bolts.
6) Lift the whole unit out. It weighs 50+kg so a second person to help would be helpfull.


It looks like the seats are in two separate sections and are joined by six rivets to make a full unit.
The rivets could easily be drilled out splitting the seats into two and one seat could then be re-installed back into the vehicle.

Which way does the facer around the seat base locking mechanism lift off (upwards or side-ways)? I have tentatively tried to lift it but nothing seems to be moving other than flexing the trim - don't really want to break it. Are there only two clips and are they under the label?
Thanks, Ian

[LRD414]

I took the seats out last weekend. I followed the instructions below from disco3uk website. Once I had worked out what I was doing it took less than 60 mins.

Just completed this job today. The instructions earlier in this thread are pretty much spot on but thought I'd add a couple of details and photos that may be of assistance to others.
Original instructions in bold and my comments are in italics.

1) Remove the tie down bolts (two on each side).
What the tie-down look like when out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/510.jpg

2a) Lift the trim covers off.
The facer around the seat base locking mechanism is only held on by a couple of plastic clips and pulls off fairly easily.
These pieces have easy-to-break tabs (broken ones circled in red below).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/392.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/511.jpg
You need to pull up only, as vertical as possible.
I did this on the 2nd one but still broke a tab (left one in photo above).

2b) The carpeted trim is also only held on by some plastic clips and just pulls up. This exposes the seat mounting bolts.
Two photos of the underside of the carpeted trim for reference.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/512.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/513.jpg



3) Remove the side seat mount bolts. You will need a TORX bit T50.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/514.jpg


4) Partially lift the rear of the seat to expose the base, lift the plastic covers around the centre mount and remove the four bolts.
Left photo shows plastic cover closed. Right photo shows cover open to expose bolts.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/515.jpg

5) Partially lift the front of the seats, lift the plasic cover around the centre mount and remove the two bolts.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/516.jpg

6) Lift the whole unit out. It weighs 50+kg so a second person to help would be helpful.
It is a two-person job for sure. It is difficult to weigh but we estimated closer to 40kg using bathroom scales.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/517.jpg

Note the blue tape on the side seat bolting brackets. The brackets are sharp and will scratch the trim on the way out.

Cheers,
Scott

[Ian Abbott]

I removed my third row seats, sold them to another member who needed them, so we are both happy.
I'm happy to be rid of the weight of the seats which I would never need, and I intend to fit a slim water tank in the space left, and then fit a set of drawers and fridge slide above it all, so for me it was a "no brainer" to get rid of them.
The removal was very easy - as long as you have the correct Torx bits - and they are just a bit heavy when finally lifting them out - so be careful !!!
I also removed the seat belts and their fittings - so now the rear looks nice and neat (and weighs a lot less)
cheers


We have removed 2nd row for one journey to Broome and return Perth when we needed extra space for water (flexi bladder) and suitcases as well as all camping gear for 3 weeks as well as the suitcases for boat trip.
Agree with Oldsalt they come out fine with approp. ratchet, flexible wrists and good biceps to finally lift/put back in, oh and that Torx piece for the wrench extension, (assuming 3rd row needs extension, maybe not). Space gained = no damage to flexi water tank plus 2 x suitcases fitted where 2nd seats were. All went back in fine on our return. Goodluck.
Thinking of doing the same for another trip, this time though as per your case, 3rd row, to allow access to spare wheel release nut setup without removing all the rear load space luggage.
Regards, Ian A

[LRD414]

Just wanted to add part number details for the trim covers that got broken:

HXT500780PVJ (right hand side)
HXT500790PVJ (left hand side)

$10 each from the dealer spare parts dept.

Scott


2a) Lift the trim covers off.
The facer around the seat base locking mechanism is only held on by a couple of plastic clips and pulls off fairly easily.
These pieces have easy-to-break tabs (broken ones circled in red below).
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/03/392.jpg

You need to pull up only, as vertical as possible.
I did this on the 2nd one but still broke a tab (left one in photo above).

[gloverpcg]

Hi Dalil
Just read your post on your in vehicle fuel tank. Looks great.
Would you have the dimensions for your tank and approx cost to fabricate.
Have you put a false floor over the tank.
regards
Peter

[RobA]

Can I ask why you want to remove the 3rdb row seats - when folded down they are completely flat and the floor load space behind the second row is completely flat.

However I understand that if they are removed the loadspace is no longer flat but you can store stuff in the spot.

Garry

You actually get a huge amount of space. We have the following where the seats used to be; hi-lift jack base plate, second wooden jack plate, large sidchrome toolkit, snatch strap, 30m of plasma rope, torque wrench, wheel changing wrench, axe(long handle), two puncture repair kits, tarp, tree trunk protector, cable damper, rubber mallet and two safety vests and a drag chain. All easy to access via our custom built sliding tray which holds; the fridge, tool kit, compressor, porta-potti, 36 bottles of wine and our winter clothing given we are currently in the Kimberley and returning to Adelaide late September when it will still be a touch cold

Rob

[LRHybrid100]

can you please share with us who made the tank? I'm looking for a similar option but for a water tank under my draw system at the moment.

Cheers LRH


More photos.