Thread: 86 County Replacement seats

I can't help with much, but I do know that any changes to seats or seat anchorages will need engineering approval in NSW.

I would say in every other state as well.

Seats and anchorages have to comply with ADR's. The seat should have the ADR compliance tag on it. If not, the engineer may not pass it.

If the seats, hinge, latch, slides, etc, are from vehicles of a similar year to your vehicle, they should comply with the ADR's that were current for your vehicle. I would then expect, if you do a good job of the installation, and everything is in good condition, you shouldn't have much difficulty.

Possible issues are the strength of the seat box where these parts are fixed if they deviate much from the original seat anchorages. The engineer may require some local strengthening (e.g. doubler plates) - hard to tell without knowing more.

i was about to start looking at this as my doctor is adamant i have to drive something a little less harsh than my county, so i was thinking better seating but that really doesnt much look like an approachable option if i want to stay legal..

hmmmmmmmm

Originally Posted by incisor

i was about to start looking at this as my doctor is adamant i have to drive something a little less harsh than my county, so i was thinking better seating but that really doesnt much look like an approachable option if i want to stay legal..

hmmmmmmmm

Changing the seats is easy to get approved and mod plated in QLD.

When I did mine, the rules were you need to fit 75x75x3mm plates (with rounded corners) - basically large washers under each mounting point, and use class 8.8 mounting hardware. No part of the (new) seat can be modified by cutting or welding.

If you don't want to do the work yourself, there are plenty of places who specialise in doing such work for vans and buses and getting it approved.

Another option though, is to get the existing seat modified by an auto trimmer.

The project '85 County I recently did came with Rangie seats. It had a specially lowered seat box- 50mm- to accomodate them. This seat box had 12mm thick Aluminium plates in place of the original top panels that the Rangie seats sat on. It was all done by Fred Smith & engineered. The problem was that I had a long range tank that needed the original seat clearances, so I went back to Defender seat box & seats.
Its a lot of work to get those Rangie seats in !!
I can dig out the modded seat box & post up a pic or 2 if you want.

i would be very interested in see them....

I dug out the seat box, but I think I re- used the top plates, lucky there is 1 left.

The thick aluminium plates are bolted on to the seat box. Access to the toolboxes is via small hatches.


Aluminium top plate



Note the tunnel cover needs grinding down




You could deepen the battery box, but access would need the seat removed. In this County the batteries were relocated to down to the rear toolbox.

What gearbox were you running?

Originally Posted by flagg

What gearbox were you running?

LT95 4 speed Technically I wasn't running it. The previous owner had all the work done.. Then rolled it in the high plains- I bought the wreck.