I have an '06 Uplander. In the 2nd row, I have 2 removable bucket (not captain) seats without armrest with the removable floor console inbetween the bucket seats.
In the 2nd row on the floor, there are 12 "attachment" brackets. 4 for one bucket seat, 4 for the floor console and 4 for the other bucket seat.
I am wanting to change out the bucket seats and console for captain seats with armrest.
I need help from the '05 through '08 owners with 2nd row captain seats with armrest.
I need the the measurments of where your floor brackets are. Either the measurments from one side to the other side of the van where the middle of each of the floor brackets hits in the floor OR the width of the captain seats floor brackets.
This will help me determine if captain seats will fit in my van.
The dealer should be able to give you this information over the phone, I would think.
I know if I was designing it, I'd make all the seatframes identical and mount them all in the same place on every vehicle (to streamline production). The only exception might be if I was also building a handicapped-accessible van (which I think is available with the Uplander). In that case, the seating arrangement might be slightly different to accomodate wheelchairs, etc.
Here is my problem. I live in a very small town. None of our local dealerships or used car lots have a Uplander with captain seats. The nearest dealer out of town is an hour drive. I have called several of them to ask this question and their responses are 1) "Why don't you bring your van in and trade it in on a new van with the captain seats." OR 2) "Give me your name and # and I will call you back" needless to say, they haven't called back. I realize they are busy and don't want to be bothered with this.
I have also called several dealership parts departments and none of them know.
I have even called Chevrolet directly (a couple of times, hoping that I just got someone that didn't want to bother with it also), and they don't even know. They were the ones that advised me to call dealerships.
I have even looked on the Internet to find vans for sale from private owners that could give me just this one measurement that I need, but I have had no luck finding one.
I thank you for your post and am still hoping that some one will respond.
I'll tell you what - I know there are at least two Uplanders here at my local Chevy dealer because I took a quick look at them a couple of weekends ago. They're both 2007's (used). I don't know if they had the captain's chairs because once I found out they were used I didn't look at them any further.
If either one has the captain's chairs, I'll get you the measurements. One other thing that occurred to me, however, is even if the measurements are the same, the fastening method could be different (although I would think this would be unlikely). I'll try to get a good look at how they tie down. Maybe even take a digital picture. Can't wait to see the look on the salesman's face when he finds out he has no chance at a sale...
Yes, that was what I thought.....go to the dealership and say "yes, I want to look at that Uplander" he opens the door and I take out my tape measure, measure the seats and say "Thanks" and leave!!! hehe!
I am still trying to find something on the Internet about the seats.
I have even read where the Buick Terraza, Pontiac Montana SV6 and the Saturn Relay have the same seats as the Uplander. But I would rather stick with the Uplander seats.
Again, thank you so very much, I truly appreciate it and will be waiting to hear from ya!!!!
Bad news: both vans were used '08 LS's with the armless bucket seats. By the way, one of them was marked down to $14,999 which I thought was a really low price. The other one was $17,999. Anyway, starting with 2008, the Uplander trim lines were reduced to only LS and LT - instead of the LT1, LT2, LT3 baloney of 2007 (and back?). The LS must come standard with the buckets and the LT must have the captain's chairs. What was kind of funny was I included this trip to the dealer in with my other errands and my first stop was at the recycling center where I ran into an older couple driving a Saturn Relay (a rare sight around here). I whipped out my tapemeasure in an attempt to get a quick measurement, but the guy wasn't very receptive and claimed he didn't have the captain's chairs anyway. After failing miserably at the Chevy dealer (where I also attempted to visit the parts department only to find out they had closed at noontime), I headed over to the Buick dealer looking for the pathetic Terrazza I had run into a month or so ago. It was a used 2007 and I was pretty sure it was stripped, but I hunted high and low for it anyway. No luck. Must've sold it to a blind person or dismantled it for parts (it was really ugly). Lastly, I stopped by the Saturn dealer but all they had were a hundred or so Vues, Outlooks, Auras, and Astras. In the used car line they had an old Transport, believe it or not, but I didn't bother to check it out (looked like an '97 or thereabouts).
Get this though - after I got home, I was walking around my sideyard to the front when this white Uplander goes speeding by. So I took a walk down my street to where it pulled into a driveway. It's a brand new '08 LT - which means it has the captain's chairs in it. But I don't know these people and, to be honest, I probably don't want to know them. I'll keep an eye out for one, though. If not those people down the street, then somewhere else
Bad news: both vans were used '08 LS's with the armless bucket seats. By the way, one of them was marked down to $14,999 which I thought was a really low price. The other one was $17,999.
Blame that partially on the worsening automotive industry, an abundance of these models ( a lot coming off of lease/rentals), and a decreasing interest overall in the minivan market. Add to that people are more interested in fuel economy now and SUVs are also suffering along with the minivans.
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Anyway, starting with 2008, the Uplander trim lines were reduced to only LS and LT - instead of the LT1, LT2, LT3 baloney of 2007 (and back?).
That's probably because GM is discontinuing these models after this year in the US and is "paring down" the lines, moving money and production to those lines which have better sales and are continuing. You could kind of call it 'abandonment' on the part of GM.
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Originally Posted by Colt Hero
I know if I was designing it, I'd make all the seatframes identical and mount them all in the same place on every vehicle (to streamline production).
Exactly, that's what GM does. It makes more sense to do it this way to accommodate the various seat configurations amongst these models. I had 2, 1997 Ventures, the predecessor to the Uplander, and both vans had a different seating configuration. One was a 7 passenger, while the other was 8. If you looked at the floor,, you would see that they were identical in appearance, just some of the "slots" in the floor weren't used for one configuration or another.
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Originally Posted by uplander506
I have even read where the Buick Terraza, Pontiac Montana SV6 and the Saturn Relay have the same seats as the Uplander. But I would rather stick with the Uplander seats.
No need here. They are basically the same, although some may appear to look different for the different trim packages available. GM buys or produces these in lots to fit all the vans, just like they do other parts interchangeable through the various models.
Some thoughts on the ongoing discussion. If you can locate a recent copy of a Hollander Interchange manual, ( a lot of salvage yards use these to determine interchangeability between vehicle models and for inventory tagging,)it may tell you if you can use the captains chairs in the middle row. I personally haven't seen an Uplander, or any other GM U Body Platform vans with captains chairs in the middle row, but that doesn't mean you can't use them. Too bad you don't have access to one to see if it will "bolt right in" to the existing slots in your floor. My guess is that it would as previously stated above by Colt Hero, that GM likes to mass produce things and make them the same. I have seen diagrams somewheres that show the distances on the bottom of the seats and distances between certain points on the seat. I don't remember where, but if someone knew what I was describing , they could look at the diagrams for both a captains chair, and a basic chair like is in the vehicle now. Perhaps a place that does handicapped or general customization may have more info. You may try contacting a place like this and ask them if such a conversion is possible.
__________________ Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is in hiding.
If a prostitute here in America loses her job to a prostitute in India , is that considered "outwhoring"??-Jay Leno
I had a '99 Venture (loved it) with the captain seats in the 2nd row and the funny thing is that this Venture had the same floor seat attachement locations as the Uplander!
Actually, my ideal situation would be that I could Install arm rest on the bucket seats I have now. I like the seats with the large floor console inbetween the seats, but they are uncomfortable with out arm rest. And you can't use the console for arm rest because the console is only the same heigth as the seat part on the chair. I posted this question before, but got no reply. What do you guys think?
When I went to the dealership parts guy about the captain seats and/or about installing arm rest on the bucket seats. He printed out a seat part diagram of the captain and bucket seats. He didn't know about installing arm rest and told me to go to a upolstry place and ask them. Where else would be a place to have or see about having this done? A body shop?
The seat diagrams are different on the captain and the bucket of course, but I am thinking to myself, that's why they call it "modify"!
Oh, I just thought about this......if I modified the seats, would that void any warranty on the van?
I so appreciate you guys help, advise and information on all of this, the "experts" don't seem to know anything!
Personally, I'd try real hard to add the armrests. The price of those two chairs would surely make me do it. What are you going to pay for two new chairs - $400? And then you've got two perfectly good chairs that go where - in the garbage? Have you tried to purchase just the armrests from the captain's chairs? If you can get them, someone will find a way to weld them onto your buckets - even if some improvisation is required. They probably won't be retractable, but who cares (as long as they don't get in the way ... otherwise maybe you put them only on one side)? If you can't buy them, then maybe you can have them made at an auto upholstery shop. All it's going to be is a slim metal frame with sponge attached to the top wrapped in cloth. Maybe you design it as a large "U"-shaped piece that attaches to the underside of the seat with bolts (or welds). Maybe these connection points already exist ... take a look all around the sides and bottom of your buckets to see if there are any existing connections points.
Another possibility is to somehow modify the middle console so that it has one armrest on either side for each chair. Build a nice piece of furniture that drops over the top of the existing console for stability (or can be attached to the floor somehow so that it doesn't go flying in an accident). It might have a center cavity capable of holding individual cups or even a flat, flip-top cooler (you'll probably have to design it around a particular cooler and I'd buy at least two of them in case they're discontinued in the future). The padded armrests to either side abutting the chairs would be extra wide (or long) and covered with leather. Underneath them, maybe you could have a couple of slim drawers to hold whatever. The front-facing drawers would need some kind of lock to make sure they didn't come flying out if you stopped short. What I'm describing is probably something you might find in one of those high-end conversion vans. In fact, why don't you visit one of those conversion van businesses and see what they can do. They may already have something in stock that can be adapted to what you need.
It's really hard to believe that GM made seats without arms. That's really stupid. Wonder who the moron was that OK'd that idea...
Personally, I'd try real hard to add the armrests. The price of those two chairs would surely make me do it. What are you going to pay for two new chairs - $400? And then you've got two perfectly good chairs that go where - in the garbage? .
No. Sell them on eBay and get some money back. I've seen seats on eBay for sale for these vans and they do sell. You might even find some captains chairs rather inexpensively through eBay that would fit also.
Another source for captains chairs is www.car-part.com . On this site, you enter your vehicle's info and the part you are looking for. You then get a results page(s) with salvage yards across the country that have the part in their inventory. You can also narrow down the search to areas closer to you. I did a quick search for Uplander Captains Chairs for '05 to '08 and there were some. I remember seeing a tan leather one in VA. The results pages have the salvage yard info along with contact info, and the part, color and condition, and price, usually. Some yards even ship the parts to you.
__________________ Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is in hiding.
If a prostitute here in America loses her job to a prostitute in India , is that considered "outwhoring"??-Jay Leno
Yeah, I know you can sell stuff on Ebay, but if someone's base model seats are torn up and need replacing, that would be good justification for upgrading to the captain's chairs, not another set of armless buckets. Besides, what are base model bucket seats worth from a GM van? Can't be much. Shipping costs will keep the number down a bit, too, I'd think. Maybe someone pays $50 a seat and another $50-$75 to ship them? So you get $100 out of someone, or probably only $50 and wait another 2-3 years for the other $50.
The more I think about it, the more I'd modify the center console (if possible). You can justify it as an upgrade that will be better than the factory original. Replacing seats that are otherwise perfectly fine doesn't seem like a sound decision to me...
I know, why in the world would they not put arm rest on the seats? "Don't fix it if it ain't broke"
Yes, that would be the most cost effective way to go would be to put arm rest on my existing bucket seats.
My thinking is that I could get the arm rest assembly from a salvage yard, even if the leather is in bad condition, I could re-cover the arm as long as the assembly part works.
I found the diagrams of both the bucket and the captain insides on the Internet also. at.....w.newgmparts.com.
The arm would have to be able to go up and down because the seats fold over.
I know that somehow this can work, I need to find a car customizing place.
Opening the "search pool" ( the list of available models from which you could use parts from, like the arm rests,) I wonder if the Venture/Montana/Silhouette vans would also work. The Uplander and Montana are basically "carryover" vehicles and utilize many of the same parts. If you have leather seats, then your best bet might be the Silhouette, as out of all 3 models, the Olds had more vans come with the option of leather. Going back into the discussion, it was mentioned to check out places that do handicapped conversions. That might be a viable option for them to add armrests to your basic seats as they probably have done something like that in the past, or have experience doing something similar in one of their conversions.
__________________ Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is in hiding.
If a prostitute here in America loses her job to a prostitute in India , is that considered "outwhoring"??-Jay Leno
Do you still want those measurements? I found an '05 Montana SVT on a used car lot yesterday. Looked inside and it's got the chairs with the armrests in the middle. These seats DO look more cushioned than the bucket seats, but it's not like they're a LOT nicer. I'd betcha they're not any more comfortable than the buckets.
By the way ... the guy wants $9890 for this thing. Looks kinda beat up to me. The door handles have missing paint ... how the heck does stuff like that happen???
By the way ... the guy wants $9890 for this thing. Looks kinda beat up to me. The door handles have missing paint ... how the heck does stuff like that happen???
Sounds like the poor thing's had a rough life. Some people don't take care of their vehicles :. If the former owner traded in it I wonder how much trade-in value they received?
__________________ Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is in hiding.
If a prostitute here in America loses her job to a prostitute in India , is that considered "outwhoring"??-Jay Leno
:. If the former owner traded in it I wonder how much trade-in value they received?
