Rear child seat suggestions for the FJ40
We have a '71 FJ40 which has the bench front seats with lap belts and the folding rear jump seats. I installed a factory roll bar out of a '76 FJ40 just so I could have an attachment point for some retractable shoulder belts for the front seats. I purchased the retractable seat belts from Cool Cruisers of Texas
http://coolfj40.stores.yahoo.net/seatbelfj19t.html. You will need a few of the 3" metal strap extensions to make it work better. I now put the "booster" seat upfront and so we can strap the children in.
Because our Cruiser had the long jump seats which do not fit "inside" the roll bar when folded up, we sold them and then bought some short jump seats. Any cross-facing jump seats are not an ideal solution for children or really anyone in the rear, so I installed a forward-facing rear "Jeep" seat from Bestop
http://www.bestop.com/component/products/?view=product&id=92. I ordered this seat from Summit Racing for $280
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BST-39435-01/, shipped free to our local store, and then spent about $12 on grade 8 bolts, nuts, and washers, and then I ordered rear lap belts from Cool Cruisers
http://coolfj40.stores.yahoo.net/seatbelrearj.html for $25, which match the front seat belt in terms of having the same buckles or clasps. A time-saving $25 step bit was needed to drill a total of six holes in the tub in order to mount the seat.
The most time spent was in trying to position the seat in an optimal position. 'Measure 100 times and cut (drill) once,right?. Because the seat sits at an angle and fold up, you have to look at the clearance from the rear hatch and where the tub/frame bends at an angle in order to be able to get the mounting bolts through.
All in all, the new rear seat, seat belts, and nuts and bolts was right at $350. Cool Cruisers has the same rear seat for $474
http://coolfj40.stores.yahoo.net/seatbenchfj40.html. They added a "pole" to stand the seat up and added different mounting brackets for the front of the seat, so I guess that is what makes up the $100 difference in the cost. If the shipping cost for the Cool Cruiser seat is not an issue, then I would recommend buying it. (I would still mount the seat as far back as you can in order to give your passengers the most leg room possible). If you fold the Bestop seat up, it will move around a bit, but I don't see this as a problem if you push your gear up near the seat, or you could just simply tie it down with something. We mounted our forward-facing rear Jeep seat as far "back" as we could so as to allow the most leg room for the rear passengers and to try to save the rear heater from getting kicked and dinged.
The jump seats look much better, and we will replace the "Jeep" seat with the jump seat when the kids get bigger. Getting into the rear seat has to be done through the front doors by folding down the driver or passenger seat. You really need to be limber and patient as getting into and out of the rear seat is not as easy as some. If you're a very big or are a fat boy or girl, you should try to ride in the front seats. Once in though, we found that we had a lot of leg room (Two 6' guys 200 pounds each fit fine in the rear seat). For the kids in the rear, we just put their booster seats in and secure them with the new lap belts. I did not see a way to make any shoulder strap seat belts work for the rear without adding an addition of some type to the roll bar.
Having shoulder straps in the front seats and a forward-facing rear seat with lap belts makes me feel better about the safety of myself and my passengers, but realistically, if you are involved in a serious accident in your FJ40, I would say that you're going to be in pretty bad shape depending on the mass and inertia of whatever you run into. I drive carefully and try not to imagine wrecking in this vehicle.
As an added plus, installing seat belts and new seats gives you an opportunity to "update" your seats and clean out all of the dirt and debris that gets trapped under the seat in all of the nooks and crevices. We ended up sandblasting and powder coating the frames and having the seats reupholstered. (On that note, take your seats to a professional upholsterer because the foam kits and even some of the seat covers just do not provide a good "fit" and enough cushioning. Our guy ended up using two layers of high density foam like the kind used for motorcycle seats, and he ended up shaving and fitting some of the bottom cushion foams just so the seats would fold down properly when and if you ever do need to get into the back seat. Our seats look better than any I've seen on the posts here and on IH8MUD).
Let us know what you come up with and please post some pics!
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