How to Make an Eight-Passenger Jeep Gladiator
The Jeep Gladiator is many things—convertible, off-roader, tow rig and pickup truck—but it never seats more than five passengers. As I see it, that's a problem, because you might occasionally have more than five people who want to get in on some Gladiator antics.
What do you do then? Buy a second Gladiator? Sure, you could. But I have a less expensive solution for you: add a third-row seat. As with so many aftermarket solutions, this one would be for off-road use only.
Now, astute observers will notice that the Gladiator is a pickup truck, which means that any additional seating would go in the bed. You'd want a roll bar or cage, which would mean that ingress and egress would be a challenge—even if you climbed up over the rear tire, you'd have to squeeze between the roll cage and the top of the bed.
As I stared at the Gladiator, imagining how this could work, I had the sort of epiphany that must have hit Einstein or Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx: Point the seat backwards. Then you could climb in from the back. And you could use a four-point diagonal roll bar, instead of a full cage, if you wanted.
Gripped by this fever vision, I became consumed with seeing it turn to reality. But where to get a seat to test my theory? A loveseat? Three kitchen chairs? Ah ha: the Bronco!
As it happens, my garage contains a vehicle that is quite literally a short-wheelbase pickup truck with seats in the bed. In fact, the back seat in my 1993 Bronco is removable in about two minutes with no tools, which turns it from a five-passenger SUV to a two-seat pickup truck.
Before attempting to mock up a three-row Gladiator, I took some quick measurements. The bottom cushion of the Bronco's rear bench is about 48 inches wide. The Gladiator's bed is somewhat wider. That was all the information I needed to pull the two pins that secure the Bronco's rear seat and drag it out to the Gladiator.
Where I found that it fits perfectly, the front mounting brackets (now facing rearward) perched right atop the wheel wells. Voila! An eight-passenger convertible.
Now, you'd have to do some work to make this proper. You could transplant Bronco mounting hardware to the Gladiator wheel wells for the front clips, but you'd need a tall bed mount for the heavy latch that secures the back of the seat. And you'd need a cage or roll bar to mount the top of the outboard shoulder harnesses. (The middle position has a built-in lap belt.)
But that's not a huge challenge—that's how I have it set up in the Bronco, which is open in the back except for the cage and a safari top. Rear shoulder belts out of a Wrangler would probably work.
So, no, this isn't a complete how-to guide. There would be a few more steps to make it safe. But rear-facing third row seats are excellent (see: Roadmaster wagon, Benz wagons, Tesla Model S) and they're even better in trucks (see... da' BRAT). Like I said, you'd only want to use an additional row off-road, just like Jeep says should be the case with putting the Gladiator's windshield down, but that would be a fun way to get down the beach. Perhaps Mopar will offer a kit like this (HINT HINT). In the meantime, get to the junkyard and find yourself a Bronco seat before the other Gladiator owners scrounge them all.
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