Tacoma Seat Hack: Removing Rear Driver's Side Seat for Extra Space

[TrdMarkey]

I recently discovered that the rear driver’s side seat in a double cab can be taken out in roughly 5 minutes with just 4 bolts.

Removing the entire seat provides significantly more room than simply taking off the headrests and folding it down.

I’m considering building a custom platform to create a flat load floor, possibly with drawer slides for easy access to coolers or storage drawers. I want it to be removable, and I plan to keep the other 60% of the seat for my dog, in case anyone’s curious why I’m not removing the whole backseat.

I’m still brainstorming, so any ideas are welcome.

 

[Pappy]

I’m still brainstorming, so any ideas are welcome.

I take it you are not familiar with the rear seat delete from Goose Gear? Ya, it will cost money, but it's turnkey, well made, and stupid easy to install. I have both the passenger side and driver side kits (non-hybrid).

 

[TrdMarkey]

I take it you are not familiar with the rear seat delete from Goose Gear? Ya, it will cost money, but it's turnkey, well made, and stupid easy to install. I have both the passenger side and driver side kits (non-hybrid).

View attachment 2584

Hey, thanks for the tip. I’ve seen some good stuff about Goose Gear’s rear seat delete kits—love that they’re turnkey and super easy to install. How do you like the passenger and driver side kits? Any pros or cons you’d share?

 

[Pappy]

My only advice is read the directions thoroughly before you purchase. There is some drilling and installation of rivet nuts. I've installed more than my share of rivet nuts so this task wasn't a problem for me. Some folks might have heartburn with it.

I really can't come up with any negatives. One positive I will mention. There are a bunch of "extra" holes already pre-drilled on the top. Some have t-nuts installed. Others don't. I went ahead and installed t-nuts in all the holes, (1/4"-20). No drilling, just squeeze them in. Now I have have a bunch of locations for eye-bolts, as you can see in the picture. Home Depot was cheaper than Lowes on the eye-bolts, and you could get black.

I mentioned I have a non-hybrid kit. Others have noted that there isn't as much storage with hybrids because of all the batteries back there. Still, at least you have some, and a shelf for tossing gear. On my passenger side (under the fridge) I installed a 50Ah battery to run the fridge, and ham radio, inside the storage box. There is also a 6-circuit fuse block, and a pair of DC-DC chargers.