Not sure anyone has ever done this, but I would like to take out my passenger seats while maintaining the jump seats in the back. The concept here is to have the entire back area dedicated to a dog and cargo, and if I ever do need to have passengers, they can use the third row seating. I'll be picking up my Defender this weekend and this is something that I'm contemplating to make our travels easier. Does anyone know if there's anything preventing a straight-forward removal of these seats? Thanks.

 

While the idea is great, you're going to really have to want to take out the seats, as the 5+2 setup in the 110 is pretty much useless. You'll struggle to get a five-year-old in the third row unless you amputate their limbs.

 

I figure that once the 2nd row is out, they'll be a lot more comfortable on the rare occasion if we ever do need to carry passengers.

 

While legroom will increase significantly, the width of the 3rd row is the issue. The Defender is actually narrower in the back than the front. It is virtually impossible to sit two adults side by side in a 110's third row. It's the same story with the RRS and Disco Sport third row. The D5, RR LWB and 130 have a third row that can comfortably fit adults.

 

Well, comfort's not really an issue. The times we'd have two adults sitting there for extended trips would be few if any. That being said, do you have any insight into how difficult it might be to remove the 2nd row?

 

Do you have the heated second row?

You'll have some passenger sensors to deal with once the seat's been removed. The GAP programmer should be able to deal with those sensors. I'm not sure if those sensors are tied to the air bag system, but I know there's a setting to shut off the rear seat alerts if you want. Then you'll need to deal with the undulations of the floor. It's not a flat floor that it's bolted to. The seatbelt mounts are also there as well as mounting points for kids car seats.
The seat itself is super heavy. The lift they use to install it is pretty impressive the way it articulates the assembly into the vehicle. They set the seats in place, then the doors are bolted on.

IDK, I bought a partition to put behind the second row and then put a huge dog bed in the back and let my Lab ride back there. He can shed all he wants back there!
I think you'll find removing that second seat and just leaving the third row is going to be a bunny trail you wished you didn't go down.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The plan would be to build a platform after the removal, much like a Goosegear platform/seat-delete. These are all good points. I'll have to think long and hard if the benefit is worth the effort. Thanks again!

 

the answer to your question about seat removal is: removing the seats is going to be really straightforward, i took mine out to install some aftermarket sound dampening. I started by putting the second row down so that it's completely flat, then taking out the boot floor and styrofoam trunk liner (that holds the jack etc) out. Once I did that all the hardware and wiring were easy to see, there's a lot of it. There's also some styrofoam material under 2nd row, not sure if it's just sound dampening or if it's there to support/protect the seat backs when they're folded down.

Before you start building, there was a UK commercial version of the 110 with no rear seats at all? (see this video at 13:30 mark: ). You may be able to just order the parts and just bolt the floor on. Hmm, if there's a 90 commercial version (no rear seats) I wonder if you could just by that kit and then maybe you wouldn't have to modify the 110 version to keep your 3rd row seats.

If you DIY, please post some photos. I can't imagine fabricating a flat floor between the third row and the front seats will be easy or attractive.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

Found this:

I also found a video on the L663 90 hardtop (van) but it looks like you'd need the parts from the 110; the 90's flat-floor parts look to be installed where your 3rd row would be.