missouriman

I hope you guys can help me out with pictures and how you mounted car seats.

I have a 2002 dodge extended cab.
the wife wants the car seat mounted in the rear seat.
this is a forward faceing seat.

it is a graco my ride 70 seat.

http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pa...ductID=1829471


my problem is when I sit up up right as shown in the graco book there is a good 4 or 5 inch gap between the truck seat and the bottom of the car seat.

I was thinking about cutting a piece of plywood to fit under the seat with a 4x4 screwed to that to make the rear seat more level. maybe ratchet strap that to the lower seat then mount the car seat with the restraints and seat belt.

here is is against the back window and no leg room. can't strap it down tight as it is touching the back window.



here it is sitting as shown in the graco manual.




here is the gap that I am talking about. I guess it is because the rear seat has a butt pocket to make it seem like you have more leg room.



I have read the dodge manual, the car seat manual.
the local fire departments don't mount car seats anymore.
the high way patrol was of no help.

not sure where else to go for help to make sure this is safe.

thank you in advance for any advice, pictures, idea's.

SIXSLUG

I mounted ours kind of like yours shows. Its not the exact same seat, but it didn't seem to look like the pics once I got it in.

My FF buddy said to get it in straight, facing the correct direction and to get my knee into it and cinch it down as tight as I could, which is what I did and they all have worked fine.

You aren't supposed to add any padding or alter the base or modify anything or blah, blah blah liability blah, whatever.

The biggest concern is the childs head isn't very well protected in a front to back direction, the seat supports their size body a lot better and keeps them in the vehicle. That is its main purpose.

As a responsible parent I feel that I had the seats as secure as possible and always drive as carefully as I can and as attentively as I can to decrease the odds of an accident.

Getting it down tight is your best defense....or see if you can find a better fitting seat for the back of your truck.

missouriman

guess that I am just going to have to mount it the best I can. Which will be over kill!! just going to do my 4x4 ply base strapped to the seat base and then mount the car seat using the seat belts and restraints. If I don't feel that is enough then I will find some where to hook on a big ratchet strap and be done with this.. been looking for information for 2 weeks now. thanks for your advice... sounds the same as what I have been thinking. level it and strap the **** out of it.

I told my wife, in the event of a crash, weight is on my side, this is a big heavy truck with a huge and heavy motor.... in a crash, I win. The motor will plow a hole through the cars and mini vans!!

joem

There should be a way to make it sit more upright, thats pretty reclined! The new larger car seats are tough to put in, I have that same issue in the front seat of my toyota. Used a rolled up towell to support the base @ that gap. Get the incline right and tighten it up. They also sell mat's to protect your leather- Oh and about the CTD winning in a wreck.... its actually the very reason I now own one myself as I was 3rd on scene of a nasty head on in the late 90's where a guy in a full sized van crossed the center line and hit a CTD that was pulling a 29' trailer. Both peple in the CTD were ok other than the drivers knee was broken from hitting the dash but thats about it. Other driver not so lucky. I have a old 8mm video of the rigs somewhere..

joem

In regards to the CTD winning in a wreck, very true! The Dana 60 is what plowed threw the van, Here is the above posted aftermath. The towing company put the rigs on display to show people what drinking and driveing does! Sure worked! Again, the 2 in the CTD were ok. Drivers left knee was busted and the passanger was more freaked out than anythning else. The 29' trailer he was pulling is what caused the frame to bend.
Video will be removed in a few days.

http://youtu.be/d2Z8nwpYNz8

SIXSLUG

I wanted to mention I am in no way suggesting that you go around the instructions, just that I have to make do with what I had and the biggest concern I had was my kid's heads not being restrained in any way...adults get whiplash, a child can separate his spinal cord from his brain stem,...ugly ugly ugly to think about.

Just to let you know, I can get the seats in my truck's backseat so tight with just the seatbelt you cannot even rock them side to side, which is the best I can get til it's out of my hands.

Safety first.

missouriman

wow, that was some wreck there!!

SIXSLUG

Well I hope you get it secured .

Let us know how it goes and we will talk you through getting that license plate mounted correctly!!

missouriman

funny, I didn't see that. those are off a jeep that I sold.. heck I have been looking for them.

I will post up pictures of what I come up with.

SIXSLUG

Nice!

I am at the point of only having one full size child seat to deal with now, the other three can sit in the regular seat and seat belt.

The 3 y.o. still has her big seat and minimal leg room, but doesn't know any different so just rides along like a trooper.

cLAYH

I'm pretty sure that one of my car seat manual said it was ok to place a rolled up towel under the back to fill the gap. However I don't think I ever needed to as whenever I put my knee onto the seat and applied my 200+lbs I had no problem sinking the baby seat into the leather and cranking the straps up tight.

missouriman

what did you hook the straps to? I am only seeing the seat frame.

baby girl arrived sat morning at 3:15. healthy!!

so it is going to be a baby seat kind of day!!
make the small one's smaller and get the big ones mounted.

her rav 4 is set up a lot better for putting in car seats!!

SIXSLUG

CONGRATS!!!!

My truck had the top tie downs at the rear window and were rattling so I pulled them out. My seats were older but still in good shape and I got them in so tight I wasn't too concerned about that 3rd tie point.

Kind of flyin blind with these things ( carseats and babies!) as the manuals are pretty vague.

rightwinger

Just wanted to take the time to say that it's nice to here some talk about being concerned mounting a child seat. I work as a police officer and the wrecks I have seen have made me a little OCD about the mounting of my car seat in my truck. I do use a rolled up towel in the back corner of the seat, and a pair of clean jeans under the car seat to protect my seat. The towel and jeans also come in handy when you might need a change of pants or a towel to wipe something off......possibly spit up or something of that nature...ha ha.