Torx screws on front passenger seat.

[Bob N.]

Does anybody know the size of the torx screws that bolt the passenger seat to the floor in the Ford E450 cab? I'm thinking that I may install a swivel base for the front seat in my Lexington 265DS, but I need to remove the present seat base first. My set of torx wrenches only go up to size T40, which is way too small. I don't want to buy a whole set of new larger size wrenches if I can get away with buying just one (preferably a socket wrench), but I have no idea what size to buy. Any idea?

[Ford Idaho]

Torx goes to a T-100.
I would just hit the Pawn shops and buy a single.
T-60, 55, 50. 45.

[Bob N.]

Originally Posted by Ford Idaho

Torx goes to a T-100.
I would just hit the Pawn shops and buy a single.
T-60, 55, 50. 45.

Yes, but I live in a small town that doesn't have a pawn shop!

[tinkerman]

The last time I took out our front seat in our 255GT I used a T-55.

[Dijoeboss]

Agree, it's either a T50,T55 ( I think it's a T55 also)


2013 Georgetown XL 350
Bunkhouse
2002 F250 4X4 CC
2012 Jeep Liberty

[Bob N.]

Yeah, thanks guys. The manager of my local hardware store (who doesn't stock torx wrenches bigger than T40!) said that when he used to work in the automotive trade he sort of recollected that Fords used T55's for their seats. So T55 it is! I don't want to buy a range of sizes 'cos it'll probably be the only time I'll ever use it!

[grumpy0374]

Quick little tip---
You can use a regular hex allen wrench to remove a torx head bolt. Cannot do the reverse, torx to hex.
Just find the size of 6 sided hex wrench that fits the torx head and your good to go. There is no cross ref. as to what fits, but as an example a 3/16 inch allen wrench will remove a T-40 torx.
Good to know in an emergency.
Grumpy

[Bob N.]

Yes, I considered that. I have about 3000 Allen wrenches that I have accumulated over the years, including what I considered to be fairly big ones, but to no avail! None of them fitted! Alas!

[grumpy0374]

Bob, if it is a T-55 torx, try a 9mm metric allen wrench. It is the one you need.
Grumpy

[Bob N.]

Well, I'm on vacation at the moment, far away from my vast collection of Allen wrenches, but when I get home I'll rummage through my tool box for another look! Thanks for the tip, Grumpy.

[louiejo]

I ordered a swivel base online to fit our Lexington Ford cab (E350). The removal of the torx bolts seems straight forward enough. However, on each corner of the base, there are two additional bolts that come up from the bottom of the floor surface, I crawled under the chassis and did not see the aforementioned bolts, where they would have been. Can anyone who has done this mod before share some guidance on this?....I have about a month to wait before the base gets here so I want to be thoroughly prepared!!
On further inspection, I discovered that these "Bolts" are made of plastic, and are not really threaded to the seat base, so I am going to assume they are "Guide Pins" for the base installation.....

[Bob N.]

On my Lexington 265DS, with an E450 cab, I don't remember any plastic pins. The front of the base has two T55 bolts, and at the back there are two 'permanent' bolts sticking up from the floor, with 11/16" or 18 mm nuts on them. Removal of those four nuts/bolts allowed the seat and its base to be lifted out (which weighs a ton!). There is an electrical connection (seat belt warning light/air bag light?) that has to be disconnected, of course. The seat base then has to be unbolted from the seat, and the new swivel base bolted to the seat in its place. The swivel base that I bought has a flat base (and also weighs a ton!), and thankfully all the holes lined up, so it was a simple job to bolt it to the van floor. The only modification that I had to do was to extend the electrical wires on the aforementioned warning light so that the wire didn't get pulled out when the seat is swivelled.

[Bob N.]

I would suggest unbolting the base and seeing what happens with the plastic pins when you try lifting the seat. Unfortunately they appear to be the the one-way 'bullet' type that are difficult to back out and they may break off, but I cannot think what purpose they serve anyway.

[louiejo]

Thanks for the reply Bob!!....Your mod looks straight and simple, I hope ours goes just as good. I believe the "Bolt Pins" are just that, alignment pins, I looked at them with my magnifying glass, and the bolts bolts and plate have no "bite" around each other, in fact there's enough clearance between them that it leads me to think of them as alignment for the OEM seat. I'll find out for sure though when I begin the installation!!....

[Bob N.]

Well, good luck! I notice that you have a carpeted floor, whilst mine is a rubber mat. Possibly the pins had something to do with the carpet. Probably we'll never ever find out the real reason for them...

[Ford Idaho]

I would use a socket to hold the top of the bolt while loosing the nut, once the nut turns easy then you can set the socket aside.

[Bob N.]

Yes, and don't forget to give them a shot of WD-40 first.

[louiejo]

Just a follow up. I received the swivel base from Shop4Seats and installed it in a few hours. The removal was pretty straight forward (I did have to buy a #55 torx tip) for the front bolts. The front "Screw" threads visible in my pictures were in fact part of a plastic shield on the bottom of the base to protect the carpeting, ( I did not re-install these). The only issue I had was that the bolt holes did not line up between the front seat support and the base when it was put together, so I had to disassemble the support from the base and elongate the holes by 1/4". after that, installation was the reverse of removal. Simple enough, Now we have a swivel seat in the passenger side and my wife is Happy!!

[louiejo]

Wanted to follow up to my last post with some images of the finished product: after installation of seat we took our last camping outing of the season to see how my wife liked the new seat arrangement. Needless to say she was pleased!!....