I have an 1986 F-150 reg cab long bed and would like to put a bench seat in the bed of my truck. i have seen a few of these, but i dont know what i need to make it street legal. obviouslly i would need seat belts and make sure to have securely bolted in the seat, anything else? is it legal no matter how safe?

 

I am not sure about the law on this one, but I bet a lot of Police officers are not as well. And there probably is no real specific law. There may be laws about unsecured cargo or endangerment, but probably nothing really specific to this issue. They way I look at it is like this. If you have the seat secured in the bed very well with bolt or whatever, and you have well secured seat belts for as many passengers that can fit into the seat. Then I would think of it as no different than a Bronco with the top off. Although where you are will make a difference too. I'm sure they wont go for that down in the cities though. Even if they don't know the law, they will find some way to fine you. Especially in Mpls.

 

i was a jr police explorer for the bloomington police in highschool before joing the dep for the marines, i am not sure if the law has changed with the new enforcement, but at the time i had a seat in the back of my 79, the officer said you could have people in the box, but all the seatbelts that are in the truck already have to be utilized or in use. if there is a seatbelt it had to be used. i had seatbelts welded to the bottom of the bench i had, but i could see where the law can get confusing from officer to officer, the law is in the eye of the ticket holder...lol. honestly i dont see mpls or st paul cops bothering you inless you are asking for trouble, anytime i ever got harassed or bothered and pulled over has been in the burbs, the cops are dinks, since i moved to st paul, they dont look at me twice, and i drive all day in mpls. i tend to stay away from the burbs. i have drove around many times with people in the box and buddies did too, as long as we were behaving they would nod and go on their way. though safety should be #1, i remember a bunch of people that graduated ahead of me were down in the river valley and the guy was whoopin it up in his truck he just got done putting a motor in. problem is the box was full of kids and he whooped the rear around and the front tire hit a rock and they went into the weeds and rolled it. no one was hurt but they got pretty brused, and the truck went to the boneyard.

 

Thanks for the input. I think as long as i stay in st paul with people in the back, i wont have many problems.

 

Better check the laws now, it is illegal to have people in the bed, even if you have a cover/topper, not sure about a seat with seatbelts. Heck, it's illegal to drive around with your tailgate down, unless you have something in the back requiring the gate to be down.

 

the info i have is 4-5 years old.