Back Seat Removal?

[cmj685]

When we camp, we need both the back seat backs down and the back floor space for hauling stuff (extra group 27 battery, etc). On my former SUV it was a simple matter to snap out the back seats (unfortunately, everything else on that cheap American vehicle had the tendency to snap too!) but on the 2005 4Runner there is a metal bracket which connects bottom seat cushions to floor, and each is secured by bolt. I asked my dealer about removing the back seat cushions by taking out the bolt and he hinted (though admitting he didn't exactly know) that there might be loaded springs or some other problem which might make unscrewing the bolt (or at least trying to replace the seats later) very difficult.
Anyone taken back seats out of the 4th gen? Is it a problem to take out and replace? Or is it simply, as it appears, the bolt to the floor? Thanks for any info!

 

[BenSD]

When we camp, we need both the back seat backs down and the back floor space for hauling stuff (extra group 27 battery, etc). On my former SUV it was a simple matter to snap out the back seats (unfortunately, everything else on that cheap American vehicle had the tendency to snap too!) but on the 2005 4Runner there is a metal bracket which connects bottom seat cushions to floor, and each is secured by bolt. I asked my dealer about removing the back seat cushions by taking out the bolt and he hinted (though admitting he didn't exactly know) that there might be loaded springs or some other problem which might make unscrewing the bolt (or at least trying to replace the seats later) very difficult.
Anyone taken back seats out of the 4th gen? Is it a problem to take out and replace? Or is it simply, as it appears, the bolt to the floor? Thanks for any info!

Instead of removing the bolt that goes into the floor, I'd imagine you can just remove the bolt that goes into the seat bottom. The brackets would still be in place, so you'd just have to be careful not to damage them. It seems like removing the seat *backs* would be a lot less straight forward though.

 

[cmj685]

I thought about taking the bolt out of the seat cushion bottom and leaving the bracket bolted to the back floor, but I am afraid the bracket would be damaged along the way--we are usually out camping for a month at a time, so we live out of the car to a great extent, and the group 27 battery that we put on the back floor alone weights probably 60 pounds or more. If it were set on the bracket I think it would probably bend it. So I think the only likely answer is to get the bracket out of the floor. Wonder if anyone has tried it and what the result was?