Adding armrests to front seats: Completed

[2manybikes]

I have a 2012/3 Nissan NV2500 / Roadtrek N6 active.   I decided to remove the center console and add the armrests.   This way I could easy pass into the rear of the van.   There are several posts about this on this and other forums, but they all seem to stop short by saying folks think the holes are under the foam to mount the armrests.   This turned out mostly to be true.   This post is to help others if they decide to do this.

 

1)  Don't do this if you have airbags in your seats.    You could hurt or kill yourself.      End of my disclaimer.    I took the risk myself.

2)  If you decide to take the risk, follow the instructions in the factory manual on how to disassemble your seats:  Nissan Service Manuals - NICOclub

3)  The key to the project is not only do you need the left and right armrests (87750-1PA1A and 87750-1PC1A were my part numbers, but look these up for your vehicle) and the associated bolt, sleeve, cap, washer, but you also need these parts:

87763-1PA1A	1		Cover Armrest Bracket.
87713-1PA1A	1		Cover Armrest Bracket.

These are the metal plates that must be installed to the seat frame that the armrests bolt to and have a stop so the armrest stays in the right place.   The holes in the seat frames for these brackets were already there.

 

4)  The passenger side is harder to do because it is harder to get the plastic parts off to get the seat cover off and get to the foam.   It is also harder because there is no specific marks on the foam where to cut to make room for the brackets.   I made a template from the bracket and was able to figure out where to cut.

5) The driver side was much easier and there was an indicator where to cut the foam exactly.  You can cut the foam with a hacksaw blade removed from the hacksaw.   You can see this in one of my attachments.

6) Both brackets need M6 nuts that do not come with any of the Nissan parts and don't show on the parts diagrams.   There are 2 for the driver and 3 for the passenger bracket.  The driver bracket's 3rd attachment bolt was already installed in the seat frame holding I believe the lumbar support.  

7) Another problem was the bracket hole where the armrest bolt is supposed to screw into was not tapped!   I didn't think the armrest bolt could self tap it, so I got an M8 tap and with some thread cutting oil it was easy work.

 I had to cut the seat cover to allow the bracket threaded piece and stop to poke out.   Exacto knife made easy work for this. 

9) One last tip, when you are removing the plastic headrest sleeves to get the seat cover off, they are inserted into the frame and you have to get to the upper part of it to release the plastic that his keeping it from pulling out.

10) Make sure to where gloves when working on this, there is a lot of sharp metal in the seat frame you can cut yourself on.

 

I've attached some of the pictures I took.   This isn't a great write-up, but will hopefully help you decide if you want to take it on and how to be successful.   Hopefully someone else who does it can take a video or do a better write-up.  

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

Edited January 14 by 2manybikes