No, I'm not talking about the whole," accidents in the backseat cause them" question. We're already past that point lol. My question is to the dads (and moms) out there with little ones and T100's. What's your experience with it? I'm about 4 months away from trying to wrestle a car seat in and out of the back seat so I'm just curious how well you guys handled it.

I know my dad had fun with us my bro and I in the back of his '89 extra cab, so I'm in about the same situation, but with a slightly bigger back seat. Just tryin to get a feel for it. Thanks guys!

 

Check your owner's manual... on the 89-94 extra cab the child seat is supposed to go on the pax front seat not behind it because of the risk of seat back collapse.
same with the early Tacos too you just have to deactivate the pax airbag...

fwiw my friends daughter used to love riding up front with Uncle avi when ever I drove them around because she got to see everything when she was in the fam. minivan she got stuck in the back with her brother...
It's a lot of fun to drive when there is someone facing you watching your every move and absorbing everything.

 

Bench or bucket seats?

If you have the bucket seats...the infant car seat will fit just perfectly in between the seats as the baby is facing backwards.

If you have the bench seats...yer kinda screwed.

 

i was about a week away from hacking away my back seats to make room for a baby. till she lost them... i know sad story i was kinda excited about being a father. some guys cut through the cab and and into the bed then seal the gap after they mount subs into the beds of single cab trucks? yea i was about to do that. t100's are not baby friendly. best bet is front seat if you don't have passenger side air bags.

 

It's an extra cab so the cars eat is gonna be in back. Their fold down benches. I read through the owners manual on how Toyota wants it mounted. The sub and amp are gone. I've kinda been looking for an excuse to get rid of them for a while. Kind of childish now in my opinion. Mostly what I was wondering was did you guys have much difficulty with getting the seats in and out of the back, and the kid in and out?

 

Sorry to hear about the loss of the little one. We lost 2 before my son was born...

The T-100 trucks never had a passenger side air bag.

I had my son in the middle of the front seat of the my 1993 regular cab T-100 auto...so I didn't have to worry about air bags (air bag wasn't available until 1994 T-100) or shifters. As he got old enough to face forward...he did find it humorous to kick the auto shifter from drive to neutral a few times...until I moved him all the way over to the passenger seat.

I guess if you put yer child in the far right passenger side of the xtra cab portion, it should be okay with the infant lock base. Might make it kinda difficult to tend to their needs when yer driving. You'll end up pulling over just to do the simple things.

 

My advice? You're becoming a Father. Therefore, different priorities should set in. Its either:

A) Sell the T100, buy a 4Runner and build around that
or
B) Keep the T100 and buy a passenger friendly vehicle

Honestly? Airbags are just as dangerous as having no airbags. I feel more safe in my 1967 Mustang than I do my 2004 Roush Mustang. Its a simple statistic that air bags cause death as well. I would NEVER put my child in the front seat, especially with a car seat.

 

In no way am I planning on putting the kid in the front lol. I think envy one has missed the point I was aiming this thread at. Selling the T is out of the question. I've put wwwwaaaayyyy to much blood and sweat into making this truck what it is. I was just curious about other fathers experiences with having a little one IN THE BACK without having a door to access it.

So, to point out the sidetracks so we can avoid them:

-the kid will be in the backseat. Not gonna even run the risk involved with a small child up front.
-I've read up on how to mount a baby seat and booste seats in the back, which will not involve modifying the truck. No cutting, no funky setups.
-the truck isn't getting sold. I do have a little commuter car that I drive back and forth to work, but my truck sees the majority of road trips and all of our backwoods/wheeling, hence the original point of asking for the fathers experiences pertaining to a restricted access cab.

Now that we got all that out of the way...

 

Consider gitting some bucket seats. The front 60/40 bench seat will make the ingress/egress of the baby carrier in the back seat a job and a half. With the rear facing baby seat in the back, you will be limited to the amount of travel fer the front seat(s) depending if you put the seat in the middle or near the sides. Access to the baby will impacted as well.

Borrow someone's baby seat and do some trial test fits. You'll see what I mean.

 

Lol I've been looking for buckets for this truck ever since I bought it. I just either don't have the money when I find them, or they're too trashed to justify the price.

On that note, any generous T100 bucket seat owners willing to trade or donate some buckets would get my instant gratitude...

 

Others have installed 4Runner and Tundra seats in their T-100s. You'll have to build an adapter plate depending on which seats you end up with. There are a few threads over at ToyotaNation in the T-100 section...with piccies!