Bench Seat to Center Console Swap

I sourced a center console from eBay out of a wrecked truck to swap into my 2nd gen crewmax. I really wanted the rear vents so I opted for the crewmax version.



I pulled the middle seat out and test fit the trim to make sure I knew where things were going to line up.



The HVAC tubing on the bench seat trucks is different than the center console trucks, so I'm ordering the correct version to make the rear vents work.



In an effort to remove the tubing and not pull the seats and carpet out, I opted to just cut the carpet down the middle to remove it. I know, kind of a hack job, but I will be replacing the front and rear carpet on my truck in the future so not a huge concern for now.



With the HVAC tubing removed, the center console mounting holes are accessible and lineup. The console luckily came with the mounting bolts, so it was fairly smooth sailing from this point on.




Here's the nearly finished product. I placed the slide-out cupholder back in it's slot just to fill the hole until I can get some trim pieces to cover up the bare spots--no it won't go all the way back in. I plan on getting a shifter bezel and filling the hole in with ABS plastic, similar to the 2.5 gen swap that exists on the forum.

Also, the power ports are going to have to be re-wired--still developing a plan for that.

Will follow up with the trim pieces and wiring done for the finished product. So far I'm pretty happy with the swap.

 

Good Job! I did the same on my 2.5 Gen. Much happier with the center console and functioning vents.

 

Wow! Great job! This is really cool. I may do this. The HVAC reroute sounds really tricky. How hard was that?

 

It's not really that hard in this scenario. It's plug and play for the most part, and the center console hides the HVAC tubing. The HVAC tube on the bench seat vs center console has a different outlet location to go to the rear vents--center console hvac inlets are on the front of the console whereas on the bench it has to route underneath the seat to the back. If you wanted to go center console to bench seat, it would be more of a challenge as you have to pull the carpet (or cut it) to install the bench seat HVAC tubing.

I'm waiting on parts still so I will provide an update once I get the HVAC tubing, cubby outlets and trim installed.

To add an update:

I was able to connect the console power outlets to the existing power wire that is normally routed under the bench seat. I removed the female connector from the bench seat and crimped it (for now) to the center console.

 

Any updates? I have a 2011 Tundra with the bench seat/flip up console. Would different year consoles line up? Some of the newer ones are really nice.

 

As far as I know, center consoles from 07-13 will fit. Mine came out of a 2012. I can't speak for the newer consoles. I believe you can swap console lids from the newer gens onto these older consoles but they aren't an exact fit.