How To:Remove Rear Seats / 01-03 UL
 

Well,im gonna try to explain how to remove the rear seats from a 01-03 LS430 UL.it may not be a complete step by step,but its better than nothing.i didnt take out the entire seats from the car because all i needed to do was adjust the dampening on my struts.so i figured why not take some pics for a DIY guide.i hope this will be helpful for anyone.here we go.

Obviously,heres the rear seats.
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From the front of the bottom seat cushion,pull it up and it'll come right off.but dont pull it all the way.you need to unplug this plug.
driver side:
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passenger side:
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after you have done that,you can now remove the cushions from the car.
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next,pry off this panel thats over the cooler
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you can now remove this 12mm nut.
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now for the seat backs.
passenger side: raise the headrest to access this plastic cover and pry it off.behind it is a 12mm nut,remove it.
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do the same for the driver side.
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on the bottom of each seat back,theres 2 12mm nuts that needs to be removed.
passenger side:
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driver side:
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after the nuts have been removed pull up on the seats and it can be taken out of the car.but i believe theres another plug on each seat that needs to be unplugged before it can be completely removed from the car.and bling blam!you should be done!alohas!
Shaun

there is the air hose too on back/bottom too if your car come with a/c seats. took me 2 hours each time to take out and install

your car has cooled rear seats?damn!i've only got heated :(

^yeah my got all the stupid hoses, it took me so long to get it out and i do this **** daily but i am picky to make sure not a single mark or nick...i am sure it will help the peeps here...

Good writeup BIGGZ. :thumbup:

NOTE TO NON-UL OWNERS: You don't have to pry off the cover where BIGGZ wrote:
Instead, you swing down the plastic cover that's around the trunk access door -- just get your fingers behind it somewhere and pull to swing it down -- if I recall correctly, it's hinged at the bottom. Then you can get to the nut that you need to remove under the center headrest.

I mistakenly pryed my plastic piece loose once and it's not a good idea unless you first know where the releases are and you do it correctly, otherwise you'll probably break a tab or two. But like I said, the good news is that there's no need to remove it on a non-UL.

ALSO, in the event that you are removing the seat so that you can access the rear shock mounts... To get under the rear shelf so that you can access the shock mounts, remove the two little plastic screw-like retainers on either side of the center -- these secure the front lip of the rear shelf. The best way I've found to remove them is to pry them up a bit with a small screwdriver, then pull them out with pliers. Once these are removed you can flex the rear shelf up in the area in front of the shock mounts enough to get your hand in there to work. I used a large flashlight to prop the shelf up a little -- laid the flashlight on its side pointing at the shock mount, and it worked well. The end of the shelf might pop out from under the headliner a little bit, but that's okay -- just put it back in place when you finish. On one car I did I removed the subwoofer grill (non-UL, not sure if UL is different), which comes out by just pulling straight up on it, one side at a time.

damn..i coulda used this 4 months ago before i bought this online guide.
thanks for posting this up. this should be a sticky.

I could have used this 4 months ago too, but either way, good job for writing it BIGGZ.

And yes, I believe all 04'-06' UL got rear cooling seats. One of the few features that only came with the UL package.

yours is easy to take apart..only 2 pieces

yeah, now i know. its just finding where all those bolts stay. that's dat was da prob.

Guys

I thought i would make an addition to this.

My 2001 LS430 has vibrating and reclining rear seats which really added a few steps however after removing everything i realised it was not nessecary.

The best way to reach the strut tops is to

remove bottom half of seatsour
unbolt top half of seats
leave all plugs plugged in
push seats forward and squeeze your hands under the back shelf to access rear suspension.

I saw no need in removing the back seats like i did and it was easy just to push the seats forward.

Wait a minute... you have a cooler in the back of your car? Where do I get this option?

Sweet, I'll be using this to help me when I install my rear SS kit this weekend.

It's an option that comes w/ the UL package.

Nice write up Shaun! How about the front seats, lol? I want to do a full interior cleaning like the one REV-01 did to the 01 he just sold. ;)