Replacing 2nd Row Seat(s)

[boomerB5]

First time posting. Been lurking for several months, getting tons of help with my 1999 SL1. But this is a question on my other 'Saturn'. I've got a rusty but trusty 2005 Relay ('The Beast') with 267k miles. It was originally the courtesy shuttle for the dealer in Rochester, MN. I bought it from a subsequent owner. The wife and I used it to haul stuff around. The price was right and my understanding was that these will run and run and run. So far, that's been true.

Since we used it almost exclusively to tote stuff to and from flea markets and thrift stores, I removed the 2nd and 3rd row seats, making it a two-seater. We were low on storage space, so I wound up handing them off to a junkyard a couple years ago.

Times have changed and we sometimes need a 3rd seat. I've called around to junkyards and just Friday went to a U-Pull lot. I only found one seat in decent condition. It was from either on 05 or an 06 Uplander. My understanding was that it should fit just fine.

But the seats latching hooks are narrower than the mounting points on the floor. After doing some interwebbing, I learned that there are additional mounting points under the carpet. I found the ones that seem to correspond with the seat I brought home and exposed them with a utility knife.

I am able to hook the front of the seat into the floor anchors and pivot it downward. But something is not right. The latch hooks at the back of the seat are not swinging down 'soon enough'. That is, they are just emerging as the rear of the seat is almost on the floor. That means that they cannot latch onto the rear anchor rods.

I removed the seat from the junkyard van myself. It was latched in properly and nothing I've done to it should have affected its ability to install properly.

Anyone know what the deal is with these seats? Are there other mount points I should try to locate? Were there different trim packages that would necessitate changes to the seat mounts? The seats that were in it were much heavier than the one I just got. There were also leather and wider. Should the Uplander (or Terrazo, or Montana SV6) seats work? Supposedly the Venture used the same basic frame and its seats also work.

[boomerB5]

I figured it out.

I needed to slide the seat all the way back before attempting to latch it in. That allowed both of the front hooks to engage, which caused the rear hooks to swing down "sooner" in the pivot process.

So it does now securely lock into place. I just needed better lighting to see what was (and was not) happening.