Goose Gear Stealth Rear Seat Delete - my review

[KABQ]

You ponder why the Bronco can have more versatile and flat fold down seats like the Honda Fit, Dodge Vans, Land Rover Discovery, etc. The challenge is all the vehicles you reference are unit body construction and, if they have rear axles, have independent suspensions. The Bronco is a body on frame truck with a solid axle rear suspension. It's a great off-road vehicle, but that comes with many compromises including the ability to make the space more versatile. Frankly, this is why the 2 door rear seat should be removable like it is on the Wrangler. People are obsessed with fold flat seats, but that just doesn't work well in a vehicle like this (also take a look at the previous generation Tahoe where they tried to make the third row fold vs removing them like on the prior generation. Those were terrible and took up way too much space. Just let me take them out.). The Bronco is great, but it can necessarily be everything. Removable rear seats would be much better here.

My 93 4Runner is body-on-frame with a solid rear axle and the seats fold perfectly flat no problem. I sleep back there all the time on fishing trips.

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[telenerd]

For almost a 1000 bucks I am not sure that is worth the money. Especially since the manufacture didn’t include all the necessary parts and you had to modify it to get it to fit. The material is just plywood with a special coating from what I can tell. Over time I am not sure that would last.

Not a good company to spend money with in my opinion for overpriced plywood. If they were to fix their QC issues and maybe make the material out of hard plastic or metal I would buy their product.

 

[IROCnRoll]

My 93 4Runner is body-on-frame with a solid rear axle and the seats fold perfectly flat no problem. I sleep back there all the time on fishing trips.

Yes, on the second row of a 4-door vehicle. I do think they could do something similar on the 4 door Bronco if they wanted. If the 93 is similar to the 2000 I had, I do like what Toyota did there. If I recall, the seat bottom folded forward, you removed the head rest and slid that into the folded seat and then folded the seat back. In some ways, this is similar to what they are doing on the two door Bronco. If they used a similar arrangement on the 4 door, they probably could get it to fold flatter.

On the two door, though, you're sitting farther back on the axle which makes this more difficult. And the seats have more stuff on them now. But just let me take the seat out of the two door. if If I wanted to carry people, I would have bought the 4 door in the first place.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

Are the front two panels made so you can remove one and install one rear seat? About how long would it take to swap out?

 

[wetdog]

For almost a 1000 bucks I am not sure that is worth the money. Especially since the manufacture didn’t include all the necessary parts and you had to modify it to get it to fit. The material is just plywood with a special coating from what I can tell. Over time I am not sure that would last.

Not a good company to spend money with in my opinion for overpriced plywood. If they were to fix their QC issues and maybe make the material out of hard plastic or metal I would buy their product.

A year ago there were multiple posts about how people couldn't wait to throw money at gg ,after reading all those I expected alot more .
Nope I'll be yanking my rear seats and building my own .

 

[telenerd]

A year ago there were multiple posts about how people couldn't wait to throw money at gg ,after reading all those I expected alot more .
Nope I'll be yanking my rear seats and building my own .

You don’t want to be Goosed?

 

[WuNgUn]

I'm gonna do some cardboard patterning, come up with something on Sketch Up, and then have a local CNC woodworking shop carve it up...
Apart from complex shapes and perfect curves, they can do slotting, bore holes (countersunk), etc. Hell, I can even carve in some wording!
If it doesn't fit perfectly, it'll be because I didn't measure accurately

 

[wrbix]

American Adventure Lab reportedly has a platform SYSTEM in development that I’m waiting for.
https://americanadventurelab.com/product/ford-bronco-mass-platform/

 

[mcinfantry]

I'm gonna do some cardboard patterning, come up with something on Sketch Up, and then have a local CNC woodworking shop carve it up...
Apart from complex shapes and perfect curves, they can do slotting, bore holes (countersunk), etc. Hell, I can even carve in some wording!
If it doesn't fit perfectly, it'll be because I didn't measure accurately

I’m sourcing a 1/2” of marine HDPE and tentatively going to leave the seats in, giving me a hidden from view space to put things under the 5-6” gap in the back where the seats are not.

at least that’s my thought
If nothing else I may add a gap to have a secure under storage area
Need the bronco first

 

[broncorik]

Are the issues you experienced related to the seat delete part or the trunk part?
I intend to order just the trunk GG cargo plate to mount a fridge slide on it, so I am trying to understand if I should expect issues with that one

Currently, unless GG fixed it for the 2 door, the trunk part (at least the one I bought...the 4 door may well be different), has several issues that I had to address prior to the install:

1. The forward 2 blocks are the wrong height. The rearward 2 blocks are 3/4 of an inch, and the forward 2 blocks need to be the same height because our floor mount points are level in relation to one another.

2. The wrong height forward 2 blocks do not extend to the forward bolt holes...so even if the forward 2 blocks were the right height, if someone would have tightened down the forward 4 bolts there is nothing under them to support the panel.

To fix both issues, I pried off the glued and stapled on incorrect front blocks, and went to Home Depot and bought some 3/4 by 5 inch scrap lumber. I installed two correct height blocks in place of the blocks I removed, and made them longer than the wrong height blocks so as to extend all the way to the bolt holes. I then drilled through them. I test fit it, then found that I needed to add a about an 1/8 velco strip etween the jack space and the cubby so that when I pressed down on the narrow panel piece between them there was no give. I then bolted it all up and NOW there are no issues. If you do the same mod, just make sure the blocks you add clear the edges of the cubby plastic any anything else so the entire panel lies flat. I also added some felt strips under the jack lid so that when it is bolted down with the four screws that it sits flush with the main panel (otherwise it sat about 1/16 of an inch lower than the main panel). It sounds like a lot of work, but it all made sense as I messed around with it and took very little time. I am sure some folks may just bolt things down and not worry about OCD stuff like me, but I like things to be just so. Ideally GG will tweak the kits...it should cost them any more money to do the mods I did. To fix the jack kid issue they just need to make the ledge on the main panel a tad higher, and to address the forward block they just need to cut if from the same sheet they used for the rear block and make sure it goes all the way to the forward bolt holes. My issue is that for the nearly 1000 I paid I should not have had to do ANYTHING but install it. I attached the pic of the blocks I added...I had to trim them down slight afterwards to clear the cubby plastic. Note the original pic with no block coverage where the bolt holes are...the blue arrows are the wrong height blocks and the green arrows are the bolt holes.

If anyone who is a manufacturer is reading this thread...it would be very easy to make a competing product that is both less expensive and more precise. If I had the resources I would probably have gone with marine grade plywood, Line X or Rhino Liner, similar hardware...or for similar cost maybe even aluminum or some type of polycarbonate or composite. GG is most likely aware of not only the real need for their product but also of the lack of availability for anything similar.

 

[imaginager]

This isn't entirely development issues...
Go check out Jeep installs on YT. Many kits arrive with parts missing and spacers put in the wrong spot, etc.
I don't wanna rag on the company, but....

I spent a solid week considering whether to build my own or purchase an out-of-the-box ready system. After measuring and trimming a 4x6' Uline anti-fatigue mat for the back of my 2-door (rear seats removed already), I decided to leverage what I assumed would be laser-accurate dimensions from GG's development. They have access to much more precise methods of correctly sizing all of the components (compared to my square, level, and metal tape measure).

I really hope GG addresses the OP's concerns. Although it reads like he fixed his own and is, possibly, still waiting on a response (and missing parts) from GG(?). Based on OP's experience, had I known that in November I would not have purchased the GG system. But I'm $900 in and the dealer I purchased through told me it was non-refundable when I plunked the money down.

I'm going to remain optimistic. I don't really "need" this until the weather warms up. So there should be plenty of time to receive it and for GG to make right any issues, should there be any with what I receive.

 

[broncorik]

You are too kind. In reality it is 100% unusable as shipped. Is GG owned by Webasto?

I think they may be rushing to get them out the door, especially given the enormous potential profit margin. I also hate that they won't sell direct to consumer, like Diode Dynamics or many other places do, so that means part of the profit goes to whatever dealer you have to go through. For my particular needs, which is simply to get rid of both rear seats and have a flat space, I could stick with a single panel instead of a left and right, because I have no desire to go through adding one seat or the other...and I have no desire to bolt anything down for overlanding...so my needs could have been met cheaper. My home made panel did everything I needed it to but it just didn't look as refined...and it didn't have as useful of cubby doors. I now feel like given the ease of taking stuff apart and knowing what the kit needs, I could easily whip up something similar and make it refined if I had the required woodworking tools and access to a Rhino Liner place.

 

[broncorik]

I spent a solid week considering whether to build my own or purchase an out-of-the-box ready system. After measuring and trimming a 4x6' Uline anti-fatigue mat for the back of my 2-door (rear seats removed already), I decided to leverage what I assumed would be laser-accurate dimensions from GG's development. They have access to much more precise methods of correctly sizing all of the components (compared to my square, level, and metal tape measure).

I really hope GG addresses the OP's concerns. Although it reads like he fixed his own and is, possibly, still waiting on a response (and missing parts) from GG(?). Based on OP's experience, had I known that in November I would not have purchased the GG system. But I'm $900 in and the dealer I purchased through told me it was non-refundable when I plunked the money down.

I'm going to remain optimistic. I don't really "need" this until the weather warms up. So there should be plenty of time to receive it and for GG to make right any issues, should there be any with what I receive.

I was going to go the Uline mat route but we need wider than 4 feet, and those mats got crazy expensive. I got a yoga mat that was 5x7 from Overstock...you can get a big discount coupon.

 

[wrbix]

For the DIYers, keep in mind Raptor liner is a quality DIY liner product - spray on, roll on, brush on……I sprayed the top of my LR Disco and rolled on a hood black out. Can be any color you want.

 

[broncorik]

My 93 4Runner is body-on-frame with a solid rear axle and the seats fold perfectly flat no problem. I sleep back there all the time on fishing trips.

We have a 5th gen 4runner...those seats fold flat as well. My LR3 had an awesome fold flat system, as did the older Discoveries, and I had in older Gwagen that had the best setup...you simply unbolt the rear seats and the floor was absolutely flat. Even the new JL 2 doors have a good system...you just squeeze the rods under the rear seat together and it lifts right out...totally flat floor. All those vehicles are body on frame. Ford just didn't bother to think ours through. They left studs sticking up and ran our wires and washer fluid hose right over the floor (my washer fluid line already sprang a leak)...hence the need to run a raised panel.

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