Just wanted to share my solution to the PITA T5 bolts in the front seats.

Have a shop vac and some water within reach because you will be kicking up metal shavings left and right

Materials and tools:
Drill
3/8 drill bit
1/2 drill bit
1/2-13 Tapered Tap
1 1/2” long 1/2”-13 stainless steel bolt with washer
Spray paint
Shopvac
Water
Eye protection

As you can see in the photo I twisted a 1/2 inch drive T50 before drilling through the head of the bolt. I think I used a 3/8ths to drill through it but it ended up just falling out about a quarter of the way through. It’s necessary to remove the seat whether you drill it, cut the head off, or break it loose because you’ll want full access to the hole with no obstructions from the seat bracket. Make sure you’re drilling as straight as possible, you’ll be boring the hole out but you don’t want to go completely sideways or biffed up because you really only get one shot.

Once the seat is out of the way you’ll need a half in drill bit. Again, drill as straight as possible going down and have your shop vac and water within reach. The passengers side appears to bottom out in to a chamber so it’s not as much of a concern but the drivers side GOES THROUGH so be careful if you’re drilling through the old bolt. Personally I drilled through with my 3/8ths bit first and followed with my 1/2”.

Once you’ve got the hole drilled through I like to lubricate it with WD-40 before running my tap. Line up your tap ( I used a 1/2-13 tapered tap) then double check to make sure you’re lined up and slowly but steady retap you’re threads. Once you feel the tap move freely through your new threads remove the tap.

With your new threads take your new stainless steel 1/2 bolt and lubricate the threads with WD-40 and run your new bolt in and out several times before removing the new bolt and wiping off any excess lubricant from the bolt and hole.

Put your seat back in place and start your 3 15mm nuts before putting a little blue threadlocker on your new bolt and tightening it down. The head of my new bolt was 19mm.

Once everything is in place and tightened down if you’ve done the drivers side find the metal shavings under your truck and prep and pain the area you’re new bolt has come through to prevent future rust.

These things are trash

Drivers side

Tapped

Drivers side drilled not taped - you can see asphalt under truck

Stainless steel bolt - drivers side

Both bolts

Hope this helps someone.

 

Or you could crawl under the vehicle with a torch to heat things up a bit as the factory uses loctite to keep those two bolts in place. Just have someone topside to stamp out any fire that may flare up. Less muss and fuss.

 

Yup, thats another great option. Least I've got stainless steel bolts in and actual bolt heads to grab on to now for the future though.