How do the seats fold up, trying to see what options are for removing or folding seats and can’t find much clear information on how the third row folds.

Try t4 forum (covers t5 too)

There are other forums?

allegedly

Going to pad this out until someone answers as have to make dinner in a minute 😀

Assuming you’re talking about a kombi or shuttle etc with 8/9 seats. The rear seat on those is a one piece triple and is also an option on 5/6 seat kombis (as is the double and single combo you get on the shuttle). On a kombi the back folds flat and then the whole seat rolls forward on it’s mounts. They’re very heavy, 2 strong men to lift out at least.

T4 Kombi / Caravelle has folding removable seats fitted with mushroom bolts.

Kombi seats fold forward flat, not too sure about caravelle options.

Floor pan has dents marking where bolts need to fit – I retro fitted a 3rd seat in the middle row drilling these out and fitting OE bolts. Rear row is trickier – only caravelle/minibuses with rear windows have the reinforced seatbelt mounting points.

Anyone know how the seats on the transporter fold or come out?

There are catches on the feet of the seats that locate into sockets in the floor, yiu pull a lever and it releases the catches

To fold them you pull a fabric loop and the seat folds flat
It is more involved than drilling holes in the floor, the fuel tank and all the underbody panels have to come off , strengthening plates have to be placed on the chassis rails to take the extra loads

Transporter is the van version, usually comes with seat only on the front row (driver/single or double passenger). On some double passenger seats, the backrest folds forwards.

Kombi has a second row, and has 5 or 6 seats. The second row either has a double seat plus a single seat, or a 3 seat bench. These are removable. If it has the 2/1 option, again the backrest folds forward onto the seat base on the double, but the single tilts forwards. Again, this is removable. These seats aren’t easy to take out single-handedly.
None of them fold flat to the floor, and sit about 18 inches above it

For a third row, you can get either the Shuttle or the Caravelle.

The Shuttle usually has the Kombi seats in rows 1 & 2, and the third row normally has a 3 seat bench. Again, the backrest folds onto the seat base, but it sits the same height above the floor as row 2, and is removable.
The Caravelle normally has 2 seats in row 1, 2 sliding (fore/aft) and turning seats in row 2, and a sliding 3 seat bench on row 3. Backrests fold onto seat bases as above for both, and they can be removed, but they’re really heavy, and you need to shuffle them along the sliding rails (having removed the “plugs” which allow the sliders to lift out). Getting them back in can be a ‘mare! The third row bench on some models will also fold flat backwards to make a “bed”, but it needs other parts behind it. Again, they’re about 18 inches above the floor.

This loosely cover the factory versions. As Jeff says above, you can retrofit any combination of seats to a basic Transporter van, but it needs drilling, seat belts fitting if you want to carry people, and a fair bit of cash!

So the bench folds down to sit about eighteen inches above the floor? Mostly will only need five seats but occasionally will need more, trying to figure out best option.

Yes that’s about it!