4th Gen Seat not as comfortable you wish? (Easy mod)

[nismojason]

This is incredibly simple and I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone post anything about it.

Anyway the quick and dirty: By adding washers under the front floor mounts for the seats, it tilts the seat back. This gives you more support under the front of your legs. It takes away the feeling of sitting "low" as so many people describe.

To do I put (5) 5/16" washers under each front bracket. Any small shim or washers will work. They just need a hole large enough to use the factory M10 bolts. Also because this moves the mounting hole slightly off center I loosened all the bolts for the seat, got each one started and then torqued them down. Do be careful not to crossthread your bolts.

Try it and let me know what you think. Seat comfort is one the few complaints I've had about the truck and because of this it could no longer even be a problem. Only thing I'm not sure about is if this will be better on the longer road trips.

Jason

 

[810moto]

from one Jason to another.

:worthless

give us an idea of what it looks like. great idea by the way!

 

[K.C.]

Subscribed

 

[nismojason]

I'll try and get pic tomorrow, but it's simple.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Couldn't you just use the built in adjuster for that? Or am I visualizing this wrong...

 

[00328]

I did this exact thing a couple years ago. I have long legs and wasn't able to get the thigh support I wanted with the seat bottom tilted as far as it would go. Someone posted this mod awhile ago and I figured I would give it a try.
I forget how many washers I used, maybe 5 or 6. It made a big difference.
And yes, as was posted, you need to be real careful when putting the bolts back in.

 

[ALLEGRO]

Curious
:hiding:

 

[StevieT4R]

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[nismojason]

Couldn't you just use the built in adjuster for that? Or am I visualizing this wrong...

I think most people agree that it simply doesn't adjust enough. I put in more washers than I needed to so that I could still have some adjustment both ways.

Jason

 

[nismojason]

I did this exact thing a couple years ago. I have long legs and wasn't able to get the thigh support I wanted with the seat bottom tilted as far as it would go. Someone posted this mod awhile ago and I figured I would give it a try.
I forget how many washers I used, maybe 5 or 6. It made a big difference.
And yes, as was posted, you need to be real careful when putting the bolts back in.

I figured I wasn't the first to think of this, just surprised I had never seen anyone write anything about this. I read quite a bit on here.

 

[Ian]

Great idea! As a 6'4"+ driver squeezed in a t4r, I'll admit that my legs are no where close to resting on the front of the seat.

One comment: make sure to keep about 7mm of thread engaged since these are fairly important bolts to keep you in place in the case of an accident. M10 bolts typically require 60-70% of diameter engagement (from my PE manual). Depending on thread pitch (thread to thread distance) that will be 5 threads in the nut (5 x 1.5mm =7.5mm) or 7 threads (7 x 1mm if fine pitch). If you can't get that many threads, just get longer bolts. Just a point of information, do this at your own risk.

Excellent idea, I'm going to do this on my T4r.

 

[audiqtr]

this sounds good, but I think there is more to the uncomfort. For me, seat bottom is not long enough, side bolsters insufficient and not enough padding .. My legs go restless after 2 hours and numb after 3-4...

 

[nismojason]

this sounds good, but I think there is more to the uncomfort. For me, seat bottom is not long enough, side bolsters insufficient and not enough padding .. My legs go restless after 2 hours and numb after 3-4...

Before I did this I used to think it was the bolsters, and they could still be better. But I was amazed at how much relief it gave just to have my thighs supported.

I going to see if there isn't a way to bend the bolsters up. We used to do something like that on my nissan 240sx. Depends on how the seat is made.

 

[wombie]

I agree. My 3rd Gen seats were a LOT more comfortable than the 4th Gen ones.

Adding Wet Okole seat covers helped a bit because they have foam padding in them, but I still miss my 3rd Gen seats hugely. We roadtripped from Vegas to the east coast in that SUV and I never felt uncomfortable. A few hours in the 4th Gen and I get sore legs. I think the problem is that 1) seats are too narrow 2) they aren't padded enough 3) they aren't long enough and 4) they don't roll back far enough. This isn't a problem on the driver side, but on the passenger side I really miss being able to stretch my legs out, and washers won't help with that. Oh well.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Out of curiosity, how many of the uncomfortable people have manual seats? I wonder if there is so difference between the two types? I find my seats extremely comfortable, my only complaint would be that if you pull it forward to make a bed, the steering wheel gets in the way a lot.

 

[nismojason]

I have an SR-5 with manual seats. I was wandering too if people thought that the leather seats were more comfortable. Anyone spent extended time in both?

For those that thing the washers couldn't make a difference. Adjust the front of your seat as close as you can to the floor. As you move it back towards the roof, you probably find that you get more comfortable, but you can't adjust it as high as you like. Thats where the washers come in. Basically gives you more adjustment in the front.

All I'm saying is try it if you think the seats are the least bit uncomfortable. It cost less than 2 bucks and 5 min. of your time. If you dont like it, take em out. Not saying it will turn your truck into a lazy boy, but a great improvement.

Jason

 

[d2huffman]

I am going to give that a try on the pass side. Have the power seats so driver side can go up but pass side only front and back. I would think that the drivers power seat pretty well takes care of the issue to my liking.

 

[TheRusski]

Great! Im gonna give it a try!

 

[ParkerSmith]

This was a great mod. It's great, with such limited headroom, to be able to have the extra leg support without having the whole bottom all the way up where I will bump my head. Made a huge difference, especially during long trips. Thanks for the great idea!