Driver's seat - recaro seat - anyone done this?

[dradeka]

Hello; I'm new to this forum. I have a 99 SR5 4runner with stock cloth seats. I have a 120 mile daily roundtrip commute and the driver's seat is really killing my back. (I'm 6'3") I'm looking to get a better driver's seat; I'd really like to keep the vehicle. Has anyone upgraded their seat? I'm considering either a Limited/Landcruiser seat, if I can find one, or more likely will go for a Recaro seat. Anyone have experience upgrading, sourcing, installing?

Thanks!

 

[Sac State]

Man, I don't know what to tell you. I had an '02 Sport and the seat would literally kill my back after about ten minutes of driving(I'm 6'1, 220lbs).

It was so bad, that I traded the '02 for an '03. The seats in the '03 are built for us Americans. I am not sure if you can swap out the stock seat for an aftermarket. My biggest concern was the width of the available space for a new seat. If I can recall, the interior of the '02 was TIGHT.

 

[dradeka]

So I'm not the only one complaining about these seats! I hope I don't have to do a trade to solve this problem! I checked Recaro's website, and also called to verify that they have an adapter bracket for this vehicle. Supposedly I should be able to bolt one right in using the adapter bracket. (You know how that goes, "yeah, honey, I just need to bolt in this seat, then I'll take the kids out to play, shouldn't be more than an hour...") Measurements seem ok; though I agree with you that this is a tight cabin. Recaro is closed for 2 weeks for the holidays so I can't order one now anyway. I'll follow up with a post in a few weeks when I decide how to sort this out.

Thanks, and Merry xmas!

 

[Woodbert]

I had RECARO seats in my 93 Surf and they would kill my back on anything more that a few minutes drive.

The leather seats in my 03 make me happy after a long drive.

And I'm not even a tall guy!

 

[Sac State]

Hi Woodbert, welcome to the board. In contrast to yotatech, this board seems highly populated with 4th generation owners.

Hope your having a happy, tropical Christmas.

 

[Woodbert]

Back at ya Sac State!

It was nice and toasty here yesterday. High temp was 73 degrees and bright and sunny.

It's supposed to start raining today though.

 

[xytiz]

dradeka : did you find any solution .. I have exactly the same problem with my cloth interior 99 4Runner sr5 :-(..I knows its almost 10 years since your post but i am still hoping to get a reply to solve my misery ..

 

[dradeka]

Recaro seat

So I just received an email on this 10 year old thread today, yet never received previous notifications. Very strange indeed.

So YES guys this is possible and I did solve the problem. You need to buy a bracket from a company called Wedge Engineering. They are southern California as I remember and they are on the web. I've ordered brackets now from them, a few times for different cars. From Recaro you need a seat, plus the Recaro sliders.

Remove the factory seat. Bolt the Wedge bracket into the vehicle. You will need to remove the seat belt anchor from the factory seat and bolt it to the Wedge bracket. It may require some minor modification and drilling.

You'll also need to get a power lead to the seat area so you can power the Style seat, which has power adjust, heat, and cooling. I just ran one straight from the battery through the firewall. Put a 30 amp fuse on it.

The last step is to install the Recaro sliders onto the seat bottom, then lift the seat into the car and bolt it to the Wedge bracket. Then plug it in.

One last issue for newer cars with side airbags in the factory seat. You will have to get a resistor to trick the car computer into "thinking" that the seat is still there. The hard part about this is finding out what resistance is required for your car. They all vary and the dealer will not tell you. Try an auto upholstery shop because they deal with this kind of issue often

I hope this helps. I may have some pix however my laptop hard drive crashed so I'm down for a few days. I'll try to search my archive drive once I get my machine back.

 

[mikebontoft]

damn that looks really good.

Oh and award of the year goes to [MENTION=834]dradeka[/MENTION]. He came back after ten years and not only answered a question, but provided a whole write up on how to make it work.

 

[Coveman]

Wow! Those seats are crazy sharp. I hate to ask but, an arm and a leg?

 

[dradeka]

Recaro

Thanks for the pictures Redswan. That looks sharp. Thanks for the kind words Mike.

Honestly, never got any notifications from the site before this random email a couple of days ago. I had forgotten about the post.

Will post some pix once I have the of running, if I can find them.

Kind regards,