front seat swap with GX?

[jacal]

Has anyone swapped in the driver seat from a GX to a 4Runner?



JG

 

[jacal]

Is there any general interest in getting an improved driver seat?


J

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Is there any general interest in getting an improved driver seat?


J

Nope, the stock 4Runner seats are the finest known to human-kind, the absolute finest the automotive industry has ever put into a vehicle:lmao:











I would love to know if the GX seat would work and how much $$$ for a used seat. One member pulled his seat cover and trimmed the bolster foam. He reported good results. IMHO the 4Runner seats are great for 160lb people or less. There's nothing wrong with them other than they are built 15% too small for most people.
:cheers:

 

[jacal]

Nope, the stock 4Runner seats are the finest known to human-kind, the absolute finest the automotive industry has ever put into a vehicle:lmao:

I would love to know if the GX seat would work and how much $$$ for a used seat. One member pulled his seat cover and trimmed the bolster foam. He reported good results. IMHO the 4Runner seats are great for 160lb people or less. There's nothing wrong with them other than they are built 15% too small for most people.
:cheers:

I'm close to ordering a 06 gx drivers seat. Unfortunately the pictures seem to show a gray that just won't match my existing at all. (03 limited leather). Worst case I can trial it, then put the old one back for resale OR yank out the lumbar unit and replace mine with it, OR yank out the rest of the seats and replace them all with GX. To my eye it's looking like a direct swap. Would kind be fun to try. Sorta like gambling? Good thing I don't gamble - worked in that industry long enough.


JG

 

[CJ3Flyr]

I'm close to ordering a 06 gx drivers seat. To my eye it's looking like a direct swap. Would kind be fun to try. Sorta like gambling? Good thing I don't gamble - worked in that industry long enough.
JG

Very cool... Keep us posted.

I too view some of my "mod money" as gambling. My drinking is very limited and social in nature. I don't do drugs, I don't gamble etc. A minor vice is not the all that bad :lmao:

 

[Flyer]

Do the GX seats just bolt on? I'd love to have a seat with a slightly longer bottom for more thigh support.

 

[jacal]

Do the GX seats just bolt on? I'd love to have a seat with a slightly longer bottom for more thigh support.

Nothing but speculation and guesswork for now.


J

 

[jacal]

Ok mixed results so far.

Physically it appears to fit (once you pull off the armrest). Mounting points line up identical.

The challenge is now wiring. My 03 did NOT have memory seat, the 06 gx seat does. Therefore different connectors.

It appears the wiring harness ends *should* fit all the motors etc directly, so an option might be to pull the oem wiring harness and plug it into the gx seat.

What is the best option? What is my next step?

Does anyone have the wiring diags for the lexus? or would it be the same as the 4runner with mem seat?


JG

 

[eskimochaos]

Are you trying to get the memory function to work?


If not, I assume all these seats need are power. Be careful of the airbags...

 

[jacal]

Are you trying to get the memory function to work?


If not, I assume all these seats need are power. Be careful of the airbags...

No memory - no need, and should be less work.

I might swap control switch and harness.

Not sure about the airbag...yes I will need to be careful (90 seconds after neg terminal removed) but as to it functioning; it should work, but that will rely on assumptions as well.

EDIT: studied the diags for 06 with mem and w/o on the power seat, also reviewed seat belt diag and tensioner diag. I think at this point I will try to re-use all of the oem wiring, and switches, and adapt (if needed) to the gx seat motors etc. All diags show "that side" of the connections as being the same...so in the off chance the memory aspect (or now the lack of) confuses the ecu it won't work correctly.

I'm thinking if you had memory seats it would likely be a direct plug and play. But that's just an assumption.


J

 

[jacal]

it's in!

Ok the seat is in!

I had a local shop execute my plan...replace wiring harness, and switch assembly. I do not think this would be required if you had a 4runner with memory seats...but I'm just guessing.

PRO
1)it just feels right! excellent seating position. Feels more like a dining room chair.
2)everything works, heat, seat positioning, seat belt warning.
3)NO SRS codes, but I'll never be sure if that side airbag will work or not.
4)it's minor impacts, so I could switch the seats back again. The minor part was cutting the the wires that run internal in the seat in order to avoid fully disassembling the seat.

CON
5)slight mismatch in colour, it's a darker gray.
6)armrest needed to be removed and shows a "hole" in the side of the seat.
7)at the lowest height setting, it's still higher than the oem. Maybe .5-1 inch, not sure, but that's a huge deal in an suv with already compromised headroom. I'm 6ft, and my hair touches the liner. I'm not sure if I will be able to deal with this...If you are shorter than 6ft this seat swap is a great thing. If not, or if your right on the edge, basically throw a 1" cushion under you and decide if you are still comfy.

To deal with 8 I might see if I can lower the rails to bring the seat down a bit. Again, we are only talking about 1/2 or 1 inch maybe. IF not, and if I am still not happy, then I'll just steal the lumbar motor and put it back into the oem.

It was interesting to try, and I'm almost at my budget for this, so hopefully I can get used to the height or lower it a little and keep under budget (budget being the cost of the part new + install).

UPDATE #1:
-the height is an issue. But I'm going to make 1 more effort to get this to work. It is possible that I could lower this seat based on the space I see under the rails. I think it is worth it because the comfort (ignoring the proximity to the headliner) is a big step up. I had a long day yesterday, and was driving home at 9pm. It was so comfy and "perfect" I actually chuckled a little bit. The positioning is different, and much better. Of course, the relationship will change if lowered, so I'll need to re-eval. As it stands, if I cannot lower it, it will 80% probably come back out, and I'll go "worst case" with the oem seat and the gx lumbar motor.


J

 

[CJ3Flyr]

Nice work... I'll be very interested in hearing any update on lowering it a bit. You and I are about the same height. Hair brushing the roof would not be ok for me either...

 

[eskimochaos]

Yea Jacal, Im impressed - pics would be awesome.

The driver seat is OK at best, the front passenger seat is, by far, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

The back seats on the other hand are mighty comfy.

If I wasnt trading up to a 100 series within the next couple of years, this would be on my list of things to do - or have the stock ones custom rebuilt.

 

[jacal]

Yea Jacal, Im impressed - pics would be awesome.

The driver seat is OK at best, the front passenger seat is, by far, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

The back seats on the other hand are mighty comfy.

If I wasnt trading up to a 100 series within the next couple of years, this would be on my list of things to do - or have the stock ones custom rebuilt.

Thanks I appreciate it! I agree, drv seat can "work", it's a "B" at best, passenger seat, well, at least you can shuffle around "C" grade maybe, and the rear seat for me personally is surprisingly comfy!

I checked into some recaro's and other aftermarket seats. Way way more expensive, low availability to my area, and I couldn't find anything that wouldn't take a bit of effort anyway; I didn't see any "4runner" rail kits for them at all.


J

 

[jacal]

Update - I had the seat lowered in Dec. I worked with a local shop. The owner/fabber looked at the options with me 1) lower the rails 2) sink the seat into the body. We took option 1 but not after pulling apart a good bit of the interior to determine feasibility of option 2. Let me say there is allot of "stuff" under where that seat sits! It just didn't seem worth it.

So he fabbed up option 1 and got us an extra 1 to 1.5" and also lowered the front. HE concluded that he would never do that job again, it was way to fussy/hard. This should have given me some extra headroom, but it's honestly hard to tell for sure. Maybe I grew.

So I have had some seat time, in the city and hwy. The seat itself is still excellent. But overall there is just "something" about the relationship to the suv that doesn't work. Can't be 100% certain. Just seems too close to the roof. Back to the seat, it is really good and it's "setup" does work, puts you up more like a dining room chair (which I like).

Overall, I do not recommend the GX seat swap.

 

[StevieT4R]

Great job - interested in your update/mod. I had a 3rd gen for 13 years and really liked the seats. Just bought a 4th gen and notice that its not as comfortable. The GX seats look more like my 3rd gen seats.

Where did you find the seats and how much did the seats and mod cost?

 

[jacal]

Great job - interested in your update/mod. I had a 3rd gen for 13 years and really liked the seats. Just bought a 4th gen and notice that its not as comfortable. The GX seats look more like my 3rd gen seats.

Where did you find the seats and how much did the seats and mod cost?

Seat was off ebay, approx $550 incl shipping. Mods were ~100 to swap wiring, and maybe 200 for fabbing the brackets to be lower (hard to say for sure as other work was done).

Again, at the end of the day I wouldn't do it again. I might even swap back at some point.


J

 

[01thunder]

GX seats? what vehicle is this? year? my butt is really hurting from sitting in my seats man. i need a swap pronto.

 

[wnelax04sr5]

[MENTION=55855]zopperman[/MENTION] the thread resurrections continue

 

[01thunder]

in swapping manuals for power, is the harness already under the carpet for this or does it have to be added, splicing wires, what? so far all i have found are power seats.