DIY Seat Modification DIY. Good For Us Tall Guys!

[ChitownTundra]

Dear TundraSolutions Peeps.

Here is a Mod that I have found necessary on the last 4 toyota's that I have purchased. I am a taller guy, but by no means huge. at 6'3" and 245 the tundra fits me great, but I always felt like my legs were never supported at the end of the seat, I also felt like the seat was tilted to far forward and I was going to slide off. I wanted something more comfortable, something to hold me, not so that I had to hold on! So here is what I came up with and it works perfectly!!

THE NET RESULT, DROPS REAR OF SEAT 2", GIVES IT A MORE RECLINED AND SUPPORTIVE FEEL.

Time Needed: 2-4 hours including dry time. (depending on paint choice)

Tools that you will need:
1.) 4" angle grinder
2.) Jig Saw or recip saw with a steel cutting blade.
3.) Black spray paint.
4.) Large L bracket piece of steel. you will need 18" of it in total, 4.5" x 4 It also needs to be wider than 3" if it is larger you can cut it down.

5.) Basic hand tools for attaching hardware. Screw driver, Ratchet Set, Allen Set.
6.) Round File and Flat file
7.) Button Head Hardware with a head no wider than 3/8" so it fits in the tracks.
8.) Nylon locking nuts on the back so it does not loosen up over time.
9.) Matching washers so you don't muck up your pretty paint job.
10.) Extra Steel Blades, YOU will break them if you are not careful!
11.) Steel Cutting Drill Bits

First I removed the seats. You can do this by removing 4 bolts, one on each corner of the seat and then removing the connector plugs on the bottom of the seat. Carry the seat around to your tail gate with out scratching the truck. I know sounds stupid, but don't do it!

Here are the brackets that I am going to modify. These as you can see I have tried other ways to modify. you will only have one hole in your seat rail foot.




First thing to do is cut off the excess steel from the foot of the chair using a recip saw and grind down the excess and sharp edges. Notice that I have ground it down to where it is flat with the rest of the foot that is left intact. This is the new base, so make sure it is somewhat flat, IT does not have to be perfect.





The next step is to drill out the Holes on the seat rail. and remove the rivets that are there currently. The rivets are marked in blue here. Do not worry, these rivets do not hold the seat bracket on, they are glued or welded in other ways too.



Cut out your brackets and match them up with the back of the seat rail foot. Drill holes matching up with the ones your drilled out the rivets with. and then bolt them on for test fitting. Once you have it fit properly, bolt them on tight and then grind off the excess threads sticking out from the nut. on the bottom of the new seat rail foot.





Notice the clearance issues that you can run into with this set up, you will need to use your angle grinder to make sure that the steel clears your seat when the slider moves up and down its motion.

Then Take the seat back inside the truck and mark the holes for where the bolts will go into the truck to lock it down. Drill them out and use a file to clean up the burrs.




Now you are almost done! Mask or cover the seats accordingly to paint them what ever color you would like.





Here is the finished product. None will ever no, they will just be nice and comfortable!

Passengers side.


Note that this bracket does not cover the carpet completely, that is my fault and I cut the bracket too short. Don't make this mistake, cut them 4.5 inches in length to account for this





Drivers Side



Well for all you tall guys out there! I hope this helped. It takes a few hours at best, I got it done on a saturday morning with 2 trips to the hardware store, so Enjoy it!!

[matrix77]

Cool DIY...

What are those blue LED under the dash?

[hoopitup3]

I feel kind of ignorant, but what exactly does this do? I'm a fairly big guy also and might give it a whirl

[mxsjw]

Nice work... CBTMA approved.

Added to the DIY sticky on the main page...thanks for your contribution.

[RamItOne]

Cool, I'm 6'4". May consider this one. My truck came with that leg extension that is supposed to prop up your legs on long trips, can't even tell, it doesn't come out far enough for me. Also I feel too high up in the cab, the only benefit is I don't have to use the visor.

[RONE]

Wow, nice writeup! I'm 6'3" as well, with most of my height in my torso, so I'd love to drop the seat down some. Anyone know if this will work the same with power seats? I haven't compared brackets between power and manual.

[ChitownTundra]

Originally Posted by RONE

Wow, nice writeup! I'm 6'3" as well, with most of my height in my torso, so I'd love to drop the seat down some. Anyone know if this will work the same with power seats? I haven't compared brackets between power and manual.

Someone shoot up a picture of a stock power seat rear bracket.

[ChitownTundra]

Originally Posted by hoopitup3

I feel kind of ignorant, but what exactly does this do? I'm a fairly big guy also and might give it a whirl

It lowers the rear of the seat 2" to lower the seating height in the truck.

This keeps us taller people from sitting up too tall in the truck and not pressing our heads into the roof. It lowers us down so we are sitting like some one possibly 3 to 4" shorter than us would fit in this truck. Which trust me, is much more comfortable!!

[guntech]

ChitownTundra - Points sent

[Velocibiker]

Hmmm. Looks like a good idea. However, I'm 6'5" and don't feel I sit too high. There's at least 2" of head room and I keep the seat back pretty vertical.

However, I see your seat doesn't have the same controls/options as mine does. Mine are non-powered seats, but the seat can be raised, lowered and the angle changed.

Still, getting it an inch or two lower wouldn't hurt. May have to see if I can come up with a similar modification. Thanks for the idea!

[ChitownTundra]

Originally Posted by Velocibiker

Hmmm. Looks like a good idea. However, I'm 6'5" and don't feel I sit too high. There's at least 2" of head room and I keep the seat back pretty vertical.

However, I see your seat doesn't have the same controls/options as mine does. Mine are non-powered seats, but the seat can be raised, lowered and the angle changed.

Still, getting it an inch or two lower wouldn't hurt. May have to see if I can come up with a similar modification. Thanks for the idea!

Your seats must be similar to the ones I had in my FJ Cruiser. It was nice to have that height adjustment built into the seat as I remember, I still modified my FJ Seat, This mod has less to do with seat height and more to do as it does seat angle and posture.

[Marky_Mark]

Awesome mod!!

[tun dra]

Very nice I am going to try it. Thanks for the write up and pics !

[Jowett Engineering]

This works on the power seat, too. I used the lower section of the stock power seat frame to mount my Recaro driver's seat, and had to perform this mod to the bracket to get it to sit low enough for my 5'10" frame to be comfy....

Good info, Chitown!

[DawgBonez]

I've got to do this mod!!! I never got that good secure feeling in mine(have the 8 way adjustable or whatever) I'm 6'2 and I cannot stand to have the wheel and pedals so far away from me... This would allow me to get closer without my knees hitting the dash. Plus I wouldn't have to recline the back so much...

Next, I would like to see what it would take to get CM rear seats in the rear of my DC...

Great write up... although I wonder if using a good hard steel would be safer than alloy... Or is that stainless?
[edit]you mentioned it was steel... looked alloy in the pics...