Changing the Angle of the Bench Seat

Xopher,
So after you grind the stopper, if you reconnect the handles connected again it won't go forward and back without two people? Just wondering cause I am going to fix these seats this weekend with one of these mod options.

 

It will go forward with the lifting of one release lever. However, you will need to lift both levers simultaneously to get the seat to recline further than the original, non-modified position. If I'm really determined, I can do it by myself with a foot on one side and a hand on the other. But it's far easier for two people.

 

Last question, once you set the angle past the original, can you just slide the seat forward far enough to put small stuff in back and then slide it back still holding that new comfortable angle? Or is there not enough room to move forward with the lean? Thanks

 

I just stuck two 1/2inch hardened washers underneath each of the front bracket bolts while the back was loose today. It is amazing what just a couple millimeters will do for comfort. I have a three hour drive each way every weekend so I haven't loctited the bolts back in place yet but figured the reversible mod was the first step and if my back still kills I will be grinding this weekend. Will report back. Thanks for all the ideas and options this is a great thread.

 

Yes, you can slide the whole bench forward and still have some room to access the area behind the bench.
I put a fairly thin washer under the front bracket bolts. I've been meaning to find something much thicker. And possibly replace the mounting bolts with longer ones. But that's only if I determine the bolts don't have a decent grip on the bolts in the floor. The washer you installed is 1/2" thick? that's much thicker than I have. I'm going to find something thicker.
The reclining helps considerably. I haven't been aggressively looking for Tacoma buckets to replace the bench. They are hard to find.

 

So, three hour drive done. Bottom line bolts helped and not in pain anymore but still not what i would call comfortable. Looks like i am grinding something soon. I also see why this thread also linked to taking out the bars in the butt cushion. Had to shift twice due to falling asleep. I used size 1/2" washers from local hardware store. It refers to the inner diameter hole. But the bigger the washer size the thicker it gets. I think the two stacked might just be 1/4" height but they fit well under the bracket (don't go too big) with plenty of room for bolt to pass and not tall enough to need bigger bolt. I will still loctite cause once you break factory seal on anything that involves safety I would take the extra step to make sure. I just bought the truck and if all I have to worry about is a comfortable seat then I am doing good.

 

Nice job! Looks good!

 

Finally got time to grind down the stopper like xopher did with a dremel. You have to disconnect one of the connecting wires to the other latch just to test that you have each side grinded far enough. Once I had two clicks on each side I reconnected the wires and literally have a normal bench seat that lets you recline it if you want from either side. I only grinded about 2-3mm so it didn't even take longer than 5 minutes each side. My three hour commutes are comfortable if that is possible....

 

Did you take pictures by chance?
I'm still going to install some larger washers under the front bench mounts to get the bench to angle back a little more.

 

YeS man great idea I have put only about 5,000 miles
On mine and already hate sittin straight up Iv been tryin to find a way to rig it up to lean back and then seen this thumbs up man

 

It works great. Less than 1/4 an inch was an awesome difference.

 

After also raising up the front of the seat with two washers as I described in earlier posts, see pic, I also went with the grind the stopper technique because of the safety concerns mentioned previously. As you can see from these pictures I have a bench that can now adjustably lean back from either side. Like it should have done in the first place! My next post will explain but I have a full 1.5 inch difference in the lean in these pictures. You can go even farther but it felt great to me.

 

I have a 2009 4x4 Reg Cab just FYI. Ok, here is what I did. After getting the plastic off you will be ready to grind. I used a dremel and it took five minutes each side. The first picture is the cable that you will find when you detach 3 quick clips holding your cloth together in the back of the bench. There are two cables attached to the lean lever and I choose to loosen the one pictured and just pop it out of it's station in order to work on each side individually. You don't have to do this but without it means you have to grind both sides before you will be able to lean it back and test your positions. As you can see I actually have three total positions and you will find them very easily once you start grinding and you don't need to grind a lot. Just have the seat back mark off the spot where they touch and lean the seat foward and start grinding. You want to stop grinding as close as you can to the next click in the seat mechanism because you do want it to still be a stopper. Gaps make movement in crashes as already pointed out and movement is bad. So yes you could grind it even more to really lean it back but try to stop at the position you will be driving most of the time. Once I had two clicks where the latch pops back into place and holds the back on each side I repositioned the cable back onto its bracket and retighted it. Once I did that I was able to use either side again and move the whole back just like originally except I had two extra positions past the torture stock position.

 

Thanks for all the info and pics. Jparker helped alot I'll probably get to work on this tomorrow

 

And my back thinks u as well haha

 

Awesome....I just google searched this and had to join just to thank you.

 

All you need to do is grind a little bit of metal on each side, nothing else. Read this:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...h-seat-recline-yes-there-way.html#post7492053