Poll - 3rd Gen Front Seat Riser - Interest?

6/12/2019 Edit: IN STOCK AND READY TO SHIP. See HERE for final design and order information.

MODs if this is not the right subforum let me know, it's been awhile since I've posted so I'm a little rusty on protocol.

A friend of mine machined front seat risers for his 2018 Tacoma and they turned out great. Not surprising since he has some sweet machines (Minimill and VFOE).

We're trying to gauge interest to see if it's worth the time and effort to machine a few sets. Right now he's only doing the front risers but he could pretty easily do rear risers as well.

The trick to the front risers is the offset bolt spacing and the almost parallelogram shape needed to lay flat and match the contour of the floor/seat.

TBD on if they will fit 2nd Gen but they probably will.

-1-1/4" Lift (that's the minimum lift due to bolt offset)
-7075 Aluminum
-Raw or Powder Coated
-Hardware TBD but he's using grade 8 3/8s course thread.

Anyway, here are some pics....

1. naked farmer CA
2. bulalo
3. TacoTruck33 CA
4. perkj x2 CA
5. 1taco2motos CO
6. chadabear LA
7. jftrd4x4 UT
8. Trentimus
9. Stocklocker
10. savethewheels
11. El Duderino HI
12. ChubbyTaco
13. Tombiology70 CA
14. jayuu ME
15. savethewheels AL
16. TRD493 TX
17. Evileyeswatchin NY
18. Silverlogic CA
19. Señor CA
20. diyman LA
21. Travis17 SC
22. Xr8ted

 

Sign me up! Dibs on the first set!

 

Would be interested but that’s a lot of liability on you guys if someone gets into an accident and these fail causing bodily harm. Just something to think about if you’re going to mass produce these.

 

Make the customers sign a form stating that the manufacturer is not responsible for any "bodily harm" caused by an accident?

 

Ill take the risk. Count me in OP

 

Would be a good idea to do something because could be a litigious nightmare if something was to happen.
That being said I’m sure there would be a market and I’d be interested to see what the $$ would be

 

I'm thinking these would at some point become obsolete. The new 2020 Tacoma trucks are going to feature a powerseat, so these brackets should be aimed towards the 2nd gen Tacoma owners.

 

Nice! Not trying to bash. But since the topic of safety has been brought up. It looks unsafe......

But this is something I've been waiting on for a while. So I'm assuming the front hole of the spacer bolts into the cab and the top hole is to mount the seat? I wonder if the variation of rear seat risers pose an issue of the fitment for these spacers and vice versa. Kudos to you guys for coming up with something a lot of people have been asking for.

 

There are still 4 years worth of 3rd Gen Tacomas with manual seats. I wouldve taken some of i hadn't custom made some already. As long as bolts are of highest quality I dont think you'd have a problem. Looks good. Would definitely sell here in HI.

 

I thought everyone here was over 6 foot and named Chad

 

Just put up disclaimers... “not for road use” “buyer and installer assumes all responsibility”....

 

My biggest issue is that they're aluminum (i.e. breaks before bending), that's not a lot metal in the front, and you just created a fulcrum in the event of a side impact by offsetting the bolts. The carpet isn't going to hold the spacer in place if you put a lot of lateral force on it.

I wish i had more rise in the front as much as anyone but this just screams bad idea.

Also, put any disclaimer you want on it but disclaimers don't protect you from a really, really bad design. "Off road use only" or "buyer assumes all risk" aren't blanket statements that mean if the part breaks it's not your fault. If you advertise this for a specific purpose and it fails at that purpose, you're opening yourself up for a world of hurt.

 

Not bashing, really. But why the heck does everyone want the seat higher??? I'm 5'5" on a good day. If anything the seat could be 1" lower, not higher.

 

It's not so much higher than it is the pitch of the seat. It's painfully flat for how low the seat is so if you have longer legs, it puts 100% of the pressure on your sit bones and lower back. A little thigh support would be greatly appreciated for me at 6'1" and pitching the seat back a little would add that.

 

I'd buy this for a 2nd gen, I'm 6'3" and not old enough to have my back hurting anytime I drive for more than 20 minutes.

 

Great feedback, keep it coming.

That's definitely a concern. The final product will be very strong whether it's made from 7075 aluminum or steel. These will not be the weak link in a accident.

Correct, the blocks would bolt in the original floor mount location and the seat bracket would bolt to the block. Looks like we can source the Grade 10.9 hardware so it would match the factory hardware.

All fair points that plague almost anyone who makes small batches of parts for any vehicle.

Regarding the physics of how it would fare in an accident, I couldn't say but in any accident, the seatbelt is going to do most the work.

With that being said, we're looking into the cost of steel over aluminum. The biggest concern is the wear on the tooling. With aluminum, even 7075, it's almost null but with steel not so much. The life of the tooling impacts the final cost but in the grand scheme of things it's likely going to be the better option.



To summarize:
-We are looking into a steel option
-Hardware will be factory Grade 10.9
-We will definitely test fit them on a 2nd Gen.
-With hardware, shipping and powder coating, we are trying to keep cost under $100 per seat (set of two blocks).

Thanks again for the feedback,
Steve

 

I like the current seating position as it is. Feels like I'm driving a lifted Camry.

 

Uh..kinda think ya answered own question?: "I'm 5'5" on a good day."

(I was 5'5" when I was 10, so the extra rise in front has been huge help for me..)

 

I would be interested in this as the Tacoma seating position is the only huge downside of the truck IMO. However, I echo what many have said here.

You will subject yourself to a lot of liability if anything goes wrong in an accident. I don't think it's worth it without any substanative research. Research unfortunately isn't cheap, and that's why most people's version of "research" these days is a Google search.

 

To all that keep bringing up it’s not safe or it’s a liability, please move along as your just stating opinions...allow those of us interested in this to see it to fruition.