Seat upgrade ideas for a first gen

Mine once looked just like this. Sadly, not anymore.

 

What did that end up costing you Kevin

 

$700

 

I picked up some scion tc seats from the pick n pull for $50, the inside rail is perfect and the outside rail is about an inch off. going to have to probably drill holes and install with bolt/lock nut combo.

 

I need to revisit my pick n pull. Definitely need some more comfortable seats than these from 22 years ago.

 

Oi, the struggles with seats

I had factory buckets that were completely wasted by the time I pulled them.

I did a lot of reading knowing guys were putting buckets from Scion XB’s and 4Runner seats, but frankly I didn’t want to spend that kind of money on seats I wasn’t that impressed with, and frankly buying used can be as expensive as aftermarket and they’re used seats which means they may last, but if they’re already getting worn out are you looking forward to replacing them again with seats from a 20 year old vehicle?

I shopped eBay for manual seats and ended up getting leather seats from a Subaru Crosstrek for like $600 shipped. It was important to get seats that weren’t electric, so this left me with limited options to either get really old, worn out seats or put the same uncomfortable seats back in from a first gen Tacoma.

Fab was a complete bitch- I took the factory Tacoma seat feet off and mounted them to the Subaru sliders. My brother warned me Subaru steel is bonkers strong- he’s a firefighter, his guys use grinders to cut open Subarus in wrecks- they can’t use jaws of life because the steel is so strong, so just getting the rivets out of the factory Subaru feet took a few hours.

The end result was a huge disappointment- the seats sat way too high, maybe 2” over stock and the backs are huge, coming up to the top of my shoulder. My dog has been pissed since I installed them a few years ago because she can’t get her head out the window anymore.

I ended up buying Corbeau brackets and sliders to try to drop the height, but even after I custom made brackets to drop the seats as low as I could they still sit high and my wife hates how tall she sits, makes you feel like your center of gravity is off.Lola looking on as if to say “This shit better work”You can see the recessed middle of the bracket. A lot of work to get maybe 3/4” lower On top of it all the backs didn’t go forward past straight up because it’s a sedan (coupes and trucks with no third or back doors go forward to get at the back) so I had no access to the back seat until I pulled them apart so I could cut off the stops so they’d swing as far forward as possible- it’s still super tight trying to squeeze into the back where the dogs rides and I store stuff under her bench

The seats have several issues like they are too big for the space and frankly aren’t that comfortable having a bar that hits my butt/lumbar in the very bottom of the seat back.

Well, thank you stimulus because here is my latest solution.For $600 for a pair I purchased Procar Touring buckets. I like the leather on the Subaru seats, much easier to keep clean so went with black vinyl. I also like the bolsters to keep you planted on rough trails, just hope they don’t wear out when I’m climbing in and out.

Procar has made seats for classic cars for years so and there are a lot of positive reviews.

Best of all, the seats come with very good descriptions of the size, so I’ll actually pick up a little room for the Tuffy style center console I’m making. They include their own seat sliders so the only other things I’ll have to mess with is how they’ll mount to the Corbeau brackets.

Finally, I’ll speak to my thoughts on aftermarket seats others have mentioned.

Recarros are the best you could get but start at $1000 a seat for entry level Specialist S. Probably worth it if you want the best.

There are other manufacturers like TMI that start around $800 for low back seats with head rests

I’ve read a lot about Corbeau seats saying they are really stiff, and frankly they look cheep, as do Bestop and Smittybilt.

Once I get my seats mounted I’ll post back up, but another thing is if these seats ever wear out, they’ve been in business for long enough that hopefully I’ll just be able to buy a replacement. $300 a seat is more than reasonable for what’s out there.

 

Those look nice! I’m looking forward to hearing about the install and your impressions.

 

I purchased my truck a few weeks ago and it came with these corbeaus already installed. They’re extremely comfortable, even for bucket seats. I went ahead and got some matching covers for them so I don’t ruin the suede with mud/grease.
My gf’s mom is sewing me up some lumbar cushions to add to them under the covers, similar to what you can get for brides or sparcos.

 

I haven't sat in suede since my 1985 maxima - comfy but gets dirty fast.

I was looking at these - but pretty pricey.

 

ive got suede on my bucket in my drift car so I know how hard it is to keep clean, hence the covers.

those seats look super comfy!

 

Could you post a few pics of how the bracket attaches in the rear? I have some Corbeau's in my cobra and was thinking about putting them in the truck. Thanks!

 

https://corbeau.com/toyota-tacoma-oem-bucket-60-40-95-04-seat-brackets/

https://corbeau.com/toyota-tacoma-oem-bench-95-04-seat-brackets/

I’ll send a picture in just a bit

 

I just saw them in one of the above pics, but thanks!

 

I’ve located some leather mk4 VW seats in good shape. Anyone ever tried a set? I’m out of town but judging from what I remember of my 1st Gen Taco and a Jetta I have these may be fairly close in sitting height as the VW is a unibody and sort of countersunk inside the cabin. Maybe an inch lower. Not sure about the feet spacing though.

 

Tell Lola I said thanks for being so patient. My wife, our dog and I benefit greatly from the research you’re conducting.

Think I’m gonna try going with the procar seats + Corbeau brackets for a similar setup. When you can, please update on how the new seats are working out.

 

I’ll update soon with pics and impressions.

 

Looking forward to your update!

 

Looking forward to it. Those look comfy.

 

Alright, so right into it.

My initial impression of the seats is that they feel pretty cheap. The reclining levers feel pretty chintzy. There are good things about them like size, there are pockets on both seat backs (minor but that’s where I store dog poop bags and leashes, etc), and seem like they’ll be easy to clean.

Comfort wise, they’re decent. Done four 2-3 hour drives, including about 20 miles off pavement and both my wife and I agreed they were supportive with the higher bolsters and we felt pretty locked in when the truck was getting tossed on ruts. The seats have a slightly pronounced lumbar so they feel like they have good back support.

What I feel is lacking is thigh support. The biggest issue I have with the layout of 1st gen seats is they are really low off the floor, about 8” or so to the front of the seat off the floor. If you raise the seats up you have no head room and feel like your center of gravity is off.

This was the issue with the Subaru seats but they had added thigh support, so even if they were too tall or had the bar that hit your tailbone, I always felt like my legs were supported.My solution for this was to put in a spacer up front to kick the front up, which I think helped. I still feel like my legs were kind of unsupported so I’m wondering if after significant time in the driver seat like driving 6 hours or more and they’d get uncomfortable.

Because of the high side bolsters it can be difficult to get in and out. The one benefit is the side bolsters are soft and compress easily, but I feel like if I’m dragging my ass getting in and out every time I’ll wear out the seat. I tend to stand on my slider and come in from a higher angle which is a little awkward, but I did tend to do that with the Subaru seats because they were wearing out on the bolster.

The biggest issue with these seats is the access to the back seat. Same issue with the Subaru seats, but with those I ground out the stops so the seat back could go a couple inches further.Pictured is the seats with new sliders, which were another $110 a piece. https://www.torqued.io/racetech-seat-slider-by-elap-wide-handle These required more research to get the most travel I could. I emailed several manufacturers asking about travel and these had the most at a little over 9 inches.

With the old Corbeau sliders I only had like 7 inches of travel, compare that to the pic and you’d see how cutoff we’d be to the backseat which is where the dogs go and I keep recovery gear, first aid kit, tools, rain gear, etc. Frankly I was pretty despondent when I got them first installed. I couldn’t even get my toolbox behind the seat which was not going to work.

I did have to remake the slider lever, another part of making these really custom, so if you don’t have the tools your kind of stuck trying to find someone who can make them for you. I probably could have just cut and rewelded them, but I wanted to do it right.

Next issue is seat belts. Because the buckle mounting points is on the Corbeau frame, when the seat travels back and forth the buckle gets caught and you have to go looking for it. The Subaru seat as well as stock seat had the buckle mounted to the seat so they traveled back and forth with the seat.


First I made the bracket too high so the buckle really got interfered with. You can see now it’s pretty low, any lower and I think it’d get uncomfortable.I could have likely avoided this by offsetting them further toward the center, but then one of my next projects is a Tuffy style center console and I’m trying to keep it around 6-1/2” to 7”. I may fab a bracket I mount to the console that restricts the movement of the buckle.

It’s a pain in the ass to find a seat that meets all the requirements.

The seats are as narrow as I could find in the aftermarket and they’re still right on the door pocket.

Honestly, I’m not ruling out getting a pair of Recaro Specialist S. They’re about a grand a piece, and it would sadly be my 3rd attempt at new seats, but what the hell good is an uncomfortable seat?

 

Dammit, that’s too bad. For how much work you’ve put into those things you deserve to feel like you’re riding a cloud. These first gen cabs are so freaking small, we need a magician to comfortably fit more than one person.

I think I’m gonna try removing the passenger seat altogether so I can make something comfy out of the back seat for my wife. That way our pup has wiggle room and access to the window as well. If I’m lucky enough to make something that actually works then I’ll be sure to post here.

THANK YOU for sharing your results with us though. Cant even imagine how many socket-wrench touchdown spikes you’re preventing.