bench seat problems

I've had my tacoma for about 3 months now, a reg cab prerunner. The more I drive it, the worse my back feels. I've tried all sorts of cushions and pillows. I even stuffed some foam through the back of the seat in some areas for a little more support. However nothing seems to work. The problem is it needs to recline some more. I sat in a friends 07 taco that is identical to mine, except it had bucket seats in it and it felt 100x better.

So my question is; is there anyway I can make it recline? Even just a little bit? I was thinking about taking the bench out and seeing what I can do, but I figured I'd check here 1st. I also considered swapping out the bench for buckets, but I have many concerns regarding the airbags. The bench has airbags in it, so if I put buckets w/o airbags, would that conflict and mess up the sensors? I need to do something soon, it's getting pretty undrivable now. If nothing works out I think I'll just put an ad in craigslist to takeover the lease. It's only $200/mo I'm sure someone will bite.

 

You probably would have troubles without the bags, but it would most likely be a warning light always on kind of situation.

As for adding recline, if it doesn't come with recline it would be next to impossible to add it - you'd have to cut and reweld the frame which would be a major pain.

 

check to see if the rear of the seat frame has stops on it. If so, get to grinding them to allow it to lean further back. I've not seen one up close, so I'm not sure if that is possible. Just have to examine the mechanicals of the seat frame assembly.

This is the very concern I had when I was shopping for a regular cab. I'm glad I got the 08 with buckets. I didn't think I'd be happy with a bench.