'01 Reg cab full bench->buckets (Advice needed!) (Corbeau a4 in SD?)

Ok so I got my first tacoma about 6 months ago. Absolutely everything I could possibly need out of a car minus 1 thing, a f***ing comfortable seat. I thought it was just my crappy head-forward slouching posture I have from being a cook killing my back, but I guess not. I took out my old deck and stereo to put in an aftermarket one (1st modification yay) and started researching tacoma mods online and now I know I am not alone in hating my bench seat.

After doing way too much research, I have decided my best bet is either to buy some aftermarket seats ie. corbeau a4's with direct bolt in brackets, or search junkyards for celica and 4runner seats and pay someone to install them(I have zero fabricating experience or confidence). I am pretty damn skinny with broad shoulders at 150' 5'11. Don't need shoulder bolsters but a solid lumbar support would be amazing. Keep in mind I will be in and out of my truck 6-7 times a day for work. No serious offroading, but I have a hard time not clutch kicking if I find myself in some dirt.

While much more expensive than junkyard seats, I wouldn't mind paying more for brand new seats which bolt directly in!!! I have examined under my bench and under the floorpan and see that only 3 possible holes for bolts are exposed for each bucket so thats another dilemma. Does anybody know if the corbeau brackets for my truck have an easy solution for the inboard front bolt for the drivers seat??

And also one more far reach for help. I've checked with all the local san diego dealers and none of them stock a4's for some reason. I'm too scared to pay 1000$ and then find out I hate how they feel. Does anybody in San Diego have a4's that would be willing to let me try out? I'll bring beer.

Thank you!!!!
Brennan

 

I did a bucket seat swap in my 04. I got 97 subaru legacy seats from a junkyard for about 85 bucks. I ended up welding the brackets to the cab. I just winged it, and they ended up a little crooked.

If you do decide to get junkyard buckets that are not direct bolt on, I suggest you first measure out how wide the seats can be. The floor of the cab has a hump in the middle where the shifter is. My seats were barely skinny enough to fit. Make sure the new seat (especially the distance between the brackets) are skinny enough.

If the seats have really funky mounting brackets (mine did), I would suggest having someone fab up a bracket that uses all 4 of the bench seat holes, that you weld/mount the new seat brackets onto. Basically it would be a piece of flat metal that makes a big rectangle connecting all of the original seat holes (with a hump in the middle to lay completely flat). That way you can make sure everything sits perfect.

 

I had factory buckets in my 96 reg cab. After a lot of debate I went with a set of cloth buckets out of a 94 4runner. (Tryin to keep it in the family ) the great part of these seat are that the color and patterns flow well and match the truck. Also the driver seat has a lot of adjustment. The seat bas tilts up and down, the upper side bolster can be adjusted to fit your torso and it has lumbar! And these seats are incredibly comfortable. The ride of my truck completely changed after the install. The truck rides soo much more comfortable and my back doesn't hurt when I drive it now! All that being said there are a couple of cons. First because the tracks are different there are some slight mods that must be done to make them "bolt in" but they aren't bad and can be done in a few hours. Second, because the thickness of these seats is a bit bulkier than the bucket it's replacing, the seat can't lay back as far as the stock one. I can tell this because I'm 6'2" so I have the seat slid all the way back, but for someone shorter they may not notice. Still they are great seats and very comfortable. I'm super happy with them. Putting seat heaters in em next week. Oh...and they only cost me $150 for the pair hope this helps!