Ultimate Standard Sport Limited 4Runner Bucket Seat Cushion Swappable Parts Thread

My 2 top upgrades that transformed the truck hands down: Seats for comfort and support and wheels/tires for the dramatic change in handling and driving characteristics.

Seats connect your body to the truck, and tires connect your truck to the Earth.. makes sense huh?!

 

Florida definitely doesn't have that abundance. Everything for sale hear is for the newer tacomas.

 

i bet ! makes perfect sense

 

I wouldnt say they are abundant out here either and I have been told I am "lucky" more than once but I dont believe in luck so much.. I just searched my ass off until I found them knowing they are out there if I look hard enough. I drove over 800 miles to get my second set of Sport buckets so I was willing to drive extra or pay extra for shipping if I had to.

Need some more real life motivation? Look what I found just doing a search right now in Florida to illustrate the power of positive searching:

Some potential choices in Florida right now under your nose, and if you are willing to drive a bit you have more choices out there in tan or grey. Oh yeah, take a look at that Sport bucket seat too listed for $45 in Florida!!!




Of course you will call and find half these are already sold as these yards are not super diligent at tracking stuff on car-part, but again if you do not try (3x per day every day is what I did) you will never get the seats you desire! I started this thread to show you can live your oem Tacoma bucket seat dreams, and its easier than you may think!!

Good "luck" out there!

 

Do the 4runner sport buckets end up sitting higher than the tacoma regular bucket seats?

 

This is a tricky question here since the 4Runner lap cushion has height adjustment it depends on where you have it set to, not to mention the condition of the 20 year old foams being used!

I didnt actually take measurements but I would say it did feel like it was slightly higher maybe due to the thicker cushion. I dont think this is enough to rule the seat out unless your head is already rubbing the headliner though! The height of the back rest does end up very close if not the same as the stock and Sport seats.

I do have some pics to help illustrate as best we can after the fact to help you decide yourself hopefully.

Here is a standard bucket next to the Sport in the cab, even the Sport seat feels a dash taller due to a bit more cushion right where you need it, but not by much.


4Runner bucket installed, I recall it did feel a touch higher when I first sat in it but so much more comfy and supportive:


Standard bucket for comparison:


Hope this helps on your quest to ergonomic improvement of the OEM variety!

 

Dang man I appreciate the in depth reply. This helps a lot

 

Has anyone ever tried to have an upholstery shop duplicate the foam cushions? If your seat covers are in good shape it might be an option?

 

Thanks for bringing this up, I have never worked with custom shops so dont know how "cheap" this option may be..

However I should mention that you can actually still purchase new OEM foam cushions for these and I dont think a custom shop would do them for much cheaper. If so, I definitely prefer OEM all day long in my vintage first gen anyhow!!

Below are lap cushions left and right front for 2001-2004 standard buckets as example, price from my favorite wholesale online/local Toyota dealer so I do free pickups even for large items to save the shipping cost.



I would say if you need foams I would scoop them up while you still can, as I have seen many parts for these trucks are no longer made. Such as the most of the covers I have searched for unfortunately.. although there are still a couple left still so search for yourself of course for your year, seat, and color.

Dang, I almost want to scoop up some foams now just to save them since I dont really see myself replacing this old first gen regular cab anytime soon. They just dont make anything like these little trucks anymore and looks like they never will again!!

 

Exactly I’ve been combing the internet for a good set of seats and found one set in the last 6 months and they sold right before I called.

 

My secret one more time in case some missed it above...

Search 3x per day car-parts.com, offerup, and craigslist. Also any salvage yards you have in the area can be an option to call weekly. When you find anything, call immediately and put them on hold over the phone.

Searched Georgia zip 30043 car-part.com right now.. guess my "luck" knows no geographic barriers!??!

 

Is there a specific model the sport seats came in to make searching for them easier?

I have a 2000 xtra cab and the seats aren't ideal.

Swapping to the sport model probably means I won't be able to find something that matches my interior, but at this point that's probably ok by me

 

love the great documentation of your process and archiving of every iteration you have tried. Thanks! New to TW and even newer to owning my 1st gen taco and this was very helpful and gave me hope ha! By any chance - are you selling any of the non bench seats you found and are not using?

 

The Sport buckets were available 2001-2004 and came standard in all SRunners and were also offered as part of the Limited package which both are pretty rare in Tacoma World. I find the tans translate to other years nicely while the greys are all over the place as far as matching goes.

 

Glad you found this helpful!

Actually I do have some standard 2001-04 gray buckets that are all cleaned up and do need a new home.

I am in SoCal, shoot me a pm if you are local or willing to pay for shipping as well (this could be pricey since they are large and fairly heavy).

 

@2Runner Ah that would be amazing - sorry took me awhile to get back to you. Will PM you right now hoping you still have the buckets.
Thanks so much for the help!

 

I feel like you man. They don’t make stuff like first gen regular cabs anymore. I’m hoping the bucket seat install I’m going to do soon will go smoothly.

 

From a bench seat to buckets this is a great upgrade,


I put these seats in my truck years ago,

BUT the seats are still 20 years old, 20 year old foam and 20 year old fabric,


If you have the extra money Corbeau are plug and play in 10 minutes your done.

 

Totally pardner.. First gen Tacoma's are becoming my favorite vehicle ever for many reasons!

Check out my build thread here where I showed my tip to drill out the holes for the install.

Hope this helps, let me know if you run into issues but you should be alright.

 

I wouldnt say Corbeua are plug and play, dont you need at least a couple hundred bucks worth of mounts to make em fit?!

Nice seats though for sure!