FJ40 Seat Mods to Gain Leg Room

[talegate]

I have a '75 FJ40. I am 6'1" or so and have difficulty getting my left foot high enough to get it easily placed on the clutch pedal. There is little room between the driver and the door, which prevents the left leg from tilting to the left, and then the second obstacle is the steering wheel; it impedes the upward travel of the left leg trying to gain enough altitude to be able to engage the clutch pedal. I read in other posts about newer Land Cruiser series flipping the driver's seat stand, or something along those lines, to gain a little leg room. I wonder if anyone else has encountered this on a 40, and did it rectifiy the situation? If so, is there a step by step of how to implement? Also, has anyone tried swapping the large stock steering wheel with one of lesser diameter. And if so, did it help the situation, and how much trouble was it to accomplish the wheel replaement? Any spline or adapter issues involved in that wheel swap?

 

[cruiserkev]

I'm the same height and ended up doing both modifications to get more legroom. It helped tremendously in my 76. Used some steel straps to extend both the driver's and passengers seats and gained about an inch and a half more room for each.
Doesn't sound like lot but it definitely helps. Not sure I still have any pictures of the installation, it was a few years ago. Really wasn't hard to do, just a few nuts/bolts and 4 straps I bought at Lowes for around
$30 then cutting to fit, precise drilling and bolting back together. Easy weekend project.
Went with a smaller steering wheel when I installed power steering and have had no issues. Definitely don't miss that giant OEM wheel. Used a steering wheel from a hilux truck and the splines matched perfectly, I believe most any non airbag Toyota wheel would work. Not the best picture but you can see the smaller steering wheel here on the 76 steering column. Very easy to swap.

Edit - found this Pic of the passenger side, the straps bolt on to the stock seat bracket then holes are drilled further back and the seat is bolted in as far back as possible. Good luck!!!

 

[charliemeyer007]

My PO was 6.6. He set the clutch pedal down about 2". With the rag top and soft doors he could drive fine. Then he put on the hard top and doors, driving it became much harder. Has always worked fine for me at 6.2

 

[77mustard40]

I’m 6’4” and used extended straps to move the DS back a couple of inches, works fine and I even kept the original steering wheel. Back in the day someone was selling a kit to move the seat back, I’ve slept since then and don’t recall seeing it lately.

 

[pb4ugo]

I'm not as short as you guys. A longer straps on the drivers side seat helps move the drivers seat back is pretty simple fix. I've found slightly raising the frt of the seat with a spacer is helpful. It's always a little tight on the left with the doors on, but is manageable. I don't alter the pass side cause I never sit there and also found when I did move it back a std size passenger looked uncomfortable and was reaching more.

 

[cruisermatt]

We make a seat bracket kit to fit Bestop Trail Max seats for 73-78 models. They are comfortable and the whole setup lets the seat move back about 5” (I think) further then stock.
20” from bottom of wheel to corner of seat at full extension.

 

[talegate]

Wow! Such quick response with excellent guiidance. The helpfulness of the IH8MUD crowd never cesases to amaze me. Thank you to you all. Cruiserkev, thank you so much for the pictures. Is that strap material that you bought at Lowes steel or aluminum? It looks like some aluminum ones I have in my garage somewhere. They look about 1 1/4 inches wide, which would align with the OEM track width, and maybe 1/4" thick. Of course the length of the stock is whatever I cut it to to accomplish as much additional room as I can garner. I can't really get access to the passenger side of the vehicle currently due to the way it's crammed into my garage. However, my seats may be diffent from yours, and I don't know if that throws a monkey wrench into it or not. The driver's seat is smaller than the passenger seat, appears to be 60/40. I don't even know if the passenger seat has an adjustable slider or not. It may be in a fixed, permanent position as it sits atop the gas tank. The way the seats are positioned right now, the drivers seat is sitting in it's farthest rear position which is further back than the companion bench-like seat. Doing "only" the drivers seat and maybe having no movement flexibiity on the passenger side might create an awkward driving stance, with the passenger seat positioned so far forward. I can't imagine the passenger seat going back further than its current position because the calves of the passenger would come in contact with the gas tank front, I think. Boy, I can't wait for this lousy weather to improve so I can dig into this rig. I wll attach a picture. Cruisermat, will your arrangement accommodate the 60/40 type seating?

 

[jhynesrockmtn]

I am 6'1" with pretty tall legs. I moved my stock seats back by fabricating some pieces as others have suggested. It took a fair bit of back and forth, measuring, cutting, etc. Luckily I had some scrap steel and the right tools. I did trim a bit from the seat mount on the outside to get more room. Fiddly, but not complicated. I have since trimmed up the excess and raised the front with some washers creating a bit more front to back tilt. I'd still love 1 to 2 more inches, but this will work for now.

 

[pb4ugo]

Your 75 FJ40 appears to be a import. The info previously offered was mostly for a 75 US spec 40, which has bucket seats. Your pass side isn't adjustable. You can probably move the drivers back by doing something similar as mentioned by building off the sub frame with probably 1 1/2 × 1/4" steel. Your seats won't be positioned the same, but you'll be comfortable.

 

[talegate]

This is great information folks. Thank you so much. Yes, this rig is from Costa Rica, so the passenger seat is presumably "fixed". I am going to go ahead and do the driver's seat with the added steel. I will also add washers to the leading edge to provide some front lift. Anyone have a recommendation on right number of washers (spacers)? Even if this first modification does the trick, I still may want to swap steering wheels. Will that suggestion of using a Hilux P/U steering wheel still apply given this FJ40 comes from Costa Rica? And if so, what model years would be accurate? I should know this, but I thought the Hilux was not exported to the States since the late 70s, or so. I may be wrong on that. I know I recall seeing a ton of them in Costa Rica. I also remember a friend of mine Agan thanks to all for all the info, and thanks in advance for any additional words of wisdom.

 

[B y r o n]

I think this is the kit that was mentioned before.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

I am 6'1" with pretty tall legs. I moved my stock seats back by fabricating some pieces as others have suggested. It took a fair bit of back and forth, measuring, cutting, etc. Luckily I had some scrap steel and the right tools. I did trim a bit from the seat mount on the outside to get more room. Fiddly, but not complicated. I have since trimmed up the excess and raised the front with some washers creating a bit more front to back tilt. I'd still love 1 to 2 more inches, but this will work for now.View attachment 3825083View attachment 3825084View attachment 3825085View attachment 3825092

The sticking out part of your seat frame near the bottom of you fire extinguisher is on the insides of my seat frame. When I raise up the seat, I also have to raise the back end of my Tuffy, causing me to slam my elbow into the lid edge. Did you switch around your seat frame sides?

 

[talegate]

Wow, it looks like I might have two solutions: 1) a home-made mod; or 2) an extension kit from Cruiser Parts LLC. This is so great.

 

[pb4ugo]

Wow, it looks like I might have two solutions: 1) a home-made mod; or 2) an extension kit from Cruiser Parts LLC. This is so great.

That kit probably won't work for you, its for a US spec FJ40 with bucket seats.

 

[Paul_A]

I would recommend using steel for seat brackets, aluminum may bend and the bolts will rip right thru in a sudden unexpected stopping situation

 

[jhynesrockmtn]

The sticking out part of your seat frame near the bottom of you fire extinguisher is on the insides of my seat frame. When I raise up the seat, I also have to raise the back end of my Tuffy, causing me to slam my elbow into the lid edge. Did you switch around your seat frame sides?

I had to raise the rear of the tuffy.

 

[talegate]

Good counsel, Paul_A. I will definitely opt for steel with that method! And, Pb4hugo, Cruiser Parts called me today and confirmed the kit is designed for US imports only and will not work on 60/40 seats.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

I had to raise the rear of the tuffy.

As did I, but as I mentioned, this raising lifted the tuffy enough to cause painful interference with my elbow. The question was did you reverse the seat frame part that sticks out so that it's on the outside edge? That seem like it should permit the tuffyback end to not have to be raised, I would think with the extra clearance.

 

[cruiserkev]

I would recommend using steel for seat brackets, aluminum may bend and the bolts will rip right thru in a sudden unexpected stopping situation

I agree. I believe I used 3/16 x 2" steel straps that just needed a couple small bends to line up with the seat mounting brackets. Aluminum is not a good choice for this application. I think it would fail eventually as well.

 

[South Texas 97]

Post 95 on my new to me FJ40 thread shows you how I did this , gained about 3 inches back and an extra inch in height. Lots of ways to do this. About 20$ in steel tube and a couple of hours of my time.