FJ40 Seat Questions....

[Wasatch Jay]

Before anyone says "Hey knucklehead, there's already a bunch of threads on this topic, use the search function", I did that, and I didn't find any posts that specifically addressed the issue I'm concerned about. Some kind of alluded to it, but I didn't see that question specifically asked... and answered.

I'm tall at 6'4", but my height is slightly disproportionate toward my torso, meaning: my issue is head room, as opposed to leg room. Right now I have a set of heated, electrically powered BMW seats, but they position my lard butt so high I'm looking out the top of the windshield. That ain't cutting it...

I have a set of stock seats and seat brackets and I could replace the seat foam and install new seat covers on those and use that setup. BUT, I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge of a seat (other than an old-school stamped tractor seat pan) that is comfortable, and sits lower than the stock seats.

I will say the research I have done on 'Mud mentioned Scheel-Mann seats, which I had never heard of. They are wallet-bustingly expensive, but if that is the best option, I suppose I'd go that route.

I'm sure there are other tall FJ40 owners on the forum, and I'm very curious as to the route others have taken. Thanks...

 

[CondeCruiser]

I used @cumminscruiser seat mounts and cut about an 1 1/2" off the back mount to lower it as much as possible. Then I removed the sliders from a set of stock buckets and moved them back as far as I could. They are hitting the inner fender well. I'm 6'1". Gives me pretty good leg room. I can almost stretch my legs all the way out.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

Thanks.

I hadn't considered the idea of eliminating seat sliders. Are the cumminscruiser seat mounts lower than stock Toyota ones?

 

[CondeCruiser]

Thanks.

I hadn't considered the idea of eliminating seat sliders. Are the cumminscruiser seat mounts lower than stock Toyota ones?

Not much. The gas tank limits how low you can get them. If you did a reserve tank in the rear on the underside and eliminated the passenger tank you could go as low as you like. I cut a little over an inch off the rear tube to give the seats a bit of a rake, which help with leg room.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

Thanks CondeCruiser,

My recollection is the stock '78 FJ40 seats do not have an adjustable recline. So if I raked the seats (a great idea, BTW) the seat back angle would lay back as well.

My FJ40 has had the rear springs flipped which moves the rear axle back several inches. That would mean a rear reserve tanks would have to be a custom tank and somewhat smaller than the available tanks I've seen.

I have a Tucker Sno-Cat and my snowcat buddy and I installed two sets of Corbeau GTS II seats ini t. They are quite comfortable, and Corbeau offered (hopefully they still do) a shaved seat base option where they use a one inch thinner seat base cushion. That would be a much lower cost option than Scheel-Mann seats, but is that the best solution?

 

[fyton2v]

Without flipping seat brackets, my ‘78 was very uncomfortable in the leg room department. And I’m 5’11”. After doing the usual 1.5” extension mod it’s now comfortable. If I were 5” taller? Yikes. I feel for you. I’m sure with a bit of cutting and welding you could lower the drivers seat to a place where you’ll find enough headroom. The approach to the clutch pedal may get a bit weird though, but you gotta find some compromise.

Anyway, I think you’ll need to fashion new brackets. If you think more recline is the solution, that’ll be quite easy to do on a 78 with spacers and longer bolts.

 

[pb4ugo]

I think I was 6' 4" in the 8th or 9th grade, I'm 6'8" now and wheeling a 40 since the early 80's. I'm built like the OP, shirts are LT and I have big feet. When I ran stk seats I extended the brackets for the drivers side to get the seat back as far as I could, and raised the frt up a bit. I used to run obsatacle courses and mud runs plus a lot of wheeling in the mud and rocks. I eventually purchase some cheap seats with a lot of side bolster and installed them. I was amazed how much I was using the steering wheel to keep my ass in the seat. High bolsters allowed me to be a better driver. On my 75 tub I ran angle iron across the frt and rear seat brackets, then used 1/4 X 1 1/2 flat stk mounted to the bottom of the seats with spacers between the seat and flat stk so the frt of the seat was rotated up, with the angle iron going across the rear pedestals lowered the rear. I then laid the flat stk and seat on to the crossing angle iron. This allowed me to position the seat back or foward sliding on the angle iron. Once I found my happy place I then bolt or weld it down to the angle iron. I used to carry a boat cushion for short people if they wanted to drive. My 76 tub framing is similar to @CondeCruiser except I used the stk rear seat pedestals with the angle iron going across each pair of pedestals and using the stk 40 seat bolts. My tubing in the frt is tied to the cage.

 

[CondeCruiser]

I did the seat extensions on my '76 because my wife also drives it, so the sliders have to work. It helped some but it's just 2". I have trouble driving it for a long period of time. My right knee and ankle start to ache after about and hour.

 

[jomelo]

Big fan of Scheel-Mann. Beyond extra room they are just incredibly comfortable for driving.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

Thank you all for the benefit of your wisdom and experience. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to respond. pb4ugo, I'm impressed that at 6'8" you can fit well enough in an FJ40 to drive it. That's great!

Jomelo, which model of Scheel-Mann seats did you go with and do they sit lower than the stock FJ40 seats? (They look REALLY nice!)

 

[jomelo]

Thank you all for the benefit of your wisdom and experience. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to respond. pb4ugo, I'm impressed that at 6'8" you can fit well enough in an FJ40 to drive it. That's great!

Jomelo, which model of Scheel-Mann seats did you go with and do they sit lower than the stock FJ40 seats? (They look REALLY nice!)

Vario F and yes they do sit a bit lower than the stock seats. This is generally the model I run in all of my cruisers because they fit perfect.

 

[peesalot]

I too was am still unhappy with the seat position. I lowered my frame so it sat on the tub in the back and as low as I could on top of tank(70, fj40)
I got sliders from pick in pull ( honda civic) , put those on aftermarket recliners.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

As an update, I called Scheel-Mann in Portland, OR and spoke with Toby. VERY nice fellow! I explained my issues, and he suggested the Vario F XXL model. That version uses the same seat bottom cushion as the Vario F, but the seat back is about 3" taller, which is more comfortable for people with a long torso.

He explained that the seat bottom cushion is actually fairly thin, however the cushion rests on what he described as a "trampoline mat" type suspension. That trampoline mat adds to the cushioning. Toby mentioned they have these seats in a G-Wagen that is used for 5 day rally events in Mexico and despite the conditions, no one has hit a bump big enough or with enough speed to bottom out the seat!

Toby also said a company called Wedge Brackets makes brackets to install these seats specifically in FJ40s and going that route makes them a bolt-in proposition.

A couple links:

Scheel-Mann: scheel-mann usa, seating, perfected. - https://scheel-mann.com/

Wedge Brackets: Seat Brackets - https://wedgebrackets.com/seat-brackets-home/

It's highly likely I'll go with these seats, though probably not the Wedge brackets - if the seats fit on my existing bracket setup.

Thanks to everyone for their help!!!

 

[jomelo]

Excellent choice.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

I had some powered seats from an E36 BMW, if my memory serves me correctly after 3 beers, they were over 4" higher in the ass than the stock seats. The driver side seat was easy to sink to a good sitting height but the passenger seat was set by the fuel tank underneath the seat.


If I were to do it again, during my rebuild I would have put a fuel tank under the body and sank those BMW seats down as far as reasonable.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

I had some powered seats from an E36 BMW, if my memory serves me correctly after 3 beers, they were over 4" higher in the ass than the stock seats. The driver side seat was easy to sink to a good sitting height but the passenger seat was set by the fuel tank underneath the seat.


If I were to do it again, during my rebuild I would have put a fuel tank under the body and sank those BMW seats down as far as reasonable.

Four inches would be a huge difference, and hopefully the Scheel-Mann seats would be a bit lower still.

Thanks for your first-hand experience and perspective!

 

[Catching Neutral]

@Wasatch Jay …..lots of photos when you do.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

To update the thread, I ordered the seats from MetalTech and they arrived in just a few days. There was an issue with the seats, but MetalTech stepped up to the plate and took care of things professionally and quickly. Literally, world-class customer service. For anyone reading this thread and considering Scheel-Mann seats, I recommend buying them from MetalTech. In addition to great customer service, they offer a veterans discount (and discounts for some other categories, such as responders, medical professionals and teachers) and being in Oregon, a state with no sales tax, you have the opportunity to save a few bucks there, too.

Right now the seats are in their shipping boxes in my garage. There are a lot of project tasks to accomplish before I get serious about installing the seats, which will involve modifying the factory seat brackets, or fabricating new ones from scratch. I did buy some generic seat sliders from Amazon, so I have those on hand when the time comes.

To sort-of honor the pic request, here's my 40. You have to look closely, but note the position of the headrests on the previous BMW seats in relation to the rear window in the hard top. Now imagine a 6'4" tall person sitting in those seats, and you can fully understand why they had to go! (Yes, one of the first tasks in that too-long list is relocating the rear wheel openings about 5" to the rear.)