Just wanted to follow up on this mod. I was one of the lucky recipients of Rick's spacers
. BTW, these are not cheesy stamped-steel parts, they are well-machined and quite sturdy. Installed them last weekend. Along with the spacers and necessary bolts/nuts, Rick also sent me a set of installation instructions. Here's what I found:
1. Removal of seat is really simple, but DO follow his instructions on positioning the seat just prior to removal, since you can't manually move the worm-driven mechanism once the seat is removed (unless you're into hooking it back up to the harness).
2. The only "problem" I had was with the pesky roller bearings that are inside the rails. There are two of these in each rail, and as Rick warned, they will come out when you remove the rail. Putting them back can be tricky--it was for me. So get a good look at how they're assembled and where they're positioned when you remove the rail. You can't see them inside the rail, but when you remove the rail, notice where/when they become exposed at the back of the rail so you can reposition them at the same location on reinstall.
3. Rick mentions grinding out the nub that limits travel. I'm still not certain that my rails ('97) are exactly the same as his were, but I ended up removing both nubs from the rails. Have not had/noticed any problem in doing this. I didn't grind them out, but used a 1/2" drill to remove them, stopping just as the surface became flush with the rail body (started with a 1/8" bit to get a good centering). A grinder would have probably been best, but I didn't have one handy.
4. The rearmost front bolt (one of three) has to be removed and countersunk to accept a large flathead replacement so that the rail can slide further up. This is pretty straightforward, but I found a 5/8" drillbit to be ideal for the countersinking operation. You want that bolt to be flush with the rail so as not to impede travel.
5. The last step in assembly is to reattach the seat mounts to the spacer. Doing so can be a real challenge if the initial placement of the worm-driven mechanism isn't far enough forward. Rick specifies about 1/2" from the front when removing the seat (see 1.). I may have moved mine back a tad more than this, requiring some contortions to get the rear bolt in. It's doable, but girly hands would have been handy.
Overall, it took me several hours, most of which was due to the difficulties I had in replacing the roller bearings so that travel was right (I even called Rick to ask about this and he went out to pull his own seat to check it out, but it was my own stupidity I was fighting, not his instructions!--sorry for that Rick
). But the result is EXCELLENT! Even though the seat travel is only increased by about 2", it's incredible how much that is when you're in the truck. I initially set it all the way back, figuring I'd want all that and more. In fact, I don't think I'll need all 2 inches.
I couldn't be happier with this and highly recommend it to anyone that would like more leg room!
