what seats can I put in my Landcruiser (2 Viewers)

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You guys got me thinking about new seats. So I stopped past a scrap yard and got myself a set of F30 BMW seats. I don’t know why it took me so long to do this upgrade.
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I measured my stock seats before removing them and the BMW seats are 20mm higher. But it really is nothing and feels very comfortable at that height.
 
You guys got me thinking about new seats. So I stopped past a scrap yard and got myself a set of F30 BMW seats. I don’t know why it took me so long to do this upgrade.
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I measured my stock seats before removing them and the BMW seats are 20mm higher. But it really is nothing and feels very comfortable at that height.

Nice, more info on the install process?
 
Working on retrofitting a set of Audi S5 seats. Benched tested the seats and first one (driver) worked for a few minutes. When I came back a few minutes later nothing. The passenger seat nothing. The seats do have memory on them. I was partially wondering if they would even work so was excited one the drivers side did. Im trying to go through and identify if there is anything wrong. Thinking possibly the switches maybe were bad or near bad.

Anyone know if the switches/motor need a minimum voltage to power? I have a freshly charged battery now just to make sure. The plug where I tapped gets 12+V and up through the line it 12 v so I know power it making it to the seats. I have not torn the seat apart yet but wanted to see if anyone has had any feedback from retrofitting other seats. I figure it would be similar to any Audi A4,A5, etc seat.

Started this doc which is a combination of data found on this thread and a few Audi threads if anyone is looking into Audi retrofits.

S5/A5 Retrofit

Seats for reference. Love these seats, so close to getting them in but need to figure out why they are not moving (or at least anymore)

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Working on retrofitting a set of Audi S5 seats. Benched tested the seats and first one (driver) worked for a few minutes. When I came back a few minutes later nothing. The passenger seat nothing. The seats do have memory on them. I was partially wondering if they would even work so was excited one the drivers side did. Im trying to go through and identify if there is anything wrong. Thinking possibly the switches maybe were bad or near bad.

Anyone know if the switches/motor need a minimum voltage to power? I have a freshly charged battery now just to make sure. The plug where I tapped gets 12+V and up through the line it 12 v so I know power it making it to the seats. I have not torn the seat apart yet but wanted to see if anyone has had any feedback from retrofitting other seats. I figure it would be similar to any Audi A4,A5, etc seat.

Started this doc which is a combination of data found on this thread and a few Audi threads if anyone is looking into Audi retrofits.

S5/A5 Retrofit

Seats for reference. Love these seats, so close to getting them in but need to figure out why they are not moving (or at least anymore)

t7bD5TXmwxkDy8_rai9pScpOkGhEr5ofw_ghnXQUosCVClrSMRmUJEc9l5tN7MeBgxlwdLkjSfGzPEcxX5PYWeWUaH7KwmnWOIuN5NY1dsSpGoAZg-NVC1-BQKr7W_J35JY7HmhY

Yes, the Audi seats are voltage sensitive.
 
Anyone know what voltage is needed? One was working then stopped. So I assume I had enough. Current is 12.xxx voltage so seems strong.

12 volts, but you need decent current. I found I needed 15 amp fuses when they are in use. 10 amp kept popping.

Are you using a car battery to test?
 
12 volts, but you need decent current. I found I needed 15 amp fuses when they are in use. 10 amp kept popping.

Are you using a car battery to test?
yah I am using a car battery. Tried on a regular lead acid and a AGM because both were available.

I am not as worried about the memory resetting. That would be annoying but need to figure out why they are not working. The one was working for a few minutes then nothing. I had a 10 amp fuse in there just in case (it it blows thats fine) but fuse is intact. Just no action out of it now. I tested the second seat with nothing. I am wondering if there is something preventing it from working. They were pulled from a wrecked vehicle naturally but assuming they worked when they pulled them sine the seats were both in similar full forward upright positions. Now the driver is in an ok but odd position. Ill need to figure this out before I go through making a bracket.
 
Working on retrofitting a set of Audi S5 seats. Benched tested the seats and first one (driver) worked for a few minutes. When I came back a few minutes later nothing. The passenger seat nothing. The seats do have memory on them. I was partially wondering if they would even work so was excited one the drivers side did. Im trying to go through and identify if there is anything wrong. Thinking possibly the switches maybe were bad or near bad.

Anyone know if the switches/motor need a minimum voltage to power? I have a freshly charged battery now just to make sure. The plug where I tapped gets 12+V and up through the line it 12 v so I know power it making it to the seats. I have not torn the seat apart yet but wanted to see if anyone has had any feedback from retrofitting other seats. I figure it would be similar to any Audi A4,A5, etc seat.

The seats you have are from a coupe. Those seats move for two purposes: the regular seat adjustment and then presumably moving all the way forward to allow someone to get into the back seat. It's likely that in the "let someone in the back seat" mode, the regular position adjustments are ignored. If I were you, I'd start looking there.

My front seats are from an A6, a sedan, and never had that issue.

Cheers
 
BTW, That feature, however luxurious, would be a really nice feature for me. I constantly have to move my seats forward to get to the side boxes behind my front seats. It would be great if there was a way to move them forward then back to where they were with a switch or a button. Ultimately, it would be amazing to crunch my front seats as far forward as possible since it is required for me to sleep back there. It is always one more step... I know, Wah wah. But it is one less thing I could do before taking a shower and having an espresso :cool:. At any rate, I would be interested in that schematic.
 
The seats you have are from a coupe. Those seats move for two purposes: the regular seat adjustment and then presumably moving all the way forward to allow someone to get into the back seat. It's likely that in the "let someone in the back seat" mode, the regular position adjustments are ignored. If I were you, I'd start looking there.

My front seats are from an A6, a sedan, and never had that issue.

Cheers
yah I thought about that but pretty sure i was using the regular seat adjustments before this all happened. But def interesting little tid bit. Right now the top "let someone in the back seat mode" does not work either. All of the buttons stopped working. If there is a way to get it out of this mod that would be great. Really all it does is move it front and back. The driver was fine. I used the top buttons and side then it stopped. I may have been using those but I do not see it would get stuck by moving it forward a bit. Any ideas ill give it a check. I likely late this week will pull the panels to see if switches are getting power. The top one may be a challenge unless i feel like gutting the entire seat.
 
BTW, That feature, however luxurious, would be a really nice feature for me. I constantly have to move my seats forward to get to the side boxes behind my front seats. It would be great if there was a way to move them forward then back to where they were with a switch or a button. Ultimately, it would be amazing to crunch my front seats as far forward as possible since it is required for me to sleep back there. It is always one more step... I know, Wah wah. But it is one less thing I could do before taking a shower and having an espresso :cool:. At any rate, I would be interested in that schematic.
yah I feel ya there. for me getting more space to get my kit out or some geer nice to just tap a button to move it out of the way. not needed but its a nice to have feature for sure. Have not had a chance to test heat, lumbar, courtesy light yet. Such a buzz kill that it WAS working.
 
I’ve heard about needing to run 6v to the canbus wire to trick it. The memory function on the seat causes it to time out when it doesn't detect a canbus signal. So disconnect your battery, wait a few minutes then see if it works again.
 
I’ve heard about needing to run 6v to the canbus wire to trick it. The memory function on the seat causes it to time out when it doesn't detect a canbus signal. So disconnect your battery, wait a few minutes then see if it works again.
the canbus idea is interesting. I had it disconnected all night and tried again today with nothing. The seats are not in the vehicle yet and for now just bench testing before I go any further. It would make some sense as after a couple minutes of the driver seat working it stopped. I cant image the entire seat just gave up. My assumption is something to do with the canbus/memory stuff since it was sudden and everything. If I could find an A5 or parts I saw a post awhile back where they swapped the S5 or S4 seats in and swapped the memory vs non memory controls to eliminate the memory crap.

if you have any post or info on the 6v deal thats worth a try. That should be easy to try out.
 
Anyone know if the component protection would cause any issues? Or if I i need to tap the hi and lo or one of the can bus wires? I have not been able to get the power to come back on either seat (one was working) but can confirm the lumbar works on the seats so I know they are getting power. From what I have seen the seats should still work power wise even if CP is on. Since I do not care for any connection to the car any errors should not matter.

Considering its both seats I figure its the same issue. I was thinking the memory or now CP could be it but seems like they should still work. Other option is to try and swap out the memory to non memory but that likely is a more $$$ route.
 
I was able to get the seats working. Instead of dealing with the memory function, I swapped the non-memory switch and harness from an A4 instead of an S5. These go direct to the motors instead of dealing with the control module. Works like a charm. I used a donor A4 harness which deletes the convenience switch at the top of the seats. I was not able to find a non-memory A5 switch (I know they exist), so I gave the A4 a try. Not the end of the world. I likely should be able to tap into the switch and motors, I assume, if I can't find the non-memory harness that doesn't use the control module. Additionally, I tapped into aftermarket heated seat regulators and switches into the seat's existing heated panels and it works great.

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I sourced a set of 2014 Audi A4 S-Line heated seats for Mitch's LX. Without question, the best upgrade we've added. The leather is almost a perfect match...pics make them look lighter than reality (third pic shows seat's color better with an LX headrest sitting on the bottom). These are not the Recaros but the Audi Sport Seats. They have a bit more padding and not quite as much side bolster which translates to more comfort for the long haul. Ridiculously simple installation. The seat rails are flat and 19" apart so the only modification was to massage the little humps near tranny tunnel with a BFH to allow them to be centered on steering wheel. 1/4"x3" plate spanned the Audi mounting holes then welded on the amputated legs from an old set of 80 seats. Simple wiring and all functions work. Ridiculous amount of legroom and super comfy.

Similar to @halfkcruiser you can kiss the dash or butt up against the rear seats with the amount of travel on the slides. Using the 80's legs and 1/4" plate, the seats are about a 1/2" higher than stock. We could easily have lowered them 1" by fabbing shorter legs instead but not necessary for Mitch's position.

Update: I've been asked for more detail on how the brackets were made...didn't take pics. Started by cutting two pieces of 1/4"x3"x20"(might have been 21"...whatever the rails widest points side-to-side were). Drilled holes at spacing of Audi mounting holes 1" back from leading edge allowing the front plate to reach further back and the rear plate to reach further forward. The rear plate will have an additional hole for the locator pin. Cut legs off donor 80 seats and bolted in place to rig. With mounting plates bolted to seats with grade 8 button head bolts/screws, placed in rig atop the legs. Legs have a hole in the top so marked plate thru hole from the bottom and traced around leg flange. Took them all apart and bolted the legs in place thru their holes then welded secure. The Audi seat belt receivers were used with a slight massaging of the LX's buckle. Compared the LX buckle with my wife's S5 and the latch hole was in the exact same place but the tongue was slightly narrower and longer so a little contouring was necessary to mimic the Audi's shape.

Wiring was easy as these do not require an ECM or BCM to operate. I'm not a fan of splices so I sourced the "car-side" green and red plugs (black plug under seat not used) from eBay to match the seats. There are several wires on the red plugs that are not used for this install. I wired the movement Positive and Negative in the red plug (two fat wires...all the others are thin) to a distribution block he already had under the console off his second battery so they are hot all the time so we can move the seats without the key on. The Audi heated seat switches (A4 '98-'04 sourced on eBay) have an integrated relay so no exotic wiring needed and were installed in the blanks on the center console. The heated seats will have several wires running from the seats, switches and power source as shown on the diagram attached. I ran the heated seat's relay trip wire to the LX's power seat leads which are a keyed source and the main heat power to the distribution block a fore mentioned so they shut off with the ignition to avoid accidental battery drainage . In-line fuses were added of course (7.5a trip & 15a power for heat and 20a Thermal for movement). These heated switches have a matching car-side plug which I sourced on eBay but simple female spade terminals would have worked as well. Clipped the seat belt warning wire plug off LX seat and wired to Audi seat belt receiver and plugged in. Attached are a few pics as well as the wiring diagram I used for the heated seats (Audi plugs are visibly numbered).

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This is an awesome mod and write up! Thank you!
 

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