what seats can I put in my Landcruiser

[half k cruiser]

The Sequoia seat has an armrest and looks Ike same power seat controls too! If I was willing to take some time to determine fitment, how would I even go about it? Is it just measuring the bracket holes or what?

@2fpower , is it trial and error?

Forget about the bracket holes, they aren't going to line up. What you will need at minimum is the rail that the donor seat comes on. You will then need to either build a custom bracket to bolt/weld this too and then bolt to your floor. Or, the other option is remove the feet from your OEM bracket and weld these to the bracket on your new seat. For non power seats you can do like I did and buy some universal sliders from summit. They come in a pretty nice kit and allow you a ton of movement front and rear. For instance I can run my WRX seats forward until they hit the dash, or backward until even I can barely work the pedals.

The thing to be aware of is the final seat height. If you are not careful with how you fab the bracket you could easily end up with your head hitting the ceiling.

 

[toadshade]

There is no doubt the LR seats take some work to install. I had to cut off the original bottom of the LR seats just below the tracks and weld a new cross mount. Then I cut the original mounts off my Cruiser seats and welded them to the bottom the new cross. I do not have access to my photos from my phone right now but I took some photos of the process. Make sure when you get the seats that you get the entire LR wiring harness and controls from floorboard to seat. It will make your job a lot easier. There are a few electrical connections to deal with that I can explain later with a lot of help from another member (dave)?). I will have to look up his info. His thread is where I got the idea. Great guy for electrical help for these seats. Basically, the seats simply need 12v power. All the other inputs are not necessary. I absolutelynlove them. They are sturdy, more snug, far more adjustable, and the arm rest is awesome!

 

[Beej]

Forget about the bracket holes, they aren't going to line up. What you will need at minimum is the rail that the donor seat comes on. You will then need to either build a custom bracket to bolt/weld this too and then bolt to your floor. Or, the other option is remove the feet from your OEM bracket and weld these to the bracket on your new seat. For non power seats you can do like I did and buy some universal sliders from summit. They come in a pretty nice kit and allow you a ton of movement front and rear. For instance I can run my WRX seats forward until they hit the dash, or backward until even I can barely work the pedals.

The thing to be aware of is the final seat height. If you are not careful with how you fab the bracket you could easily end up with your head hitting the ceiling.

Got it; OK!

There is no doubt the LR seats take some work to install. I had to cut off the original bottom of the LR seats just below the tracks and weld a new cross mount. Then I cut the original mounts off my Cruiser seats and welded them to the bottom the new cross. I do not have access to my photos from my phone right now but I took some photos of the process. Make sure when you get the seats that you get the entire LR wiring harness and controls from floorboard to seat. It will make your job a lot easier. There are a few electrical connections to deal with that I can explain later with a lot of help from another member (dave)?). I will have to look up his info. His thread is where I got the idea. Great guy for electrical help for these seats. Basically, the seats simply need 12v power. All the other inputs are not necessary. I absolutelynlove them. They are sturdy, more snug, far more adjustable, and the arm rest is awesome!

Ok, cool; I may go pick these up soon and let the fun begin. How tall are you (and/or other LR seat havers)? I'm 6'3" which is why I want the armrest soooo badly.

-- Beej

 

[toadshade]

Can't help too much there. I am 5-10. But the seats do ride higher. Headroom was never a problem for me though. My design would allow for 1/4"-1/2" lower and I could show you what I would do to do it. You have some flexibility. The disco seats adjust up and down too keep in mind. I do not remember if the original cruiser seats did or not? To do it my way though will take a little welding skill. I do it for a living though.

 

[milemarker60]

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).

 

[toadshade]

Man those are awesome! Do the headrests adjust? That is my only peave with mine. The only thing my headrests are good for is looking through the sunroof. I need to find some new adjustable ones that will fit. I wonder if those, if adjustable, are the same bar size and width dimensions?

 

[Beej]

Man those are awesome! Do the headrests adjust? That is my only peave with mine. The only thing my headrests are good for is looking through the sunroof. I need to find some new adjustable ones that will fit. I wonder if those, if adjustable, are the same bar size and width dimensions?

LR headrests do not adjust at all??

 

[toadshade]

Not sure about the newer ones. But not my disco seats. I cannot remember what year it was. They go up and down and come out. But not forward or back. In order to put my head on them, I literally have to look at the ceiling. Or out the sunroof. Really weird.

 

[half k cruiser]

@milemarker60 you have me seriously considering ditching my WRX seats in favor of those. I really like the Subaru seats but those look awesome with the leather, plus heated would be a nice touch.

 

[toadshade]

I will try to do some narrating here, but this is part of how I did my seats.

Now that I look through the photos, I wish I did more documentation:

After initially cutting off the sheet metal on the original seats down to the sliders, I welded on this cross brace. I had talked to someone earlier who was tall and wanted clearance. These seats do sit tall. Instead of simply overlapping the crosses, I would make them at least flush, and/or even weld a bracket up into the area of the seat where there is enough room to do so. It was not a problem for me being 5-10". I kind of like the extra height.

A little out of order, but this is my initial placement to see where I wanted the seats to sit. Unfortunately, I did have to take them out, cut off the basses and re-attach the brackets in order to move the seat back,

Just a photo of drilling out the original Cruiser seat brackets in order to remove them from the old seats so I could weld them to the new cross bracket.

My Cruiser brackets welded to the cross brace. In order to do this, I bolted the brackets to the truck, laid the seat in place with the cross brace already mounted, and welded them in place INSIDE the truck. It was the best way I could think of doing it and getting a perfect fit. Took a lot of fireproof protection though.

Final with seats installed. Electronics are installed and working. I mounted the Disco controls on the center console. In hind sight, I would have mounted them a little differently. Only because they get in the way of the P-Brake. I still might buy another Console and try again. But I love it.

 

[toadshade]

Wow, my narration really sucked. But to be honest, I am surprised it posted that well. Let me know if there are any questions, or anything I could clarify.

 

[toadshade]

Just for some other info on this conversion, I originally got my info from Rick80 (handle?). He helped out a lot on the electronics and has a completely different, well made, custom bracket for the seats.

 

[toadshade]

And if anyone has any info on some headrests for my (recently found out 2001 Disco) seats that are not in any way adjustable, I would appreciate being able to look out the window instead of through my sunroof! I think I am starting a new post!!!

 

[half k cruiser]

I know this will get buried here and probably not seen, but, if you are going to make a bracket, use 1/4'' steel. If you don't you may feel some flex in the seat as your going down the road. Its the steel flexing when you bounce. Had this problem with the first set of brackets I made on 3/16''.

 

[toadshade]

Very good suggestion. I have noticed that.

 

[Legendsga]

Hey toadshade, is it possible to get some measurements of the plates you made both in and out? I'm doing a similar swap

 

[toadshade]

I just PM'ed this to you, but I thought I would put it here for anyone who might want it:



Sure. But really it is just easier to do what I did than measure. I cut off the old seat bases from the original seats (to be honest, if I did it again, I would fabricate them. They would be stronger) and bolted them in place where they were. You can cut them flush from the bottom of the LC seat carriage so the plate sits perfectly on them. Then I simply measured the distance across the front and back, cut a piece for each side accordingly, then welded them in the truck (carefully! A TIG welder comes in handy here). Then I cut off everything from the Disco seats down to the tracks, welded a cross plate between the two tracks front and back since the tracks were not the same width as the new plates, then put them on the brackets I built in the truck, positioned them where I wanted them and tacked them on in place. I really did not measure much. You would really want to do it in a similar way. If I gave you measurements, you would still have to jimmy them in the truck. Let me know if that makes sense. But I will still get the measurements for you. And make sure to figure out the power connections first and position the seat all the way in either direction so you know what the new travel is. They travel a lot more than the LC seats. I screwed that up and had to cut, then re-weld the seats in a better position. My balls thank me. You will be so much happier with these seats. And the arm rest is awesome!

 

[ontopofm]

Fit testing the Scion FRS seat. Had to trim the inside front mount to center the seat. Didnt weigh the seats but I think the oem seat is probably 10 lbs heavier. FRS seat weighs 43.6 lbs. Have no idea how much oem seat weighs. Plan on installing the WRX seats in the 2nd row.

 

[rc51kid]

I went to the U pull today to look around. Found s set of black cloth Scion Xb seats in very nice condition. I would love to use them and for $50 for the set they are a deal. But i think they will sit a little too high. Has anyone tried them?

Also found a set of black cloth Hyundai Tiburon 2003 seats. Looked pretty nice, also only $50 for the set. had just a little wear on them and kind of "sporty" But they were very low which is one of the challenges for the LC, and honestly a really nice looking seat.

 

[NC LX]

I went to the U pull today to look around. Found s set of black cloth Scion Xb seats in very nice condition. I would love to use them and for $50 for the set they are a deal. But i think they will sit a little too high. Has anyone tried them?

Also found a set of black cloth Hyundai Tiburon 2003 seats. Looked pretty nice, also only $50 for the set. had just a little wear on them and kind of "sporty" But they were very low which is one of the challenges for the LC, and honestly a really nice looking seat.

I used a set of brackets from wedge and to mount Kia Soul seats. Going this route you could mount any seat, in theory, to them.

I did this because the seats were cheap and in the future I could upgrade to nicer seats.