Duramax seats

[Sneaks]

Had real problems with co-pilot seat in the Duramax. Spouse is vertically challenged and the 21" seat length cut circulation off. She's also a chiropractor and very fussy about seats. I've spent untold hours searching for replacement seats, shorter seats, anything that would help.

Finally ran across an upholsterer locally who does aircraft/boat/RV and vehicle seats. He shortened the seat to 19" overall, filled the space below the lumbar adjust bulge, added 1/2" of seat padding and the results are phenomenal. Well worth the $150 it cost me. (Try living with a dissatisfied spouse in the front seat of a truck for 1,000+ miles and you will KNOW how cheap that was)

Now I'm looking at an adjustable (inflatable) pad for under my seat! "Sleep Number for drivers."

[hoot]

I have power seats and found that if you tilt the front down some it stops the circulation cutoff issues.

Unfortunately they can't make the seats work for every style person.

[Wayne Dohnal]

I feel your pain...literally. I view the Sierra as an overall pretty good truck with a few major shortcomings. The bucket seats are one of them. I of course compare it to a car I have that has really good seats that I am always comfortable in. In the tuck I'm always fidgeting and adjusting trying to get comfortable. The only change I've made so far that helps is to adjust the jackscrew for the front of the seat bottom so it raises higher, giving a greater seat bottom angle. Your post about the gap under the lumbar area makes me want to go out there and add some padding. It's an area of total non-support, and the bottom of my back always wants to curl up and slide down into it. One of the really dumb things, in my opinion, is how the seat bottom doesn't move when you tilt the seat back. I've never had a power seat that worked like that before. It doubles the work, in that when I tweak one of the settings I have to also do the other to maintain the seat bottom to seat back relationship.

In case you're wondering, some of the other stupid things on my list are a high beam indicator that blinds you, a door chime that blows out your ears, and a temp sensor fan a few inches away from the driver's ear (which doesn't matter once you're deaf from the door chime).

[peachin]

some of the other stupid things on my list are a high beam indicator that blinds you


This is a computer fix at the dealer - and while you are there they will update any thing else in your computer

[BlueOx03]

I'm just the opposite. I've had back problems for years and haven't had a single one since I bought the truck. One of the main reasons that I didn't buy another (say what you will, it's American) Ford. Of coarse I'm 6'4", but my wife's a foot shorter and she loves them too. I love this truck!

TJ

[FirstDiesel]

I'm in the I love the seat camp. I'm 6' and the wife is barely 5'2" and both of us can set the seats and be comfortable.

[ 08-31-2003, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: FirstDiesel ]

[Sneaks]

Hey, it would take a SWAT team to drag me from this truck, kicking and screaming all the way.

Nevertheless, seats are built for average builds and average spine lengths plus style and they *do* vary a bit between manufacturers. There will always be folks like us who don't fit the mean. I'm 6'3 with a 30" inseam and an extra vertebra. At least I've found a way to stay out of a Dodge (which worked seat-wise but, uh, well, it's a Dodge.)

We think the biggest factor is filling that gap below the lumbar lump and adding 1/2" seat foam under the seat itself. Shortening got it so spouse's short legs could make that 90 degree bend at the knee without interference. The upholsterer owns a Chevy himself and did the same to his (but didn't shorten it) and claims it's not unusual to have GM products in for that kind of fine tuning. He routinely drives 3 hours one way to his ranch and since it worked, he tried it on ours.

Interestingly, there are at least two passenger seats for Chevrolets with their own unique moulded foam configurations. One is narrower and slightly stiffer on the 60/40 vehicles, the other like ours is wide and softer and goes with the truck that has the console in the middle. Dunno about the leather ones, they may just be the upgraded seats covered in leather.

[dmaxstu]

That is my only complaint otherwise both my wife and I have traveled in complete comfort. Stu

[dmaxstu]

Sorry my first try with Quote
One of the really dumb things, in my opinion, is how the seat bottom doesn't move when you tilt the seat back.

[VaDmax2003]

I have the leather bucket seats and it is the most comfortable seat of any vehicle I have driven. My 2003 Impala with leather buckets is nice too but I am much less fatigued when driving long miles in the Dmax. But, I am 6'5'' and seat fits me perfectly. A shorter person might well be less comfortable.

[Bullseye54]

Love the seats.Only problem I had was when I grabbed my wifes keys to move the truck & was almost disemboweled by the steering wheel when it went to her seat settings.Slight moment of WTF.

[Camstyn]

I'm 6'5 with a 34" inseam and I too find that the seat pinches off circulation to my legs, particularly my right leg, it cramps up and makes me really need to straighten my knee out but of course there's not enough legroom. I find that tilting the front of the seat down does help (my '02 didn't have the power seat) but the problem is still there. OTOH I can drive my van for hours without getting leg cramps.. In the pickup my leg starts to cramp after a couple hours of straight driving.

[Runaway]

My spouse is also vertically challenged and had the circulation problem. I corrected the problem by raising/leveling the floor with a 2x2, 1/2" plywood, and remnant carpet. Lot cheaper.

Sneaks: didn't know the Duramx had seats you could sit in, knew the truck did, but not the engine! :rolleyes:

[crossbow]

Wayne - I have had the same problem with the high beam light. In frustration I cut a round dot from electrical tape and pasted it directly above the blue light. Now when I flip on my high beams I get the blue reflection but not that blinding light.

The dot is bearly visible during the day and not at all at night.

[roegs]

Crossbow...take your truck to the nearest dealer. They can turn down the high beam indicator via the Tech2. There is no reason to need electrical tape on a $40k truck!

[bob]

I traded a 2k powerstroke for this truck that had one of the best seats in any of the trucks i have ever had.The only reason i bought this truck was to take advantage of all the rebates .Prior to this ford all my trucks were mainly GM.This is defenitly probably the most awsome truck i have ever had and has most of the opitions i wanted and then some ,But the SEAT freakin Sucks!!My wife was yelling at me last nite for moving around so much!My right leg kills me after a 1/2 hour ride to work!The seat bottom is the same lenth as her explorer but i noticed the gas pedel is an inch higher in the ford.Maybe that is the difference!anybody else have any suggestions besides rebuilding the seats?

[hoot]

Originally posted by bob:
I traded a 2k powerstroke for this truck that had one of the best seats in any of the trucks i have ever had.The only reason i bought this truck was to take advantage of all the rebates .Prior to this ford all my trucks were mainly GM.This is defenitly probably the most awsome truck i have ever had and has most of the opitions i wanted and then some ,But the SEAT freakin Sucks!!My wife was yelling at me last nite for moving around so much!My right leg kills me after a 1/2 hour ride to work!The seat bottom is the same lenth as her explorer but i noticed the gas pedel is an inch higher in the ford.Maybe that is the difference!anybody else have any suggestions besides rebuilding the seats? Tilt the front of your seat down. I did and problem went away.

[Heartbeat Hauler]

Dang Sneaks that's exactly what I need!!! My wife is pretty short and it bothers her legs also. I have worn out my keyboard lookin for different seats to help her get comfortable and like you I would gladly pay twice the 150 bucks you did to avoid the "suggestions" I hear when driving from IN to TX. What exactly did that guy do to make the seat shorter? I don't want to sound totally stupid when I start asking upholster shops if they do this work.
Thanks
JP

[Sneaks]

Exactly? I'll find that out tomorrow morning when I get the driver seat fitted with more support as well as filling in the area under the lumbar thing.

He definitely shortened the seat length from 21" to 19". He definitely added seat padding to make the seat flatter and add support plus fill the lower area of the backrest. Dunno what else. If I get more enlightenment tomorrow I'll let you know.

I took a side view picture of her in shorts (gak) sitting in the passenger seat of our Camry (19" seats) set where it was very comfortable for her. Then I took a picture with her sitting in the Chevy, same view as comfortable as she could make it. Once past the spider veins the upholsterer could easily see where the major problem was. Makes me glad I got the digital camera too.

Sheesh I'm glad she doesn't read these forums!

[Heartbeat Hauler]

Cool. I'll be interested in any info you find out. BTW where are the pics? :D
JP

[Sneaks]

Pics are history. Legs looked good when she was a New Jersey skating champion but that was 45 years ago!

Lemme see if I remember it all. He put a 1" piece of foam below and above the lumbar adjustable area and then covered the entire back with 1/2" foam. Two densities, one is harder than the other but dunno which was used where.

He shortened the seat 2", put a 1" piece of foam in the center "pit" area and 1/2" foam across the whole thing. Everything trimmed to fit nicely

On the driver side, he installed an inflatable kidney pad just below the lumbar adjustable area. Now THAT is comfortable. I can adjust it with a little hand pump. He also filled the seat "pit" and covered it all like the passenger side but didn't shorten it.

The problem, according to him, is the fact that the seats are molded foam and the density can vary a lot from seat to seat as well. Also there is really no back support foam in the stock seat since there's not really any loading there.

That's the best I can do to 'splain what he did. All I know is the co-pilot is happy and that was 75% of the battle. If he does as well finishing the job on mine, (I test sat in the rough version) I may end up getting a bigger fuel tank!!!


Tony's Custom Upholstery (http://www.tonysupholstery.com) (760) 591-9686

[ 09-03-2003, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Sneaks ]

[Heartbeat Hauler]

Thanks Sneaks. Now my search for the adventurous upholster guy begins. ;)
JP

[chuntag95]

Originally posted by Bullseye54:
Love the seats.Only problem I had was when I grabbed my wifes keys to move the truck & was almost disemboweled by the steering wheel when it went to her seat settings.Slight moment of WTF. ROTFLMAO :D I did it by hitting the button looking for a window one of the kids rolled down. :rolleyes: The best part was the wife's look of "What are you doing? What's wrong?" as I had the same WTF :eek: moment.

I built a little block and put a dead pedal on it for my left leg. I screwed it to the floor mat to keep it out of the way of the parking brake. Not the prettiest solution, but it worked. My old truck had a foot rest and I missed it on the first trip bad. I'll have to try the tilling the seat front down.

[DieselDixon]

We love the seats too, extremely comfortable!

[Kennedy]

My leather buckets w/power lumbar/side bolsters are AWESOME!

I run them near full recline, and near full rear. This keeps the weight off of my back and is great!

[ochster]

I too am finding the standard fabric, to be a little on the "light duty" side. The physical shape of the seat is something I will surely have to address. I'm 5'6", and it is not nearly as comfortable or designed to "my" requirements, as my 95' is.