Seat Swap in the Stake Truck

Since I started driving the stake truck, I’ve definitely noticed a difference in “comfort” between it and the coupe.  Part of that has to do with the difference in seating posture, and a good portion of it has to do with the difference between the transverse leaf  (in the truck) and parallel leaves in the coupe.  The other issue is that the old seat in the truck has seen MUCH better days.

I’ve done quite a bit of repair work to the seat, straightening out part of the backrest and stuffing coil springs to stiffen up the ride, but there is also a huge issue with the seat base, in that it is broken, and the only way to fix it is to replace the base.

Unfortunately, that will mean having to recover the seat. In the mean time, however, I decided to go with the cheap and easy fix.  I stopped by the local pick a part, and asked how much a seat out of a Chrysler mini-van would be.

The guy tells me there’s several to choose from, and it’ll be $23 + Tax.  I grabbed a wheelbarrow, to haul my seat in, and boogied on back to the Chrysler section, which happened to be nearly as far away from the entry location as possible! He wasn’t kidding, when he said that he had a bunch of them!

I looked through several vans, with choices of fabric, including leather and many colors of velour.  I had a tan leather seat loaded up and was heading back when I decided that I really hated sitting on leather seats, but I was also thinking that if I didn’t like it, a leather seat should be easier to pass on to someone else.

I went ahead and snagged a tan velour seat, then ran by the local Home Depot, to pick up some 3/4″ plywood.  Since they allow for 2 “free” cuts, I had the kid cut up the entire sheet into 20″ sections, which is the depth of the seat riser base. I proceeded to work on it, but decided that with the way that I was mounting the seat directly to the plywood, that I really needed to double it, so I could have plenty of room so the bolt heads wouldn’t hit the riser.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here’s the swap, in Picture form.

After a couple of test drives, I must say, it’s nice not to bounce around near as much, and there’s quite a bit more support in the seat, but especially the back. I’ve got a feeling that the stock seat may get wrapped in some plastic and placed up on a shelf!

Now, other than adjusting my brakes, again, I am ready to head to the Hot Rod Hundred-OkC, in my stake truck. Looking forward to seeing how my back feels after driving it with this seat in it.

Bret
Bret@StreetRodder.Net
http://StreetRodder.Net
The FUN is in the RUN!!!