75 Series Seats

Post by **Buggerific** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:39 pm

Hi everyone...

A topic I'm sure we're all tired of BUT I did a search and couldn't find anything that really answered my questions.

I need new seats for my cruiser, it currently has some pretty good Stratos seats but they're not quite right for me. I can get VT/VX Commodore seats pretty easily but I just have a couple of questions.

It seems that commodore seats are fairly popular to replace original cruiser seats. Has anyone done it and how hard was it, what did you have to cut at or weld in?

Also does anyone know what the legality of changing seats is?

My cruiser is an ex ambulance and its compliance plate says 2 seater. It doesn't have original seats in it now and no paperwork for them... So is it currently illegal anyway?

Post by **pinkfloyddsotm** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:09 pm

id also like to know ...

Post by **fat496** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:08 am

Me too

Post by **Z()LTAN** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:12 am

me three

Post by **Buggerific** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:04 pm

Alrighty...

Not super helpful for me.

I will hopefully have a chance on sunday to attempt the swap, I will let you know how I go!

Post by **crozza** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:13 pm

If you change the seats using anything other than original., you need a engineers certificate. But thats only for rego. You could keep the old ones and chuck em back in for inspections.

As for dunny door seats I will let you know as im test fitting the seats out of my VY this weekend into my 75 ute.

The spacing between the commodore seat rails is around 450mm
apposed to the cruiser at 300mm.

Best option I can see is leave the cruiser rails in and "bolt" a 3mm steel plate across them roughly 300 x 450mm wide and bolt the dunnydore seat to that.

Dont use Ford seats ( most models) as the rails are fabricated into the actual seat frame and really arnt designed to be pulled apart, same as mitsusbishi triton seats. been there done that.
The dunnydore seats are generally the best as the back of the seat is rather thin allowing the seat to recline further than a thicker one. Causing youre knees to be up around youre ear holes when driving.

I will do a post with photos if it works out.
Crozz

Post by **Buggerific** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:19 pm

But I plan to keep the electronic angle adjustment on the drivers seat from the commodore...

That is attached to the rail isn't it?

So in my case I would need to keep the holden rails... Fun times!

Post by **crozza** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:24 pm

Ive had a quick glance at the electricals on the seat and Im sure there attatched on the seat and not the rails. Could be wrong though.

Post by **Buggerific** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:55 pm

Excellent... Could be easier than I had hoped then!

Post by **crozza** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:01 pm

Well I if i do it and you do it this weekend, then hopefully one of us might get it right...lol

Post by **Wambat** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:13 pm

i too would like to know, at least for the drivers side, i happen to have a seat handy(poor writen off vs)

Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:44 pm

it aint rocket sicence
if you want them road leagel
hears a few tips as ive been thro this a few times in a few diffrent states
easyest way is to use your original seat runners
make an adapter to bolt from your original runners to the new seats
only use steel to make the adapters and hi tencile bolts
i would give lost of pics but ive lost them when my hard drive crashed
and dont weld or modify your original runners

Post by **crozza** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:17 am

Spot on.

Post by **Buggerific** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:59 am

Yeah sounds good...

My other main concern is trying to center the drivers seat to the wheel/peddals... The current stratos seat has been put in slightly off to the left and i think thats causingpart of my discomfort.

Post by **Thommo 73** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:07 am

if you have a good look at you seat rails in he 75 you will see the rails are two different hights. so you will have to make spacers to get the out side rail to the same level as the inside rail
Or what i did was pull the old seat apart and cut the base up and weld a 3mm plate onto it and bolt the seat onto that. keeps the look of a standard seat mount and looks neat unlike some of the cr*p i have seen done before.

Post by **Buggerific** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:28 pm

Also I had a chance to look at the commodore seats... The electrics are incorporated into the rails...

Looks like I will be modding either the rails or some new mounts or a bit of both! Will keep Y'all posted!

Post by **Buggerific** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:34 pm

UPDATE: I'm starting with the passeneger seat so I know what I have to deal with and so I can still drive.

So far I have Taken the commodore runners off the commodore rails to measure the rails up. I will be using the commodore rails.

What I had to do to start with was reverse the rails... Punch out the little raised stopper, slide the rail out the whole way and re-insert the other way around.

This way the mounts are shaped closer to standard cruiser rail mounts.

I will take photos when work commences again in the morning.

Next job will be somehow fabricating new mounts for the commodore rails to bolt to.

Post by **pozman** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:52 pm

i don't know if you will have the same prob, but in my bundy the outer rail is lower than the inside, just requires a little more thinking to make the brackets up, not a major prob, just some thing to be prepared for

Post by **crozza** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:56 pm

Ok Men

I did a test fit of the seats out of my VY sedan.
Heres a photo of the passenger seat.

[/img]

In a hzj 75 series the seat rails are flat and not offset in height to each other.

The VY seats simply unbolt via 4 nuts from there rails, as per photo,

To fit the seat I made a template from some scrap timber. This would be normally 3mm plate. I cut it 400 x 400 mm square.
I then measured the cruiser rails and VY seat bolts and drilled these to fit the plate ( template) Cruiser rail holes were roughly 310mm across x 325 mm deep.

As per this photo,

The Vy seat bolts were roughly 350mm across x 375mm deep.

Simply bolt together with high tensile bolts with some spacers required between the seat and top of the rails for a flater fit.

This is the drivers side using the passenger seat.

[/img][/img]

What I found:............Using these seats made you sit a lot higher than standard.
When I exited the car my head only just cleared the top of the door jam.
Im 6"1'. The seats keep youre legs tucked in nicely and stops youre knee hitting the door window winder, ( I have electric so its not a problem for me.)

I only used my passenger seat for testing as I needed to drive my VY today. In this photo you can see I had to remove the hand brake to get it to fit. If it were the drivers seat this would not be required.

They dont recline back as far as the normal seats. ( Mine are HZJ 79 series seats.)...At 6"1 ,I prefer my normal seats , but for all you short asses these seats would be heaven...

Hope this clears up any questions for those who are thinking of doing this.

Crozz

Post by **Z()LTAN** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:30 pm

Sweet pix mate.

Would the end product with only the 3mm plate as the base lower the seat enough for it to be good for a taller fellow?

Bearing in mind im 6'8"

Post by **crozza** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:21 pm

6"8 jesus you may aswell cut a hole in the roof.....

The timber was only 16mm thick so not a lot in it...

Got a tip for you...Do you find youre left foot wont go past the left side of the clutch pedal? So you cant stretch youre leg. I took the pedal off and bent it closer to the brake pedal and now I can stretch my leg all the way to the firewall when driving..Great for long trips.

Also removed the brake pedal and cut it in half and rewelded it so its lower down aswell so my legs stretch further out. Bent the accelerator one aswell.

Post by **Z()LTAN** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:39 pm

interesting....

ill look into that

Cheers mate

Post by **crozza** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:37 pm

Heres a shot of the gap i was talking about.

Crozz

Post by **Z()LTAN** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:38 pm

nice!

that would make heel toe all that much easier too!

Thanx again mate

Post by **Buggerific** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:54 am

Nice work mate!

For those of you wanting to use commodore rails to keep the electric adjustments in the chair watch this space. Hoping to make some headway in the morning!

Post by **pinkfloyddsotm** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 2:01 am

awesome pics crozza, your cruiser looks nice and comfy inside lol, so the seat not being able to go back as far is the only problem for us tall people ?? i could also probably do a test fit with the seats from my dads VU.

Post by **crozza** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:45 am

Yeah,
But I guess if you used 3mm/5mm plate or similar and used a thinner spacer between the rails and underneath of the seat you could shave off a fair bit of height. I only did this as a test and used scrap laying around the shed. The timber was 16mm and the spacers ( nuts ) I used were a little overkill in thickness. If it were to be a proper fitment then I reckon you could lower the overall height a good 30mm or more, which is enough to clear youre noggin from the door jam.

Let me tell you from experience that when youre in a hurry and you "jump" into youre truck and hit youre noggin on the top door jam, it draws blood, takes off skin and knocks you out....

I did it not long ago...ended up on my ass real quick..

Post by **80's_delirious** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:44 am

how do you 6'plus guys put up with a 75? I used to drive my bosses 75 a bit and Im 6'6" and it used to suck, not comfy at all.

Post by **Dane** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:45 am

I have a HZJ75 extra cab and the seat goes back further than I need to be comfortable

Post by **bigbrowndog** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:59 am

Bloody hell< Zoltan 6'8'' have you got double universal joints in your elbows and shoulders? I am 5'11'' and I find the 75 cab really sucks for arm length comfort and I was not borne in Longreach, LOL. This is a great thread, thanks you blokes. I have tossed this around since my last trip T'ville to Bundaberg and back. Sore rump and stiff legs and shoulders after 12 hours at the wheel.
Do you think a seat with a smaller squab and less thick back would be better? I would like to sit further away from the wheel. Maybe like Subaru seats etc as the Subaru are very comfortable. I recently bought a hub boss and a wheel very similar to my Senator's which has little dish in it but it still decreased the shoulder to wheel distance so I removed it back to standard.

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