Seat Bottom Mod For More Thigh Support

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soareyes

Active member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
44
Location
Victorville, CA
I've had my Leaf for two weeks now and I love it. However, after the first couple days of driving I realized the driver's seat wasn't as comfortable for me as some of my previous cars. I am 6"3" with a 36" inseam. For me, the Leaf seat had three problems: lack of legroom, lack of under thigh support, and lack of lumbar support. Seat track extenders from extendmyseat.com solved my legroom problem. The lumbar support should be easy to correct with aftermarket external foam cushions, or maybe adding a little extra foam under the upholstery.

That leaves the thigh support problem which I think I've solved. First, I took out the driver's seat (edit - seat removal isn't necessary, see later posts!). There are four 14mm bolts at each corner and three connectors under the seat which must be removed. Once the four bolts are out, you can tilt the seat back to get to the connectors underneath. Here is a picture of my seat removed that shows the three connectors (two white and one yellow):

CIMG1005.jpg


Once the seat is out you can play with the side knob to see how it tilts and lowers the bottom cushion. There are two bolts (right and left) near the front of the cushion that connect the seat cushion frame to the tilt mechanism as shown here by the pencil:

CIMG1010.jpg


You can also see the seat extenders above, but the cushion mod can be done with or without the seat extenders.
Hope this mod is of some benefit, especially taller drivers like myself!


CIMG1012.jpg


What I did was remove those two bolts (M8 1.25 x 20mm) and replaced them with longer bolts with washers as spacers to raise the front of the cushion. I used M8 1.25 x 30 mm bolts with a stack of washers (edit - nylon spacers work better, see later posts) about 5/8" high to raise the front of the seat cushion by about 5/8" over stock. Here is a closeup of the stock bolt removed. Once these two bolts are removed, you can see that the cushion is capable of tilt quite a bit more than stock:

CIMG1016.jpg


Here are the two stock M8 bolts (outside) compared to the new bolts with the washer spacers (inside):

CIMG1021.jpg


Here is the new bolt and spacers installed on one side. I actually ended up adding two more washers to each side after this pic was taken:

CIMG1028.jpg


If you look close you can see the new bolts and washers intalled left and right:

CIMG1032.jpg


And finally the seat is installed and you can see that the the bottom cushion is not as flat but instead has a bit more drop from front to back. It is still adjustable with the height knob if a second driver needs a higher/flatter position. I wish I had take a "before" picture for comparison!

CIMG1034.jpg
 
mwalsh said:
Your user name should have been sorearse! :lol:

Ha, good one! Actually numbarse was more like it.

I just realized that anyone doing this mod wouldn't really have to take the seat out of the car. You could just remove the four bolts holding the seat to the track, tip the seat back, and then remove and replace the two seat cushion bolts. You wouldn't even have to undo the three electrical connectors.
 
nice mod. i mentioned to the wife over the weekend that " i feel like i sit ON the seat, not IN the seat". this mod should help solve that feeling.
 
Great idea! I noticed the lack of thigh support after the first week of ownership but never thought it could be fixed (easily). I will go by my hardware store and pickup some M8 bolts and some washers. Thanks!
 
I've been compensating for the lack of thigh support by moving the seat further back, but then I have to stretch my arms out almost straight to reach the wheel. I'll have to give this mod a try. Thanks for posting! Those pics are great, and very useful!
 
garsh said:
I've been compensating for the lack of thigh support by moving the seat further back, but then I have to stretch my arms out almost straight to reach the wheel.

This car really needs a telescoping steering wheel!

I've driven my Leaf a few days now with this mod, and there is definitely an increase in comfort. As radiozero said above, I am sitting more in the seat than on it. Still I think I'll try to raise the seat front even a bit more. I've got 40mm, 50mm, and 60mm bolts to play with when I get some time this week. I'll report back if more is better.
 
I guess there IS an advantage to having only a 29" inseam... :lol:

garsh said:
I've been compensating for the lack of thigh support by moving the seat further back, but then I have to stretch my arms out almost straight to reach the wheel.
 
Thanks for sharing. This has been one of my issues, too. So simple - will probably make the mod tonight. Now if only we could figure out how to extend the steering wheel so I don't have to drive with my arms out like I'm on a Harley with ape-hangers.
 
15 minute trip to the hardware store and 8 minutes to install (yup - no need to remove the seat). I went with two 3/8 nylon spacers for a total 3/4" lift. Sooo much more comfortable. Feel stupid for driving the car for a year and not even thinking this could be so easily fixed.
 

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The nylon spacers are a great idea Ticktock! I remounted mine today with three of the nylon spacers (each side) and 45mm bolts for a total of 1 1/8" lift. I like the way the nylon spacers spread the loads out in a wider area than the smaller metal washers I used at first. For me, this lift feels perfect:

CIMG1047-1.jpg
 
Here are the nylon spacers that TickTock and I used. I got mine at Lowes in the specialty hardware bins:

CIMG1054.jpg


I did notice that when I used 3 spacers, it was difficult to get the bolts started into the seat pan. The spacers kept the bolts from aligning perpendicular to the seat pan. Pushing sideways on the bolt head a little forced it into alignment so I could screw it in and once the bolt got started, everything went in fine. With just 2 spacers there was no problem with alignment at all.
 
Wow! What a difference 3/4" makes. (Careful, guys)

While I don't consider myself mechanically expert nor mecanically challenged, it required quite a bit more than 8 minutes for me to get the job done. These old bones do not take kindly to working in sort of tight spaces while on hands and knees.

That seat never did feel quite right - big improvement. Thanks soareyes.

Bill
 
I finally got around to making this mod. It's great having some thigh support again. Thanks for the post & the great pictures soareyes!

Now I just need to figure out how to fix the headrests.
soareyes said:
I used M8 1.25 x 30 mm bolts
With the two nylon spacers, I had to use 35mm bolts.
 
garsh said:
With the two nylon spacers, I had to use 35mm bolts.

Yes, and I ended up using 40mm bolts with three spacers, which I think is the maximum anyone would want.
I'm glad this mod is working for everyone who has tried it. My next project is adding extra lumbar support!
 
ebill3 said:
While I don't consider myself mechanically expert nor mecanically challenged, it required quite a bit more than 8 minutes for me to get the job done. These old bones do not take kindly to working in sort of tight spaces while on hands and knees. Bill
It took me much longer than 8 minutes, too. More like 30-45 minutes.

I got lucky with lining up the bolt right on 1 side quickly, but the other side (the side near the door) took me forever to get it lined up right for some reason to get the bolt screwed in. After a while, I got tired and had my college-age son try to screw it in for me, but he wasn't successful either after about 10-15 minutes. So I tried again and finally got lucky.

I didn't have the seat removed, so it was awkward in the first place trying to maneuver around tight spaces while on hands and knees. I only did it with 2 spacers. I can't imagine how much tougher it'd be with 3 spacers and a 40mm bolt if you don't have your seat removed. In retrospect, it might have been easier to just remove the darn seat in the first place so you don't have to be on your hands and knees.
 
Volusiano said:
I got lucky with lining up the bolt right on 1 side quickly, but the other side (the side near the door) took me forever to get it lined up right for some reason to get the bolt screwed in.
Same here. I think what finally worked for me was to move the seat cushion sideways a little bit. I forget if I pushed inward or pulled outward, but that finally lined things up.
 
I had my wife sit in the passenger seat and push/pull on the cushion until the holes lined up enough to get the bolt started using three spacers. I was considering elongating the hole a little with a round file, but if you are going to do that, it would probably be easier just to take the seat out.

For anyone taking the seat out, put the headrest down or take it off entirely, and tilt the steering wheel all the way up to make more room. I would also put a towel over the center console to protect it from being scratched by the metal seat runners. The seat isn't very heavy, just awkward to maneuver through the door opening.
 
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