Mastercraft seats in a deuce

[serial14]

I do quite a bit of off roading in my deuce and after a trip over christmas break of getting absolutely shaken to pieces it was time to get new seats. I pulled out the stock bench seats and replaced them with some BajaRS seats from MasterCraft. The Baja RS seats are an off road racing suspension seat. You're wrapped in a ton of foam and then that is suspended in a trampolean like seat structure. The result is a nice comforitable ride and there isn't anything to bottom out on in the seat.

The install isn't completly finished, but I'm road testing things before I finish it up with paint, etc. I can't explain how much of a difference these seats have made. The truck is very streetable now and feels more like a stock jeep on mild off road conditions. Granted, its still a deuce so you can be thrown around, it just doesn't feel as bad now.

When I finish everything up, I'm planning on repainting the inside of the cab since there are some rust spots and paint flaking issues. Does anybody have an recomendations before I start researching? I was thinking of laying down some paint that has some noise blocking properties.

 

[Blacksunshyne]

Wow, very nice. I was looking at air ride seats for just this purpose. I think I like this idea better. Any idea how the ride compairs to an air ride seat? Did you fab up your own seat mount braket? Any more info on this set up would be great!!

As far as noise reduction paint, I looked at stuff called lizard skin. Seems to be ok, but I have heard there is a cheaper just as good solution out there for that...I am still trying to find more information on that.

 

[srodocker]

I like that. very slick setup. im putting 4runner seats recovered with canvas in mine. im putting them on springer bases.

 

[Blacksunshyne]

I wonder...could you put these suspension seats on a springer base? Would it just be too bouncy, or would it provide a smoother ride?

 

[srodocker]

Hrm dunno. I'll let you know how my seats turn out once i get them in.

 

[cmayer85]

serial, where were these pics taken? it looks like up off of south eubank?

 

[asgtoolman]

serial14; I couldn't quite figure out how you were going to shift hi/lo range with your seat frame but then looked closely at picture 3 and saw that you had modified the frame from it's original rectangle shape. Looks good!!
I insulated most of my cab with EZ Cool heat and sound insulation that I bought on ebay; it's a great material and easy to work with and glue in place. I cut heavy duty anti-fatigue mats to fit over it on the floor boards which helped even more. The area on the firewall and rear of cab between braces, I glued the insulation in place and painted it od with a rattle can. I even made a sheetmetal liner for my soft top and insulated it and covered it with standard automotive headliner material. I also added a muffler--everything helps!!

 

[nk14zp]

How did it affect the leg room?

 

[serial14]

I made all the brackets from scratch. Right now they tie into the stock bolt locations that my old bench came out of. I still need to add a proper mount for the shoulder belts and I'll need to decide if I'm going to add any additional mounts for the main bracket as the lap belts and sub belts all mount to the main bracket. The stock mounting bolts though are pretty beefy on their own.

I've never ridden in an air seat or a springer seat so I can't compare to either of those. What I have been impressed with though, is I don't feel like I'm bouncing around in these seats even though the truck is clearly vibrating around me.

The comment about the transfer case shifter is indeed correct. When I started fabricating I had put the tcase in low to get the shifter out of the way while I was measuring and such. It wasn't till the first fit check/drive that I noticed the errors. The redirect shown in picture three was my solution. It seems plenty strong since it doesn't deflect at all durring my very official "jump/bounce test".

Leg room wise there is a difference. The seat is all the way back and it fits me perfectly. I'm only 5'8" @ 150lbs and I fit nice and snug. Most of the existing room is taken up by the fact that this seat has 4" padding on the bottom and about 3" padding on the back rest. The biggest area where I feel tight is getting in and out. There isn't much room between the steering wheel and the seat cushion based on how the seat bottom is sculpted. Once you get in though you're good to go. As for the full 6 point harness, its not as bad as I thought it'd be. I can do most everything I need fully strapped in except work the light switch box and look out the windows or look behind me. Fortunately its super easy to loosen up the sholder belts and then do what ever you need todo. Some might think 6 point harnesses in a deuce is a little over kill, however I find them super comforitable and if I were ever to hit something I definetly don't want to be thrown forward into the steering wheel/dash/windows/etc.

Once I get the next stage of install/fab done I'll post some more pictures.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Cool. Very nice seats.

 

[A/C Cages]

anyone figure out how to put 3 seats like this wide? or 2 seats and a jumper seat for a kid?

 

[serial14]

I can say that I have only about 10-11" between the seats right now as it is. What I didn't look into is getting a suspension bench seat. They make them for the back of sandrails, UTV side by sides, and some truck applications.

 

[Ronbo]

Nice looking truck !! I get sooo jealous when I see ya'll ( thats southern talk ) with the big single wheels ..
Whats the cost of the wheel set up Total? I was actually wanting to bob my deuce But I think I like the single wheel look better.... Thanks

 

[jesusgatos]

Nice setup. Going to be putting some low-back suspension seats on top of modified springer bases, along with 4-point harnesses in mah deuce. How/where did you anchor those shoulder harnesses? Only asking because I don't see any type of anchor-points above the height of the cab and that's a big no-no. Unless the seats are specifically rated for it, you don't want to anchor them too far below shoulder-height. Any/all of the racing sanctioning bodies have guidelines that it wouldn't hurt to look over for reference, if you're not already familiar with what I'm talking about. And I'm sorry if you already know this, not trying to lecture you.

 

[serial14]

I really love the super single look and it drives a ton better too. Each wheel set cost me $550. The wheels are a custom deal made buy another SS in Indiana and the wheels I got as take offs from another SS down in Roswell.

The shoulder belts right now are completely mounted wrong right now. They go through the seats and then are tied to the bottom bracket. All thats good for is to hold them in place for fit checks. When I get some free time in the up coming weeks I"m going to bend some steel tubing that starts on the bottom subframe, goes up and around the seats at the proper height, and ties into the top of the cab. Once that is done, the harnesses will be properly installed.

 

[4x4 Forever]

Cool Beans Serial!

 

[jimmcld]

Looks to me like the six point harness could be more dangerous than the lap belt in a roll-over, unless you can figure out a roll bar that would be stout enough to hold up the weight of the deuce. The only protection a stock deuce has is that you could lay over in the event of a roll-over. With the six point, your held in place.

 

[RavageRitual]

That is such a good looking truck! I like your seat idea as well. The only thing I can add constructively is this. I haven't used it yet, but it seems like an effective and cheap solution to sound insulation without bulking up on dynamat. You can paint, primer, sand, etc on it and it's water soluable. Maybe a combination of Quietcar and some carpeting? I don't know, but good luck!

Edit: Wrong info.

 

[serial14]

I will admit that if I were to roll that truck I'd be held in place to my death. Though, I really hope I never roll that truck, cause I'm certainly not planning to build a strong enough roll bar for it.

For me I'm placing more importance on safety from normal stuff rather than roll overs which I hope never happen.

 

[usmc320]

The seats look great. No doubt an improvement over the stockers. My only concern would be losing the middle seat. I don't use it often, but it's nice to have with no backseat.