Jacking the seat up for needed clearance
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=51491
Printed Date: July 05, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Topic: Jacking the seat up for needed clearance
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Subject: Jacking the seat up for needed clearance
Date Posted: March 07, 2005 at 10:48 PM
Has anyone ever jacked up the rear bench seats in a 2000 model F150 supercab? I could use some extra clearance for my box and was thinking of jacking the seat up 1-1/2" to 2" with shims or washers. It looks simple enough but I am concerned about the back rest interferring somehow. Can the backrest be moved to?
Any input will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Mike
Replies:
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 8:32 AM
I found some from LMI welding which are also found on Subbox.net. These things are $125.00!  Isn't their a more economical way for me to do this? Does anyone have any ideas or experience doing this?
Thanks!
Mike
Posted By: oonikfraleyoo
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 11:10 AM
Sounds dangerous. I never alter safty equipment. ------------- Nik
Jeeputer Progress
[|||||||||||-] 90%
Check it out.
Posted By: pimpincavy
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 11:41 AM
Im not sure how this is dangerous. But why not just take the rear bench seat out?? People hate riding in those things anyways.
-------------
Posted By: primetime24
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 12:17 PM
I raised my back seat with 3/4 metal spacers. took out the bolts that are bracketed to the floor and put the spacers under the bracket. only problem... had to drill out the spacers, took piece of 3/4" metal and drilled out, got new bolts and installed. Pretty simple.
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 1:10 PM
Do you mean you took the actual bolt out somehow?
I was thinking about using steel washers to do this. I was going to thread them over the bolt then re-install the seat and tighten down the nut. Do you think this would work?
Mike
Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 2:06 PM
It is dangerous for the rear seat occupants as their heads are now closer to the ceiling in the event of a rollover, the support for their necks in a collision is now no longer in the correct place and the seatbelts are no longer in the proper position. The balance of probablities lies in your favour in the event of an accident, mind you they are called accidents for a reason. You need to wiegh the burden of what could happen to you in the event of an accident vs. the need for bigger sub bass.
-------------
Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
Posted By: primetime24
Date Posted: March 08, 2005 at 10:49 PM
Yes I took to bolts right out, took the whole seat off first and then added spacers. What forbidden says is true about being closer to the ceiling, but my belts were able to be adjusted and there was never a head restraint that was close to a passengers head. I'm not sure about using washers, seems like you would need alot of them and I don't thing it would be that secure. not to mention looks. Would you want to look @ 10 washers underneath a seat bracket If you were checking out a system. but that's up to you
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Date Posted: March 09, 2005 at 1:26 PM
Thanks for all of the posts. For the time being, I will try to reduce my box height to give me the clearance I need. Hopefully, it will be enough. If not, I'll have to look more closely at lifting the seat.
Thanks for the helpful posts!
Mike
Posted By: primetime24
Date Posted: March 10, 2005 at 8:13 AM
Just make sure that you have enough room for the speaker, use the correct mounting depth, I ran into a problem when i first tried to mount that the bottom of the speaker was touching the box, sounded like crap, had to rebuild.
Posted By: shltplease
Date Posted: March 10, 2005 at 10:27 AM
You are only talking about 2" max height increase... I don't think 2" higher will make a difference. For example, I am 5'8", person X is 5'10". That is a 2" difference. Person X will be more likely to get their neck snapped in a roll over accident? The other issue here is that your seatbelts are attached to the floor / frame, not the seat. You may want to make sure that you will have enough length on the seatbelt receivers to still be able to buckle up.
In other news, have you concidered moving the box forward? If your rear seats slope upward from rear to front (as mine do Chevy ext cab) you can slide the box away from the rear firewall to achieve a little more room.
How are you dealing with the excursion of the sub not hitting the bottom of the seat? Or is this the problem you are concerned with? I ask these questions as I am in the process of doing the same thing as you.
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Date Posted: March 10, 2005 at 1:54 PM
Update - last night I realized a very easy way to "lift" the seat enough to clear my box. Instead of removing the seat assembly and installing washers, tubing, spacers, etc on the factory stud I simply folded the seat up and placed about a 1/2" spacer in the spot where the seat rests in the "sitting" position. This gave me an extra 1 to 1.5" of clearance at the front edge of the seat. The seat is now tilted up at a very slight angle, is the same height as before, and is still safe to sit in. Even the seat belts are still usable.
The spacer I installed is just a piece of MDF I had laying around. I intend on drilling a hole to install a steel spacer painted textured black to match perfectly.
Hopefully, others may find this helpful!
Mike
Posted By: mrmsudawgs
Date Posted: March 10, 2005 at 1:58 PM
Shltplease - I am very concerned with the excursion of the sub hitting the bottom of the seat. That is the reason I need to lift (now tilt) my seat up a little. Also, Polk recommends about 1 to 1.5" of air space around the sub so it can push the air out of its way at full excursion.
FYI - I am using a Polk MM2104 (10" sub)
Mike
|