--- TeriAnn Wakeman <twakeman@cruzers.com> wrote:
> OK, I'll bite. How and the heck do you get more leg space with the
> top
> of the seat back tilted 3 inches rearwards and the bottom of the seat
>
> back and the seat bottom in the exact same location????
>
> Your hips are in the same location on both an 88 and a 109.
On most series rovers, 88 or 109, the position of the seat bottom
cushion is dictated by fixed brackets attached to the seat box. since
this style of seat has a fixed bottom attached to fixed bracket and
since seat boxes are identical from 88 to 109, in those instances you
would be corrrect.
However: when a sliding seat is introduced, there is an opportunity to
take advantage of the 109's 3 extra inches between the back of the
seatbox and the front of the bulkhead. Now, bear with me a moment...
there are two options that i know of when it comes to sliding seats
that will fit in a series rover without drilling. One is the "deluxe"
seats as found on US late IIa and SIII 88's. these use a pair of
sliding tracks combined with a square frame for the cushion. the
cushion/frame slide back and forth. This setup also apparently was
offered on some early IIa's as an option. I think in those cases though
you would find an elephant hide cushio as opposed tot he pleated deluxe
black ones in US market late IIa's and III's.
the other option is late series III county/90/110/defender seats. these
are a totally differnet animal and are quiter comfy, incorporating a
much more modern cushion design and a much greater range of adjustment.
Now, the mechanics of it all. The early sliding mechanism, which i have
only used on a series III 88" allowed the seat to go back until either
the sliding frame came into contact with the vertical lip where the
seatbox attaches to the rear bed, or the back of the seat back came
into contact with the front of the bulkhead behind the seats. I don't
remember what was hitting what but i know that i could slide the seat
back a certain distance and that was it.
A friend of mine had a kneee injury and had her 88 customized so that
the bulkhead behind the seats is now in the same position it would be
on a 109. At the same time, the vertical lip where the seatbox bolts to
the front of the rear bed was folded down flat. but only behind the
driver's seat, since this lip is what gives that area of the truck some
of its rigidity. the result is that her 88" has a great deal more leg
room than a standard 88".
Now. with my defender seats in my 88, I noticed a great deal more
comfort because of the more modern cushions and an increased sense of
safety due to the high back and head rest. But there was definitely no
increase, or no noticeable one anyway, in leg room. Long days of city
driving would often result in a crmaped, sore knee.
When i got my 109, i decided that I wanted to spend more time in it
than in my 88, so i swapped the defender seats into it. I was able to
slide the base back a good two to three inches further, since the back
did not hit the bulkhead and the slider itself clears the vertical lip
where the seatbox bolts to the front of the rear bed. The resulting
increase in leg room, decrease in knee angle acuteness, and decrease in
knee pain acuteness for me, as well as the increased ease of in-motion
cigarette rolling has been very noticeable and real. The rear bed on my
109 came from Jim Mead, an older gentleman that lived down the street
from me. He has owned a '66 IIa 88 since new, as well as a string of
other trucks, including the long since dead 109 tow truck that my bed
came off of, and a few series ones which supposedly acquired for a six
pack of beer when he was living in Newfoundland. I let Jim sit - he
wouldn't drive it despite my prodding- in the front seat of my 109
after I finished it, and although his speech is often somewhat halting
and difficult to understand, the look on his face of befuddlement and
amazement over the amount of leg room was unmistakeable. Al his life he
had been having the same experience as TerriAnn.
best
dave
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jul 06 2001 - 15:56:23 EDT