Exmoor Middle Row Seat Surprises

First, the worst surprise--three seats were damaged. One with a razor cut and two with abraded or popped seams.

Second, the middle row seat bottoms needed woodserts to be bolted to the frames. We tried lag bolts first on one seat, but they just pulled out.

Third, the middle row seatbacks were at an odd/uncomfortable angle--vertical to slightly forward. In the picture below, the near and middle seat backs show how they sit upright. The far seat back is resting on the "Oh Sh*t" bar (what we call the combo front seat back rest bar and middle row grab bar).

This shot shows how close the new seat bottom and back sit to the rear 3 man bench seat--about 1/4 inch gap.










This shot shows how far the seat back is leaning forward at its most upright position--see how the line of the seatback is not parallel to the vertical line on the 3 man bench seat?











The solution was to cut off the tabs shown on the far left and far right in the picture below and reposition them lower and at a different angle.







Here is the result. Now all three seatbacks are slightly reclined. We may end up swapping the 3 man bench seats in the rear for 2 man or individual jump seats and converting the middle row to be able to fully recline.

New Exmoor Seats!

Trakkers Extreme with Seat Heater installed plus harness


Seat bottom comparison between Trakkers Extreme and Classic High Back

I've spent too much time over the past couple of years trying to figure out how to get better (and hopefully somewhat safer) seats in the 109. I had always wanted Exmoor seats but due to excessive dithering on my part, I missed the last time the dollar was strong against the pound sterling.

I tried fitting Volvo seats ($20 for the pair off Craigslist--with seat heaters!) but they were too tall and made it a real hassle to climb around the steering wheel. Then I started looking at Porsche 914 seats. I think these would be the best and easiest seat to fit in a Series truck. They are one peice with a high seat back and they have a thin seat bottom--around 4 inches. Plus, they can be found in black vinyl and they are from the 1970s so period-appropriate as well. Just when I had located about 8 seats across the country, ranging in price from $35 to $150 per pair, the dollar began gaining strength against the pound and hit the magic exchange rate I had set in my mind.

So, without further dithering, I placed the order from Craddocks. Two Trakkers Extreme for the front seats, both with seat heaters and three Classic High Backs for the middle row, two with seat heaters. Then I learned that Craddocks does not charge until the seats are ready to ship--which is nice, but meant that the dollar had weakened slightly over the one month it took for Exmoor to build the seats. So, in the end, I paid about $70 more.

I received 2 of the 4 total boxes within 2 days! The other 2 boxes arrived 2 days after that! Very fast delivery!