Ultimate Standard Sport Limited 4Runner Bucket Seat Cushion Swappable Parts Thread

I love my first gen Tacoma quite dearly, yet I must admit the stock bench seat was painful at best!

Over the last year I have tried everything I could to make this nifty old truck more enjoyable behind the wheel, and I would say the seats are by far the best upgrade in this regard hands down. I have tried just about every combination offered by the factory and then some, so I thought I would share my experience to help others get their seats nicer without needing full replacements!

Dumped my bench and went to stock Tacoma buckets right away:


Then found some 4runner Sport buckets:


Then I was fortunate enough to find some Tacoma Sport bucket seats from a wrecked SRunner, which of course is the way to go for oem fit, patterns, and the utmost comfort and support from a factory seat in these first gen's:


Since I have pulled all the seats apart multiple times now, mounted them all in my regular cab, and have swapped parts from seat to seat to seat I thought I would capture the process to share how it is done and speak to the cross compatibility for many parts I have found between the seats.

The task is actually quite easier than you may think, and you may be able to come across a nice cushion or two easier than a complete perfect set of seats out there given the age on these things.

Here is the issue with the seats I started with for the write up, note the home made repair job and extra stitching on the back rest side bolster:


if you dont have the seat out of the truck it may not be as easy to do the swap. Remove the 4 bolts per seat and unplug the harness to the seat belt sensor on the driver side prior to sliding it forward and pulling them out.

Then we can start the seat tear down process. First remove the recliner handle with a phillips screwdriver. Then the trim piece by removing another screw, pulling on the front of the panel to release a clip, then slide the piece back and away to remove. The previous owner had drilled an extra screw through the trim since most of these break, so I had to remove the screw circled in red below too.


Move to the other side and remove the screw, then pull the panel off by hand again gently.


Once these trim pieces are out you can unbolt the lap cushion with 4 bolt, two on each side. The bolt up front is a bit hidden by the cushion in the pic, but it is in the green.


In this case we are moving on to the back rest, which does have a couple more steps. No need to remove the lap cushion, but you do need to fold the seat forward to remove the back rest cover enough to remove the cushion.

With the seat folded forward grab the bottom of the cover where the seams meet under the back rest and pinch them towards each other into the center to release tension and unhook the back cover. Then start rolling the cover up by turning it inside out on one side, then the other little by little.


Do not pull the cover off all the way, but roll it up enough to reveal the 4 mounting bolts, 2 per side. Be gentle, as I could see the cushion I was replacing was also torn in this area:


Here it is below, no need to remove both cushions, just what you are replacing. It is also easier to do one at a time if you are swapping both, as this keeps your tracks aligned together for you.


The assembly is of course to simply reverse the process. One PRO tip though is to grab the metal clips that holds the plastic trim pieces into the frame and place those onto the plastic trim panel before installing so they clip in with out destruction.

Oh yeah, and of course torque to factory specs as always to complete your restoration! Note it is a mere 15 ft lb so you dont want to go to far with these being as the cushion is part of the frame structure in this design.


Take a peek at the result, good enough to sell to a new home now!


Hope this helps a citizen or two of the World, feel free to ask questions since I have fiddled with all these seats for way longer than I ever planned to!

 

Interchangeable Parts Notes:

* Regular cabs need holes drilled into the transmissions tunnel to swap from bench to all buckets. The factory left a nice circle showing where to drill with a 1/2" bit fortuitously.


* Tacoma bucket seats frames are the same for standard and Sport/SRunner buckets as far as mounting in the truck and cushion swapping goes.

* You can swap either lap or back cushions from standard to Sport buckets and even from passenger to driver side, say if your passenger side looks brand new while you are sitting on a pile of shreds on the driver side.. swap em!!

* The Sport driver side frame does have additional height adjustment but the cushions still swap over.

* The Sport driver side back cushion does have the power lumbar to keep in mind, but still can be swapped over. I have not figured out the wiring yet..

* My SRunner specific tracks are Extra cab style for the passenger side, which allows the quick fold forward with one pull of the lever or the rear pedal switch to get to the rear easier. I found this to be nifty in my regular cab even since I store stuff behind my seat at times.

*The 4Runner lap cushions will bolt into Tacoma tracks and vice versa, but the back cushion mounts do not line up and are not interchangeable. See the Tacoma lap cushion mounted in the 4 runner track and tan 4runner back cushion below (and a couple other seat parts..):


* 4runner seats can be fit into the Tacoma, but there is a bit of modification required as seen in other threads already.

* The upholstery patterns and colors are different between the Tacoma and 4Runner, especially on the grays. The tans play nicer together for most years if you want 4runner seats in your Tacoma.

* The height adjustment was broken on my SRunner seat, so I took it aprt further and welded the rod back in place:


Summary:

If you have some torn covers and /or worn foam look for used seats that have the parts you need in good shape while also shopping for full replacements. I found a trashed seat that had a good tracks and a back rest for $45 and I used those parts to get a couple of decent seats to really nice status. When shopping for seats from a wreck, you will find many time the tracks are tweaked beyond repair but there is normally a bunch of parts that are still salvageable.

Best of luck on your quest for oem ergonomic upgrades!

 

Hey 2Runner, Thanks for the write up! I will have to do this soon. I have a split seam on the side of my drivers seat cushion. I was thinking about just swapping over the passenger seat cushion and calling it good. Now, I might peel off the cover and sew it up too. Got any pics of removing the seat cushions?

 

If you are asking about removing the lap covers from the cushion for sewing it up, I have not had to do this so I dont have pics. From what I know basically you get the cushion out as seen above, then clip off the hog rings to remove the cover. Make your repairs, then you can even through the cover in the wash or steam clean it before re-installing with new hog rings using special hog ring pliers.

You can also swap your passenger side cushion over as well to have the nicer foam and covers under your rear, and put your repaired cushion on the passenger side.

Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!

 

@2Runner Thanks for the excellent collection of info!

I know you didn't mention this specifically, but it's my understanding that the 4runner seat cushions cannot be swapped between driver and passenger. Looking at them they look side specific, unless that's just from slowly molding to the mounts over time. What are you thoughts on this? I've been trying to find a replacement driver cushion for my 4runner leather seats but they are usually destroyed.

 

I swapped my 4runner LAP cushions side to side, yet havent confirmed on the back cushion.. but I dont see why they could not be swapped from side to side other than the driver back rest will have the manual lumbar that will go to the passenger. You may want to swap foams and/or covers make a hole as needed if this is the case. Wish I had my 4runner seats here to quickly check the bolt patterns and confirm.

Tacoma (passenger) lap cushion on the 4runner frame driver seat below:

 

I think you are correct after looking at my seats this morning. I believe mine look side specific because the side bolsters are mashed down on the outsides from sliding over them.

 

You can swap em over to have more cushion for yourself, and perhaps shop for a cushion separate or a seat with another decent cushion and other parts (trim, headrests,etc) you can use.

 

Yup. That's the plan. I'll look into picking up some hog rings and those special pliers too.

 

Sounds like a plan! Feel free to post up this portion of the write up if you like in case someone down the road finds all this seat info useful it may be nice to have in one spot.

It seems most first gen owners could use and deserve some level of seat restoration after decades of service!

 

Another example: Swapped these Sport cushions right onto standard bucket tracks since the passenger side tracks from my SRunner seats were bent up from the wreck and did not allow the seat to slide forward or back. The tracks and also the outer plastic trim shields also are interchangeable between Sport and Standard buckets (except for the drivers left hand side that has the extra height adjustment).


* Headrests are also interchangeable and the Sport seats have a much thicker and adjustable angle on the headrests as well.

I always finish my work with detailing of any parts the best I can before I install them. For seats a good vacuum and steam cleaning on a hot sunny day gets rid of stains and grime and leaves you feeling the reward for your effort when you reinstall parts that look almost new after 20 years!


Then of course enjoy the results for years to come!

 

I'm adding to this thread in case someone else wants to swap thier lower seat cushions. I had a wear spot on the edge of my drivers seat that was bugging me. I wanted to see how big a job it would be to fix the hole or to swap the passenger cushion over. Yes, that's a missing chunk on the side plastic. It used to be a crack until one day I caught my ass on it on the way out. Talk about insult and injury! If anyone has one of these tan side covers they wanna sell please hit me up.

Here is the disassembly of the passenger seat. Its the same for both sides. First, I removed the side plastic. Then I removed the four 12mm bolts (2 on each side).

After removing the 4 bolts the seat cushion will slide right out. I thought the tracks might collapse inward but they hold their shape.
After looking at the lower seat cushion I decided that removing the cover to sew up was going to be more than I wanted to tackle, at least for today. I don't have the necessary hog ring pliers or hog rings either. I decided to just swap the driver and passenger lower seat cushions. Just reverse the steps for assembly.

Note that on the seat belt buckle side the side of the cushion is vinyl. On the other side its fabric. If you swap your seat cushions its going to be the reverse of that. If that doesn't bother you go for it!

Now I have a fresh cushion to drag my ass over! This job was way easier than I was expecting. I can't even see the hole in the other seat because its behind the center console. Out of sight, out of mind. My thanks to @2Runner for inspiring me to do this.

 

sub'd for interest

 

@Tacotimer Glad you found the thread helpful and thanks for the additional photos for the lap cushion swap. I mentioned it above in my steps, but nice to re-iterate.

Good note on the vinyl vs cloth sides on the standard buckets, though I think most anyone would rather have a nice cushy driver seat than to worry about what side the vinyl is on!!

 

I may still try to sew up the worn seat cushion one day. If I screw it up, no big deal, cause its the passenger seat! If I do take it on I'll take pics.

 

Yup, that's a no brainer! Now the seat is way firmer and I'm taller in the saddle. The old foam is shot. Instead of fixing the passenger side I might try to find a better used cushion and swap it in.

 

The seats really are one of the weakest spots on these trucks especially after decades of use, and hence one of the most rewarding upgrades when you put some effort into this area!

 

The fact that you can even find all those seats, parts, cushions is amazing.

 

It takes a bunch of effort, but they are still out there if you hunt them down diligently.

All I did was search offerup, cl, and car-parts every day a couple of times a day for a couple months until I had the whole collection and then some. They sell really quick hence you must keep your search constant and scoop of the good stuff as soon as you spot it.

I ended up with two very nice sets of the elusive Sport bucket seats and donated a set to my Mom's Tacoma too!

 

nice upgrade, came out great !