The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Seat Recover. Stock Bench

I am coming down the home stretch on this build that I’ve been working on for what seems like forever. That’s because it has been forever! Now the seats. I. I stripped the old seat springs, cleaned them up and epoxy primed and painted them. I gave the seat springs to my upholsterer to recover in leather. He did a really nice job and I love the way they are not stock but not over the top fancy. My problem is I can hardly fit behind the steering wheel. I know I’m getting kind off portly but I’m really up on top of the wheel. That makes turning the wheel kind of difficult. I honestly have never driven one until this one. With the seat pushed all the way back I measure 12.5” from the seat back to the steering wheel and 6” from the wheel to the seat bottom. Im thinking he may have over stuffed the seats. I think he may have put about 2” of foam on the springs.

Make, year, and model truck you are referring to?

Sorry. 1950, 3100

I’m not following your measurements. With 12.5” from the seat back to the wheel and 6” from the seat to the wheel, that only leaves 6.5” of seat to sit on. Doesn’t make any sense to me. I have a ‘52 3100 and It’s a little tight but not like your saying.

Maybe you could take a picture with a ruler in it and post it, so we could compare with ours?

OK, after taking looking at my ‘52 I now understand. I’m afraid with your existing seat, it’s not going to improve much. Mine is the same way.

The pictures are with the seat slid back all the way.

What you have is very close to stock. These trucks were not made for today’s fully grown folks. At 6’1” and 250 I can’t drive one at all. Even my ‘62 C-10 is a little snug, doable but tight.

Maybe we need to quit eating so many pancakes.........

Maybe we need to quit eating so many pancakes.........

HEY! No fair.

Very nice looking job!!

I agree that there is not an abundance of room to begin with between the seat and steering wheel in the AD trucks.

Plus the temptation is to put lots of padding/foam in the seat to make it comfortable. I recently went through this with my friend's '49 3100. We agreed that there was too much padding so I did remove abut half of the foam I had installed. It is still plenty comfortable and with a little more room.

If you think this is tight, try a Model T!

Yes. I spoke to my upholsterer and he said he could take some foam out. He said when he has it apart he could put a couple of tywraps on each spring so they are slightly compressed to get a little more space. I hate to take it all apart but I think it will be worth the hassle. One of these day when my upholsterer has an open shop I’ll get it done. Until then I’ll drive it.

Thats good to know. Although my seat is in good condition, it’s not going to fit with my final paint scheme. So when I finally do get the seat reupholstered, I’ll be able to gain a bit of room. Thanks Bicounty!

I love the original look, but I was also fearful for this scenario when I completed mine. Consequently, I installed a 90 GMC Sierra full bench and have been extremely happy with its position and comfort. It’s beauty.

When I redone the seats in my 37 I put too much foam in,I think it was 2 1/4 inch thick and I could barely fit in it so I had to take over a inch out and was still a little tight.

nice looking seat for sure. I have never driven or even sat in one of these trucks but I'm puting a 53' 3/4 ton back together. I'm gonna have to look at this before I get to far along on the intetior. I know it wasn't your intension but, Thanks for the heads up👍

Bicounty If possible get in there and drive till things settle alittle should pack down and free-up ! Nice job on your seat. since you can take the cover off you might remove a little padding.

You definitely don't want to be sitting that close if the airbag ever goes off! ;-P

I've currently got my seat out for a gas tank replacement, and I keep eyeballin' it trying to think of an easy way to add a little more rake to the back. Just a couple of degrees would yield not only more room but greater comfort for those of us who like to slump a bit behind the wheel. I guess in the old days they spent more time sitting upright in a proper pew, so seats like this felt right :-D

You’ll only worsen the problem by adding rake. The original seat back configuration, slid all the way back hits the cab back already. If you rack the seat back the seat bottom will be closer to the steering wheel.

The only way to gain any room is to remove cushioning/springs, replace with more modern seats or replace the steering column/wheel with something smaller.

Do you have any idea of the weight and dimension of each cushion? I am trying to get a shipping quote on cushions only and not the metal seat frame assembly.

Hope you all don't mind me pulling this back up,,,, It is exactly the problem I have too. I am going to remove the back cushion and replace it with a plywood back, foam, and I'll sew up a cover for it. this will be very similar to my Barber chair and it is pretty comfortable.I think I can gain about 3 inches. I know I need the springs in the cushion but I am hoping I can get away with less travel in the back.

I would definitely work on trimming the padding. Trimming the seat padding will help make the fit feel better (mind you, this is coming from a 6'4" 295 pound guy that needs to trim off 100 pounds of portly padding too).

I'll have to see what the cushion is like when I get into it, my thoughts were that the springs were most of the depth with not a lot of padding. I may have to put this off til spring as I'm starting to close up here so I can head to Fl.If I can get to it I'll post.

Bicounty Looks like all of mine ,is your seat clear back ?? Doesn't look overstuffed,should work !!