Interesting, care to take a pic of the work?

Some of us have done the rear lumbar mod which actually puts you further back into the seat as well, albeit sacrificing rear lumbar support which some of us hate.

I worry about the safety implications but really the rear bolts are unmodified and I doubt the seat moving in a huge accident would make a difference if it came to that point.

 

Here's a picture.

 

Hi all:
. . . I was getting serious leg fatigue from driving, no matter what combinations I tried. My right leg, especially, was fighting to stay vertical to use the pedals.

Long story shorter... after seeing how others had done this mod in their cars (Prius seemed to be a popular one), I removed the two front bolts of the driver's seat, installed 3 thick washers, re-drilled holes into the legs in newly-required positions, (lower on the seat's legs) and re-installed new, longer bolts (M10 x 1.25mm pitch x 40mm long) of a superior rating/grade. I put an additional washer under the new bolt-head, et voila.

The result is that I now feel more secure in the seat, the electric thigh support finally is able to come up high enough to support the thighs, and I'm pushed further back into the seat (increased side-bolster support as a result) The entire seat now sits at more of an incline (if only a few degrees) and finally feels more like a bucket versus a bench.

This, for me, is a tiny mod with a tremendous result. I'm actually enjoying the Forester again

I am 6'3" and had the same problem with leg cramps on long drives, so I did your drivers seat mod (Thank You) with a few slight changes. Here's the steps with pictures...

1. Loosen the driver's seat rear bolts until they stick out about 3/4".

2. Remove the front seat bolts (Grade 7, see pic) and verify that you can tip the driver seat back about an inch or two.

3. Get 8 extra thick fender washers that have a hole larger than your bolt. A stack of 4 for each seat leg will give you 1/2" to 5/8" of lift.
Tape 4 of the washers together so they don't slide around (see pic) and fit the washer packs under the front seat legs (see pic).

6. Get two 10mm x 1.25mm x 40mm (Class 10.9 or Grade 8) bolts (see pic).
Install each bolt with a hardened steel washer and carefully pass it through the washer stack. You might have to move the seat around to get it to line up. I found that a small screwdriver through the seat leg hole would line up the bolt holes and washer stack.

7. Tighten the bolts back to the original specs. I had to use a breaker bar to loosen them, so I used it to tighten them. My guess is 60 to 70 ft lbs.

Now you have proper thigh support and a little more leg room for a much more comfortable ride.
Enjoy!
:icon_biggrin:

 

UPDATE:
Because raising the driver's seat legs also changes the pitch/angle of the entire seat, you may have to experiment with the number of washers/spacers used.
I changed mine from 4 washers to 3, which for me seems more comfortable.
Note: The over-sized fender washers are 1/8" thick.

 

Glad it worked out for you......

 

I'm giving this a shot. I'm only 6'1" but long rides are pain in my 14. For about 8 bucks in parts (and 6 for shipping) it's a no brainer for me.

 

RallyFOZ & betaone,

Thanks sooooooo much!

 

You're welcome! Glad to help!
:biggrin:

 

Just did this today and it totally transformed the seat, thank you! I could only fit 3 1/16" fender washers without enlarging the hole in the seat frame to get everything to line up but its enough to make a material difference. I used 1/2" ID x 1.5" OD washers and bolts from fastenal.

 

Interesting…...great minds think alike!
I did exactly the same thing to the drivers seat in my Forester right after buying it in July. Much more comfortable now, it is like sitting in the seat rather than on it.

 

I assume you are all happy still with this mod?

Is grade 8.8 sufficient, I'am having a very hard time to locate these bolts in the 10.9 grade

I have a 2014 XT leather, anyone modded their XT? I assume its the same.

 

I did it on my 2015 XT Touring and already i can feel the difference. Thank you for the tip.

 

I have had it for a few months as well, its the best and cheapest mod so far!

No I don't have to slide around when drifting during the winter

 

Are we talking about manually adjustable seats (back and forth) or electric adjustable seats? May be a dumb question, but thanks for responding.

 

Mine is electrical, but we mod the rails which I assume is about the same for both manual and electrical.

 

Why would you mod the electric seat since you can just adjust the front portion of the cushion up?

 

As people explained earlier in the thread, it still seems as though the front is still not high enough.

I will also do the same to my 14 in the near future.

BTW while you have to order ten, this http://www.mcmaster.com/#95735A641
looks like a perfect replacement.

 

.

 

Ah, I missed that.

For me, I'll just keep waiting for that day I can afford a car with proper Recaro seats.

 

as you can see on the photos on the 1st page, added washers raises the seat legs from the floor. as a result, the only contact point of the legs to the floor is the anchor point of the bolt through the washers. which is a safety issue b/c you have completely voided out the horizontal support in a side impact. what you have done is essentially put the seat on stilts.

those legs need to have full contact on the floor. the bolts hold the legs (the entire foot print of the legs) against the floor. with these spacers, the only contact are the spacers.

i would strongly advise against people doing this modification

 

In addition to reducing the contact area of the front legs of the seat, it stresses the rear legs by putting more tension on the rear leg fasteners. It could potentially interfere with air bag deployment as well by changing the angle of your torso. That being the case I did raise my seat 1/8 ", and made a world of difference. I'm still concerned about the tension on the rear legs of the seat, so may reduce that to a 1/16.

 

Anyone else have a raging hard time putting all 4 bolts back in after placing the washers ?

I spent about 2 hours doing this today and can only get 3 in because I can't get the final bolt to line up.