Tall Maxima Driver
05-04-2003, 07:13 PM
#1
Newbie - Just Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 4
Tall Maxima Driver
I am 6'-6". When I drive my wife's 1998 Maxima, of course the legs are not very comfortable. Has anybody seen or heard of a way to move the seat back more than the stock position? Does anybody make extended seat rails? I do not know whether it is a standard item on the Maxima, or not, but I have a power driver's seat.
(Thank goodness for the sunroof...).
05-04-2003, 07:40 PM
#3
slackass
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 227
yeah im shooting on 6'5 and im barely fitting. Trust me I know how you feel. I thought about the possibility of lowering the seat past where it is. eg- finding a different nissan seat that has a thinner seat part. If you find something let me know.
05-04-2003, 08:16 PM
#8
I'm 6'1 and I think that the maxima is a comfortable fix. Now I drove a friends civic last week, and WE ARE LUCKY AS HELL. I had the seat all the way back and my knees at my chest, and my knees were still rubbing on the bottom of the steering wheel. Slow and small? I'm glad I have a maxima.
-payne-
-payne-
05-05-2003, 08:03 AM
#15
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 41
6'3" checking in - interested to hear if anyone is going to actually re-position their seats.
What I don't care for in the Max is that when I have my steering wheel adjusted just the way I like it, I really have a hard time getting out of the vehicle - I guess I miss my old GM steering wheel tilt adjuster (now that thing was easy to operate).
Also, is anybody else close to wearing a permanent elbow dimple onto the driver side door (left) arm rest? Thinking about putting some padding there (if I can every find something suitable).
What I don't care for in the Max is that when I have my steering wheel adjusted just the way I like it, I really have a hard time getting out of the vehicle - I guess I miss my old GM steering wheel tilt adjuster (now that thing was easy to operate).
Also, is anybody else close to wearing a permanent elbow dimple onto the driver side door (left) arm rest? Thinking about putting some padding there (if I can every find something suitable).
05-05-2003, 08:14 AM
#16
U wanna try me young boy?
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 1,024
I made seat-lowering brackets for my max. I'm nearly 6'3" and my head would always rub the ceiling. I removed the seat to study the seat mounts and figured out that rear mounts that drop the seat back by 2" could easily be fabricated.
I drilled out the rivets holding the old brackets in place and used them as a template to fab up replacement brackets. I needed to use my grinder/welder and drill, plus about 3 hours of test fitting and tweaking the brackets. The most difficult bit was making sure that the brackets and the bolts holding the brackets did not interfere with the track so the seat could still move forwards/backwards fully.
The whole project cost be about $2.99 in 1/8 steel stock, cut/welded and painted with black rust-prenventative paint. Nobody can tell the brackets are not stock (unless you are looking under the seat) and the result is amazing. My head no longer touches the ceiling, even when I adjust the seat so my upper body if the ideal distance from the steering wheel... If my wife wants to drive the car she just raises the seat base using the regular controls. It looks weird that the driver's seat is 2" lower than the passenger, but it's worth it to me.
If there's any interest, I can get pics of the old and new brackets.
I drilled out the rivets holding the old brackets in place and used them as a template to fab up replacement brackets. I needed to use my grinder/welder and drill, plus about 3 hours of test fitting and tweaking the brackets. The most difficult bit was making sure that the brackets and the bolts holding the brackets did not interfere with the track so the seat could still move forwards/backwards fully.
The whole project cost be about $2.99 in 1/8 steel stock, cut/welded and painted with black rust-prenventative paint. Nobody can tell the brackets are not stock (unless you are looking under the seat) and the result is amazing. My head no longer touches the ceiling, even when I adjust the seat so my upper body if the ideal distance from the steering wheel... If my wife wants to drive the car she just raises the seat base using the regular controls. It looks weird that the driver's seat is 2" lower than the passenger, but it's worth it to me.
If there's any interest, I can get pics of the old and new brackets.
05-09-2003, 05:54 AM
#25
U wanna try me young boy?
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 1,024
Here's pics of the new brackets at the back of the driver's seat rails. Compare these with your own.
Left Side This bracket was very simple. The original bracket raises this 2" so the new bracket I made just had to be straight. I used two pieces og angle iron (L-shaped) wleded together to form a U. then I ground down the vertical parts fo the U so that it still had the strength of the U-shape, but didn't interfere with the chair moving on the track. You can see where I kept 'tweaking'.
Right Side This was more complex because the original bracket was straight so I had to make one that lowered the track 2". Same basic constrauction as before, a very shallow U-shape. I extended one of the sides of the U shape right where the bolt hole needed to be.
Bolt Heads The heads of the bolt have to be VERY low profile so they don't interfere with the seat movement. I used a bolt with a rounded head, then a nut and spring washer on the other side. These have stayed solid now for 2 years. Any normal nut or boltehead on the top here would not allow the seat to move back all the way unless you use a grinder to grind it down.
Full With the seat moved all the way forward this is what is looks like. The bolthead show up waaay to much in this pic because of the flash - normally you don't see them. Plus, when the seat is all the way back in the track you cannot see the brackets anyways.
Left Side This bracket was very simple. The original bracket raises this 2" so the new bracket I made just had to be straight. I used two pieces og angle iron (L-shaped) wleded together to form a U. then I ground down the vertical parts fo the U so that it still had the strength of the U-shape, but didn't interfere with the chair moving on the track. You can see where I kept 'tweaking'.
Right Side This was more complex because the original bracket was straight so I had to make one that lowered the track 2". Same basic constrauction as before, a very shallow U-shape. I extended one of the sides of the U shape right where the bolt hole needed to be.
Bolt Heads The heads of the bolt have to be VERY low profile so they don't interfere with the seat movement. I used a bolt with a rounded head, then a nut and spring washer on the other side. These have stayed solid now for 2 years. Any normal nut or boltehead on the top here would not allow the seat to move back all the way unless you use a grinder to grind it down.
Full With the seat moved all the way forward this is what is looks like. The bolthead show up waaay to much in this pic because of the flash - normally you don't see them. Plus, when the seat is all the way back in the track you cannot see the brackets anyways.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
jchronis2552
4th Generation Classifieds (1995-1999)
0
08-13-2015 07:48 AM
erniel
7th Generation Maxima (2009-2015)
1
08-08-2015 09:32 AM
BassAddictJ
7th Generation Maxima (2009-2015)
5
08-04-2015 11:38 AM