When is 25% failure the same as a full-fledged, full-on 100% failure? It's when one of four seats fails to be comfortable, and that one seat happens to be the driver's seat.
The rear seats and the front passenger's seat on my 2004 Toyota 4Runner are decent and functional. The driver's seat has a factory-equipped adjustable lumbar support. Unfortunately, that lumbar support feels like a slab of oak even when it's adjusted to full soft.
On top of the built-in discomfort of the driver's seat, the stock seats don't contain the occupants as well as they should for backcountry driving. We're not talking about the same kind of containment needed for desert racing or competition rockcrawling. We're talking about the kind of containment that holds you in place well enough to avoid fatigue after a long day of exploring.
To this end, the 4Runner will benefit from a quartet of Mastercraft seats. Baja RS seats will go up front, and Sportsman seats will make up the second row. Since this story is ultimately destined for print, the full can of beans won't be spilled here. Instead, the highlights will be touched on.
The real story for the blog chronicles is the fabrication of custom mounts. Mastercraft offers seat mounts for many vehicle applications, most notably Jeep Wranglers and Ford Rangers. A mount for the 2004 4Runner wasn't in the lineup, so some custom fabrication needs to be done.
The process begins with removing the stock seats. The custom mounts will be fabricated to bolt into the stock seat mounting points, since that's where the needed structural support was engineered into the vehicle.
After the stock seats are set aside, the Mastercrafts are set into place to check their fit inside the 4Runner. In this case, it's important to mount the seats low enough to maintain headroom, something that's less of a concern with full sized trucks and SUV's.
Yes, the lack of photos is a drag at this point. Photos will be snapped of tomorrow's work session and subsequently posted up.