In recent years, Toyota has consistently been awarded high marks by J D Power and Associates for their seating. These awards have been based more on rated quality of the seats (as objects) than these seats' quality at cradling the riders. In fact, the stock Toyota seats are common objects of complaint among Taco owners. As a result, there are often questions about installing alternative seats in Tacos.

This file documents some information about aftermarket seat installation options and issues, based on experiences and products documented on the Web. This is not a FAQ about the seats themselves - it is a summary set of pointers to info on installations and install-related data.

NOTE: For information about mounting seats from other vehicles into your Tacoma, see the related tech article Seat Installations I.

Some Basics / Background

If you want to install new aftermarket seats, you'll face more problems with the mounts / brackets / sliders and the installation procedure than with the seat selection itself. Some aftermarket seat manufacturers (e.g., Sparco, Recaro) offer mounting brackets for installing their products in a variety of vehicle models. However, Toyota Tacomas are not one of the more commonly-offered models. This means that installing aftermarket seats can involve as much improvisation as transplanting seats from other vehicles.

A lot of confusion relates to exactly what mounting hardware is necessary. Here are some basic facts you need to know...

What stock mounting hardware is used in Tacomas?

Stock Toyota truck seat mounts typically are made up of two individual pieces which jointly serve as both (a) the base connecting the seat assembly to the floor and (b) the adjustable sliding tracks that permit the seats to be moved forward and backward. These pieces are usually separate (left and right for a given seat), and they may not be interconnected except by the structure of the seat itself.

Selecting and obtaining the seats is the easy part... Getting them mounted into your truck is the part that'll have you tearing your hair out. There are countless postings in car and truck forums illustrating how owners screwed themselves by not giving proper consideration to installation matters when acquiring cool new seats.

Another factor is cost. To completely replace your Toyota factory mounting hardware will require a base and sliders. Depending on the manufacturer and vendor, this can run you anywhere from around $80 to $200 per seat. For lower- and mid-range seats, the cost of installation hardware can become a sizeable portion of the overall price. Do your homework up front, and you won't get blindsided...

No, there's not.

There are 2 different ways in which most aftermarket street seats are designed to be attached to their mounts. The more common type for street-style seats is a bottom mount arrangement. This means that the seat's underside is designed to attach to a bracket or slider below. The other type is a side mount arrangement, in which the seat is supposed to attach to mounting brackets on either side of the seat frame. Side mounts are mainly used for racing-style seats with a rigid shell.

In general, if you want the seats to slide forward and backward, you will want a bottom mount arrangement. Either bottom mounts or side mounts can be used if you want a static seat position (no sliding). Side mounts are pretty much limited to static seat positioning.

You will need to be clear about the mounting arrangement that your new seats are designed for. Usually, aftermarket seats are designed for either side or bottom mounting. There are rare examples (of racing-style seats or shells) where you can use either a side or bottom mount.

These are not the only mounting arrangements that you may encounter. For serious off-road purposes, there are some seats which are designed to be mounted using a suspension pedestal or even a rigid platform attached to the cab wall or a roll cage.

The mounting hardware offered by aftermarket suppliers can vary. In most cases, however, there will be two distinct pieces or units available to replace the functionality of the stock Toyota mounts:

Base / Bracket

When someone refers to a 'base', 'bracket', or 'mounting bracket', they usually mean a rigid metal frame that bolts to the vehicle floor and provides a foundation onto which the seat is itself fastened. In other words, the 'bracket' is usually just the fixed 'stand' onto which a seat can be attached. By itself, a 'bracket' doesn't necessarily give you the ability to slide the seat backward and forward. The most common brackets are rectangular metal frames with bolt holes configured to match the vehicle's interior mounting scheme.

NOTE:Tacoma aftermarket brackets are of the 'tabbed' variety. This means that the bolt holes are in the ends of 'tabs' extending from the main part of the bracket assembly. In most cases, aftermarket brackets are single pieces that replace the separate base elements that make up the stock Tacoma seat mounts.

Slider
When someone refers to a 'slider', they usually mean a separate frame or structure that sits between the seat base and the seat. The slider has tracks permitting movement - allowing the seat to go backward and forward relative to the base. By itself, a 'slider' doesn't give you the ability to attach the seat to the floor. By the same token, the slider has to fit onto the base and the seat.

You should be careful to figure out whether you want / need 'brackets', 'sliders', or both. In some cases, sliders aren't an option, because the manufacturer has designed its seats for fixed positioning. In some cases, sliders and brackets are combined and sold as single retail items. In some cases, retailers only list brackets and never mention sliders (or vice versa). Even the manufacturers themselves contribute to the confusion. Some of their websites list both brackets and sliders together, while others hide one or the other (almost always the sliders) under a separate 'Accessories' category.

There's no such thing as a single truly 'universal' mount! There are multiple kinds of brackets (e.g., 'flat' versus 'tabbed'), and no single bracket can be expected to work for all vehicles. The Toyota Tacoma floor is uniquely contoured, and 'universal brackets' are not likely to work without significant modification or fabbing. 'Universal' sliders will have to fit both the seat and the mounting bracket, so they are another component that may need to be modified to get the install done. Finally, different manufacturers' seats vary in their bottom structure and mounting points. This means that whatever you're fastening to them (whether bracket or slider) may not always fit.

There may be a slider or a bracket that is 'universal' for a specific set of seats from a specific manufacturer (or a group of manufacturers all of whose seats are closely similar), but nothing that's 'universal' for all vehicles. Separate sliders can be 'universal' only within the limits of particular seats and / or brackets. Furthermore, there's nothing that's 'universal' to all Toyota trucks. Cab bolt configurations are different for single bench seats versus the 60/40 split benches / buckets, and pre-Tacos are different from Tacos.

In other words, the only thing guaranteed to be 'universal' is the hassle involved in mixing 'n' matching bases, sliders, and so forth to get your particular seats in your specific truck.

Naturally, the only way to assure 'universal installations' is to fab the mounts yourself. Unless you are comfortable with DIY surgery, you may want to check with a specialty shop to see if they can fabricate something to save you time and hassle. Some alternatives are:


• Wedge Engineering in Long Beach CA (http://wedgeengineering.net) specializes in fabricating seat brackets.

• Speedware Motorsports in Redmond WA (http://www.speedwaremotorsports.com) does custom installations, and they offer custom bracket fabrication services.

• Your friendly local metal fabrication shop can probably make or modify brackets to serve your needs.

Installing New Aftermarket Seats

The remainder of this tech article offers pointers to info on installing new aftermarket seats. There are many manufacturers and brand names of aftermarket seats, ranging from mass market knock-offs to high-end ergonomic and professional racing models. The listings will be limited to information on known installations and pointers to install-related resources offered by the best-known manufacturers. The entries are listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer name.

Beard Seats

Beard (a subsidiary of Redart) makes suspension seats that are popular with hardcore off-roaders. As such, their seats are more or less a distinct species from the usual racing and / or sports seats on the market.

Beard has recently introduced a line of Toyota mounting kits as follows:

• Toyota '84-'88 Std Cab Kit
• Toyota '89-'95 Std Cab Kit
• Toyota '95-'02 Tacoma Std. & Crew cab

Because the Beard seats are designed for rough off-road duty, they are not as adjustable as other seats. On the other hand, their bucket designs are roomier than the racing-style buckets offered by others. Because these are suspension seats, you need to know that they tend to mount 'taller' than sport or racing seats (i.e., you'll probably be sitting higher than in your stock seats). Though they originally designed for fixed installation, Beard now offers sliders for their seats.

NOTE: These suspension seats' mounting arrangements are quite distinct from the usual mounts. You may need to do some advance research to make sure what's involved.

Beard Install (Custom-Built)

http://www.fourwheeler.com/projectbuild/129_0211_priz/

This is a Four Wheeler Magazine writeup on the installation of custom Beard buckets into their 40th Anniversary Tacoma Double Cab. It provides some photos and some brief comments.

Beard install (Super-Style Racing Model)

http://www.jordansrealm.com/121212beard.htm

This is a pretty good overview (with photos) of what's necessary to install the Beard Super Styles in a Tacoma XtraCab. It was compiled by the Taco's owner.

Corbeau Seats

Corbeau makes a series of street and racing bucket seats. Corbeau is one of the few manufacturers to offer factory mounting hardware for installing them in Toyota trucks.

The Corbeau Master Bracket Guide lists the following brackets for Toyota pickups:

PICKUP 76-78

Driver = D362T / Passenger = D363T

PICKUP 79-83

Driver = C22028 / Passenger = C22028

PICKUP 84-88

Driver = C22023L / Passenger = C22023R

PICKUP 89-95 (BENCH)

Driver = D952T / Passenger = D953T

PICKUP 89-95 (BUCKET)

Driver = C22046L / Passenger = C22046R

TACOMA (BENCH 60/40) 95+

Driver = E1104T / Passenger = E1105T

TACOMA (BENCH) 95+

Driver = D1102T / Passenger = D1103T

Corbeau Seat Install (A4's)

http://www.CustomTacos.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=231408

ToyComa gives some basics on his install of Corbeau A4's in a Regular Cab.

'eBay' Racing-Style Seats

This is admittedly a 'catch-all' category. A variety of sellers are offering multiple different kinds of 'racing seats' on eBay. These are no-brand-name seats, and it's anybody's guess who made them or how good they are. Some of these offerings carry 'TRD' emblems or stitch-ons, even though it's pretty obvious Toyota Racing Development had nothing to do with their design or manufacture.

If you prowl through enough of the listings, it becomes apparent that there is some duplication among the seats. They appear to have a 'family resemblance' to branded seats offered by (e.g.) APC and other retailers, but it's impossible to pin down a firm ID.

Some of these seats are offered with 'universal brackets' or 'universal sliders'. Buyer beware - as mentioned above, there's no such thing. You'll be needing to do some form of improvisation / fabbing / modding to get these seats into your truck.

eBay 'TRD' Seat Install (Tacoma Territory, Oct. 2004)

http://forums.delphiforums.com/tacomaterritory/messages?msg=119611.16

Tacoma Territory subscriber toyotanas wrote:

... I purchased them off Ebay and thought I was up shit creek without a paddle. Well I managed to modify a seat bracket for the corbeau seats, which I bought off truckperformance.com. When I got the bracket which fits in the original holes perfectly I just had to drill 4 new holes and I was good to go because the seat came with universal sliders. ...

Notice that toyotanas ended up buying Corbeau seat brackets to modify for his installation.

König Seats

NOTE:Technically, the name is 'König'. You'll often find them cited as 'Konig' or 'Koenig'. They apparently gave up and use the Anglicized spelling for their U.S. subsidiary's title.

Koenig USA is the North American retail representative for this European manufacturer of high-quality racing and ergonomic seats. If you're interested in sophisticated ergonomic seating, König is the only real competition Recaro has in that market segment.

Information on König seat installation requirements is sparse on the Web. It is clear, however, that installation involves one or two items per seat:

• A König seat adapter (base / bracket) for the given vehicle (required)
• A König slider unit (optional)

Koenig USA doesn't offer a listing of available brackets on their website. In a summer 2004 telephone contact, Koenig USA advised me they do have a stock adapter for the 1995 - 2004 Tacomas.

MasterCraft Seats

MasterCraft makes a series of serious racing bucket seats. They are highly regarded in some circles, but they're not commonly mentioned as candidates for installation in Toyota trucks. MasterCraft's own website is very limited, and it's not a good source of data on their products. You can find out more by prowling vendor sites.

Once such vendor - Macromotive - lists the following mounting apparatus for 2000 - 2002 Tacomas:

• #6310Dr = Driver Side mounting kit
• #6310Pass = Passenger Side mounting kit
• #6030 = Seat Slider (required for each seat)

NOTE: No, I don't know for sure whether these are MasterCraft's own model numbers.

NOTE: This listing for '2000 - 2002' Tacomas was the only confirmed Toyota truck mounting hardware I could locate. I don't know for sure what MasterCraft may offer for other Toyota truck models / years.

MOMO Seats

MOMO USA offers a series of racing-style bucket seats. However, the only mounting hardware they offer are 'base slides' (sliders). These slides are not vehicle-specific, so it would appear they are to be grafted onto an existing or fabricated base or bracket during installation.

I've seen isolated references to MOMO seats being considered for installation into Tacomas, but no hard evidence of it having been done.

Recaro Seats

Recaro is perhaps the most prestigious name in vehicle seating, offering both racing and ergonomic products. Information on these products can be obtained at their North American subsidiary and their Main (German) websites.

Information on Recaro seat installation requirements is sparse on the Web. There are isolated photos of Recaro seats installed in Toyota pickups / Tacomas, but I've been unable to find any detailed write-ups on the installation procedures used. There are, however, detailed write-ups to be found on the Web in forums dedicated to other makes of cars such as BMW and VW.

Installing Recaro seats involves one or two items per seat:

• A mounting bracket for the given vehicle (required)
• A Recaro slider unit (optional)

Recaro themselves only offer the following brackets / bases for Toyota (pre-Taco) trucks:

Pickup 2-4 WD Bucket 84 - 88

Driver = 1.44.3 / Passenger = 2.44.3

Pickup 4 WD Extended Cab Bench and Bucket 89 - 94

Driver = 1.90.3 / Passenger = 2.90.3

Pickup 2WD Bucket or Bucket 89 - 94

Driver = 1.90.3 / Passenger = 2.90.3

In late summer 2004 I called Recaro Customer Service to ask about brackets for installing Recaros into a 2004 Tacoma. They referred me to Wedge Engineering. Wedge was able to get me the bracket in one week (using their 'rush order' option).

Recaro offers two types of sliders. One is a fixed / basic model. For not that much more, you can get a 'height-adjustable' model. This one has three different sets of mounting holes you can use to vary the height of the slider when you attach it to the base / bracket.

Sparco Seats

Sparco makes a series of racing-style bucket seats, and they're one of the few manufacturers to offer the mounting hardware for installing them in our trucks.

Toyota pickups and Tacomas require a 'tabbed' mounting base - one that is suspended on vertical or angled 'tab' feet. Mounting Sparco seats requires 4 items per seat:

• A Sparco base unit (in our case, a 500-series base)
• A Sparco 500 series adapter (for fitting)
• A Sparco slider unit (Sparco part number 00493)
• A Sparco hardware kit (part number 50001), or equivalent

NOTE: There have been some complaints that the number of separate components involved in Sparco's mounting scheme leads to higher retail costs for using their seats. Be careful to take this into consideration...

Of these, it is the base unit which is model-specific. As of October 2004, Sparco listed the following base units for sale:

• 500622 BASE TOYOTA PICKUP 84-88 L
• 500623 BASE TOYOTA PICKUP 84-88 R
• 500972 BASE TOYOTA PICKUP 89-94 L
• 500973 BASE TOYOTA PICKUP 89-94 R
• 5001102 BASE TOYOTA TACOMA L BENCH
• 5001103 BASE TOYOTA TACOMA R BENCH
• 5001104 BASE TOYOTA TACOMA L OEM BUCKET
• 5001105 BASE TOYOTA TACOMA R OEM BUCKET

Sparco offers a PDF file with tabbed base seat installation instructions (including a diagram of the mounting apparatus) at:

http://www.sparcousa.com/SparcoTabbedBaseSeatInstructions.pdf

Sparco Seat Install

http://www.deepstaged.net/Sparco.htm

This is a summary description of the process for installing Sparco buckets to replace a bench seat in a Regular Cab Tacoma (exact model year unknown). Hot links lead to photos for many of the steps.

Speedware Motorsports Brackets

Speedware Motorsports of Redmond WA is a retail representative for both Recaro and Sparco seats. They offer a full line of Recaro and Sparco factory mounting hardware. Their mounting hardware offerings can be reviewed at http://www.speedwaremotorsports.com/seat/hardware.asp.

Speedware offers their own aluminum seat side mounts for all Recaro and Sparco side mount race seats. Speedware's own seat side mounts have more side and bottom adjustments than any other side mount option, and they're available in four colors.

In addition, Speedware offers custom seat installations and custom seat mounting hardware. They claim, Our engineers can design and fabricate any type of seat bracket for any type of vehicle to insure your custom seat is a perfect fit.

Tenzo (Tenzo-R) Seats

Tenzo Racing Sports manufactures a line of racing-style seats. These are usually referred to by the names 'Tenzo' or 'Tenzo-R'.

They offer custom brackets and sliders for installing their products. These items must be purchased separately, and Tenzo claims they're available 'for most cars'. However, I found no trace of any Tenzo brackets being available for Toyota trucks. If you want to install Tenzo seats, you're probably looking at fabrication to attach Tenzo's 'universal sliders' onto either your (modified) stock mounts or a third-party Toyota truck base (e.g., Wedge, Sparco, Corbeau...).

NOTE: The Tenzo brackets illustrated at vendors' sites look suspiciously like Wedge Engineering or maybe Corbeau products. I don't know one way or the other, but I suspect one of these other companies makes the brackets for Tenzo.

I've found isolated references to Tenzo seats having been installed in Toyota pickups / Tacomas, but no substanital information on the installations.

Wedge Engineering Brackets

Wedge Engineering of Long Beach, CA has decades of experience in designing and fabricating seat mounting brackets for OEM and aftermarket installations. When I called Recaro and asked for a bracket application (2004 Tacoma) they couldn't handle, they referred me to Wedge. Wedge offers a full line of brackets designed to fit Toyota pickups / Tacomas. If your application is peculiar, Wedge can also custom fabricate brackets for your project.

As of October 2004 (Wedge's 2002 bracket listing), Wedge offers the following model numbers / brackets for our trucks:

76 - + PICKUP

Driver = 362 / Passenger = 363

79 - 83 PICKUP

Driver = 378 / Passenger = 379

84 - 88 PICKUP

Driver = 622 / Passenger = 623

89 - 95 PICKUP

Driver = 952 / Passenger = 953

89 - 94 PICKUP

Driver = 972 / Passenger = 973

95 - 99 TACOMA OEM BENCH

Driver = 1102 / Passenger = 1103

95 - 99 TACOMA OEM 60-40 SPLIT BENCH & BUCKETS

Driver = 1104 / Passenger = 1105

NOTE: If you compare the listings here, you'll see that many of the manufacturers' model numbers follow the Wedge Engineering numbering scheme. I don't know whether this means that Wedge makes their brackets for them, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.