Chevy & GMC Vans

I am interested in chopping a set of seat risers, to lower my front seats a bit. Anyone here done this one?

I think that fabbing a new set would be easier.

Did do that on a bench I had for the front seat a couple of years ago. Not sure how much I cut off the bottom but then welded tracks from another truck bench for adjustment.

Guess you could section the base on both sides or check out how seat is attached to base. Might cut from top and weld on new tabs for seat base if that's how it's attached. Never really looked to see how our seats are attached to metal base.
Good luck on looking LOW

Rebel wrote:Did do that on a bench I had for the front seat a couple of years ago. Not sure how much I cut off the bottom but then welded tracks from another truck bench for adjustment.

Guess you could section the base on both sides or check out how seat is attached to base. Might cut from top and weld on new tabs for seat base if that's how it's attached. Never really looked to see how our seats are attached to metal base.
Good luck on looking LOW

a bench in the stro or a truck? ive always thought my slt's rear bench would make a cool front seat, kinda like old caprices had.

GnarliSafari wrote:

Rebel wrote:Did do that on a bench I had for the front seat a couple of years ago. Not sure how much I cut off the bottom but then welded tracks from another truck bench for adjustment.

Guess you could section the base on both sides or check out how seat is attached to base. Might cut from top and weld on new tabs for seat base if that's how it's attached. Never really looked to see how our seats are attached to metal base.
Good luck on looking LOW

a bench in the stro or a truck? ive always thought my slt's rear bench would make a cool front seat, kinda like old caprices had.

I was torn whether to buy a cargo van, or a passenger van. Had I gone with a cargo van, I would have been VERY tempted to put in a split bench seat. With having kids and stuff, I opted for the passenger van. I haven't taken a tape measure to the seat risers, but I think that it could be done fairly easy.

I guess I would have been better off asking the question this way:

Has anyone put in "lower" seating in the front of their van, and how much drop is enough, but not too much? I think I could easily get away with 2", but any more than that may be too much.

My question is: are you so tall that the stock seat sits too high? The answer to your question is: Yes, I modified the seat bases so I could install aftermarket seats. I didn't lower them but when they were done they sat about an inch lower. Sectioning the seat bases would not be a real big deal.

Smiliesafari wrote:My question is: are you so tall that the stock seat sits too high? The answer to your question is: Yes, I modified the seat bases so I could install aftermarket seats. I didn't lower them but when they were done they sat about an inch lower. Sectioning the seat bases would not be a real big deal.

LOL...no...I don't think I am THAT tall, but...when I am sitting in the van, in a "normal" seating position, my head is less than 4" from the headliner, and my line of vision is pretty high up in the windshield. If I slide my butt forward and slouch down in the seat, my line of sight is where I feel more comfortable, but you can't drive that way. I feel the same way in my father-in-law's Chevy pickup, of similar vintage. I believe the GM ergonomic engineers must have been much shorter from the waist up than me, or for some reason really like having their line of sight way higher than I prefer.

I had driven a dropped S-10 for the past several years, and the factory seats were barely off the floor. I got kinda spoiled with the headroom that I felt that I had in it.

I measured the seat risers, and there's definitely enough room to chop 2 inches out of them, but there will be about a half an inch difference in the length of the section that I take out. Very do-able, but I would rather find a set of risers and rails from a donor. Looks like I shall be junk yardin' soon.

Anyone know the trick of getting the seats off the rails?

4" of headroom???? I'm lucky I have 1" of headroom!

CaptSquid wrote:4" of headroom???? I'm lucky I have 1" of headroom!

Actually, I believe that mine is closer to 3". My wife hates it when I drive her car, as I lower her seat as far as it will go, and she likes it up high.

If I only had 1", I would have already ripped the seats out of the van and lopped all but an inch out of the risers!

77bc wrote:...Anyone know the trick of getting the seats off the rails?

77bc, I recently swapped around the seats in my 89 due to wear on the driver's side cushion. There are four 13mm headed bolts that fasten the seat to the slider rails; one at each corner of the seat. You have to slide the seat full forward to get the rear bolts out, then full back to get at the front ones. Getting the bolt holes to line back up when re-installing the seats tests your patience a bit, though, but it's not a big deal. I did find it helpful to run a tap through the threads on the seat cushion just to clean things up.

do you have the power seats? i like sitting up high, which is why i drive vans and not cars in the first place, however i am a smidge over 6ft and know that with my seats maxed out when i pull up to a stop light i have to duck to see when it changes, so i played around with the controls and found a happy medium where im still not sitting on the floor like a car or s10, but im not sticking out the roof either. to me it seems losing 2 inches would make a much bigger difference than you would expect, sitting up high makes kinda makes up for the lack of leg room these things have.

No power seats. Just the basic seat risers, so I have no height adjustment.

I am gonna take some time, over the weekend, to yank out the driver's side seat, remove it from the rails, and mock up something to resemble the height I am looking for. Will determine if 2" is where I want to go or not.

From sliding down in the seat, I feel like 2" is where my eyes tell me I would prefer, but I don't know how my legs will like that. ;)

I understand why you want them lower. I felt the same way and of course the bench I had was taller than the buckets but even after swapping in buckets up front,,they even seem to tall. Maybe 2 to 3in. shorter would be about right.
Curious what you do to get them lower.

I found a set of astro risers at one of the local boneyards. Gonna pick them up tomorrow.

My buddy has electric seats in his astro and seems I can lower it enough. I found one at the local yard for $250, should have bought it. I have a longer torso, and the stock seats are way too high for me. (I can clean a strip of 3 inches at the top of the windshield and leave the rest of it dirty!)

Anxious to see what you come up. Thanks.