Big Blue's Seat Platform

[ArdWrknTrk]

Bill - I'm hoping that the way I'm doing this will work for everyone. For instance, I'm measuring seat height and angle off the door sill that should be the same for all trucks. However, I do need to take a pic and show how I'm measuring so everyone can do the same.

But I've been thinking about the seat height & angle and have come to two conclusions that I want to bounce off of all y'all:

• Height: I can raise the seat using spacers, but cannot lower it.

• Angle: I can also change the seat angle with spacers. But raising the rear of the seat to decrease the angle will also raise the seat.

Given that, I've reconsidered how I want to position the angle iron I use. Instead of going with the arrangement shown in the pic on the left, which raises the seat by the width of the flange on the angle, I want to go with the arrangement on the right. That puts the seat track at essentially the same height as the top of the bench seat mount and gives me room to use spacers. (However, I'll flip the angle on the ends so that the vertical piece goes up rather than down in order to give a closed look to the platform.)

You might think that using spacers is a bad idea as the seat tracks need to be supported the whole way. However, Ford didn't support the tracks the whole way. For instance, the 90's seat pan that is in Big Blue at present only supports the tracks about 1/3 of the way as they mount onto raised spots on the pan. So I think it will be fine to use spacers between the fore/aft angles and the seat tracks in order to get the angle I'm looking for.

And speaking of spacers and angles, the math to determine the height of the spacer, aka "opposite side" in trig speak, is the tangent of the angle times the length of the adjacent side. In this case the angle is 8 degrees and the adjacent side is the distance between the two bolts holding the track on, and that is 12.75". So the spacer in the rear would have to be 1.79" tall to tilt the seat forward 8 degrees.

But the seatback is 30" tall and tilting it forward 8 degrees would move the top of the seatback forward 4.2", and that's a lot. I think I'd be happy tilting it forward half that as it would allow the seat to go back about that far w/o the top of the seat hitting the rear window. So maybe I need a 7/8" spacer?

Anyone see a problem with this approach?

I'm posting to subscribe to this latest modification of the "done" truck.

If I had any question about enough support for the tracks I'd probably use 1" box tube and notch for the flanges, at the top in front and the bottom at the rear.

That would give you about 7/8 above the frame at the back and leave you flush in front.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm posting to subscribe to this latest modification of the "done" truck.

If I had any question about enough support for the tracks I'd probably use 1" box tube and notch for the flanges, at the top in front and the bottom at the rear.

That would give you about 7/8 above the frame at the back and leave you flush in front.

Jim - I like that idea, assuming I understand it. I think I would mill a piece of 1” square tubing so it is full height at the rear and just the thickness of the wall at the front. Right?

I actually have wedges from Ford that do effectively that, but the other way ‘round so they tilt the seat back more instead of less. And for some reason that I don’t remember it doesn’t seem like they are easily reversible.

Anyway, I’m at the airport picking up the grandkids awa their parents. They’ll be here a week and then we are traveling for Christmas, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to do more on this. But please keep the ideas coming and I’ll be trying to figure out how to do it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - I like that idea, assuming I understand it. I think I would mill a piece of 1” square tubing so it is full height at the rear and just the thickness of the wall at the front. Right?

I actually have wedges from Ford that do effectively that, but the other way ‘round so they tilt the seat back more instead of less. And for some reason that I don’t remember it doesn’t seem like they are easily reversible.

Anyway, I’m at the airport picking up the grandkids awa their parents. They’ll be here a week and then we are traveling for Christmas, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to do more on this. But please keep the ideas coming and I’ll be trying to figure out how to do it.

I don't have a mill, but I think I would cut away the box by the depth and thickness of the angle so there are three sides to weld at the front and six at the rear.

If I was feeling extra crafty I would probably angle the front, fold the bottom up and weld it closed so there are no sharp edges.

I can't do much of a sketch with my phone but perhaps I can put my visualization to paper and post a pic.

Enjoy the holidays with your family! 🦃🎄

[BigBrother-84]

They’ll be here a week and then we are traveling for Christmas

Enjoy these precious moments!

Captain seats' angle can wait.

 

[Gary Lewis]

They’ll be here a week and then we are traveling for Christmas

Enjoy these precious moments!

Captain seats' angle can wait.

Jim - Please try to draw it up and post a pic ‘cause I’m not getting it.

As for the family, guys, we are already having fun! My grandson is reading a book that was mine about submarines and we just had a conversation about the propulsion systems therein. Loved it!

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - Please try to draw it up and post a pic ‘cause I’m not getting it.

As for the family, guys, we are already having fun! My grandson is reading a book that was mine about submarines and we just had a conversation about the propulsion systems therein. Loved it!

Doing some more thinking about the seat platform. In this snippet it shows that from the center of the front axle to the "hip" point with the seat fully back the measurement is 61.26". I'm not sure that it is safe to assume that the measurement will work on Big Blue due to his SAS/RSK work, but I'll measure on Dad's truck to some spot and do the same on BB to see if it is the same. However, for most people that should be a good measurement.

Next, I'd really would like to know where the "hip" point is. And in spite of the "Do not scale" on the drawing above I did some on-screen measurement and it looks like the center of the circle to the back of the seat is ~1/3 of the distance shown as "5.51" so I'm going to call it 2".

Next round I hope to take pics to show how I'm measuring and include them here.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - Please try to draw it up and post a pic ‘cause I’m not getting it.

As for the family, guys, we are already having fun! My grandson is reading a book that was mine about submarines and we just had a conversation about the propulsion systems therein. Loved it!

Gary, what size is the bed angle you're making your seat platform from?

1 1/2" 1 1/2 x 1/8"?

I've got a minute while waiting for a 7/16-14 tap to arrive and think I should follow through with that sketch/section in scale.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, what size is the bed angle you're making your seat platform from?

1 1/2" 1 1/2 x 1/8"?

I've got a minute while waiting for a 7/16-14 tap to arrive and think I should follow through with that sketch/section in scale.

The sketch would be helpful, but there’s no hurry. Our daughter and family left early this morning and we are packing to leave on Thursday for Florida, so I won’t get much done before year-end. But I still would like to understand your idea.

As for the angle, I’m out and about so can’t measure at the moment. But I think one of the bed rails I have is 1 1/2 x 2” and the other is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2. However, I may buy new angle to make this - I haven’t decided.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The sketch would be helpful, but there’s no hurry. Our daughter and family left early this morning and we are packing to leave on Thursday for Florida, so I won’t get much done before year-end. But I still would like to understand your idea.

As for the angle, I’m out and about so can’t measure at the moment. But I think one of the bed rails I have is 1 1/2 x 2” and the other is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2. However, I may buy new angle to make this - I haven’t decided.

Yes, I understand that you are very busy with family during the holidays.

I was glad to spend some time with my brother, his boys and new dog over Thanksgiving.

New stock is nice but old bed frames are mankind's greatest gift to the hobbyist weldor. 😉

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I understand that you are very busy with family during the holidays.

I was glad to spend some time with my brother, his boys and new dog over Thanksgiving.

New stock is nice but old bed frames are mankind's greatest gift to the hobbyist weldor. 😉

I got Blue, the 2015 F150, loaded with a roll-top desk, bicycle, set of dishes, tote full of memorabilia, etc. And that went so quickly that I had time to do some measuring in the shop. I hope to get back out there tomorrow and actually compile a table of the measurements, but I thought I'd get some of the how-to pics posted.

But first, yes the bed rails I have are one at 1 1/2 x 1 1/2" and one at 1 1/2 x 2". Obviously not a matched set but quite workable. And quite sturdy.

In the first pair of pics I'm showing how I'm measuring the seat angle by using the door sill as a reference. It appears to be parallel to the top of the frame, which is what Ford referenced in the illustration, but the door sill is a lot easier to get to than the top of the frame. Big Blue's door sill is dead on level, and the seat bottom is pitched back 14 degrees, which is obviously a lot more than the 8 degrees the book calls for.

And in the second pair of pics you can see how I measured seat height, again using the door sill as a reference. But unlike a bench seat the captain's chairs have bolsters so you have to subtract the height of the bolster over that of the seat bottom, as shown in the pic on the right.

Before I build the base I'm going to put the bench seat back in Big Blue and measure it as well since I'd like to get the seating position of the captain's chairs as close to that of the bench seat as is possible. Anyway, I wanted to record how I'm measuring so I can get back to it and others can as well.