Unlimited4x4

It's in, and my wife's back is comfortable! I did it and it could not have been much easier. I took pictures. So I'm going to put a write up together for anyone else who wants to attempt it.

Shadetree43

Glad it worked for you. I'm in a similar situation with my wife and my 14 Mustang. Pax seat is not powered. Just looking for the right powered seat of base to buy and change out.

Unlimited4x4

So, sorry for those of you waiting for a write up on the new power seat install. But here it is:

So here is a picture of the seat. It came disassemble for shipping and was not difficult to put together.

I purchased the seat from this seller on EBAY. Fantastic service and willing to answer few questions.

beginfournier

The ebay seller marked the positive and negative power feeds very clearly for me:

He also included the plugs to splice in.

The first thing I did was test the seat motors. I rigged a quick setup using the battery from my trolling motor and some alligator clips. Don't start anything until you verify all the seat functions work. Then I pulled my seat. The seat is held in by four bolts. Once they are unscrewed, just disconnect the main wiring harness under the seat and remove the seat.
First I removed the plastic pieces from the seat. These are held in place by two screws. One towards the bottom rear and one at the front of the seat facing inside. I then started transferring the bottom cushion from my seat to the new frame. The bottom cushion is held on by plastic tabs that clip on a metal lip under the seat. Note how these are connected as you remove them. It really is very easy. I removed the bottom cushion and installed on the new frame. Also at this point you will need to remove the seat belt buckle from the old seat and install on the new frame. The seat belt buckle is held in place by a few bolts. Here is a picture of the process at this point, new seat on the left:

Next I started on the back seat cover/cushion. I unplugged all the connectors under my seat for the airbag. These are yellow. Then with the seat facing the ground so the bottom and back of the cushion/seat is pointed up, I undid the velcro pieces and clips holding the fabric in place. Then there is a piece of the cover held in place by a plastic lip. At this point you will see where the lumbar controls pass through this. I tried to remove the lumbar from the seat to pass it through the hole, but it proved too difficult. I just cut the hole so I could pass the fabric around the lumbar control. This had no effect on the re-assembly of the seat. Below is a photo showing the plastic tab and the cut. The white conduit is the lumbar.

The back seat cover is held in place by zippers and clips to the seat frame. You should see two zippers, one on the left and one on the right. Using a pair of needle nose pliers, slowly unzip the cushion. As you do so, you will see the metal clips hooked to the seat frame that help hold the seat cover in place.

Once you get the back unzipped, you need to remove the airbag. The airbag is held in place by two bolts on the inside of the seat frame. Remove these bolts. Unplug the airbag and remove. Reinstall the airbag on the new frame. After the seat cover is fully unzipped and the clips undone, the head rest guides need to be removed. The are the plastic inserts at the top of the seat that the head rest rods insert into. If you peel back the seat cover, you will see these are held in by tabs. Compress these while pulling up and they should slide right. At this point you can remove the cover and the cushion as one piece and place it in the new seat frame. Here is a pic of it back cushion removed:

From this point just work backwards, re-attaching the metal clips as you zip of the cover.
Here the new seat frame recovered.

From here you will have to install the plastic pieces and switch. All these items snap into place and held in by screws.



From here I installed the plug provided by the seller and spliced it into the power wires marked on the seat. I ran wiring with an inline fuse from the battery to the drivers side of the compartment. I passed the wire through a grommet in the fire wall and then ran the wires under the carpet and through the left channel under the plastic step piece on the drivers side. The plastic cover simple removes with a pull. Its clipped in place.

Seat works great, no issues with the airbag.
I really hope this helps someone. I was very discourage by the responses of the dealers and local specialty shops, which told me it could not be done and to trade the truck in. Took me about 6 hours beginning to end, but I was being cautious. I think I could do it in three now having done it once. Good luck and please contact me through this thread or the IM function of the forum with questions.

Watch for the next article....installing power pedals!

robdom75

Long time reader, first time poster...I am 6'5" and 225lbs and have discovered that the driver seat bottom cushion in my 2014 F150 Lariat is about 2" shorter than what I am used to. The front edge of the seat should sit just behind your knee pit,however, as you can see in the photo, there is a good 4-5" gap from the front edge of the seat to where my knee pit (not sure of proper term) is. I drove a Nissan Titan before I got the F 150, and my wife had a Murano, and I never had this issue in those seats. I love this truck, it's the truck I've always wanted and have no plans on trading it in or selling it just because my own legs are too long for these seats. However, I am a claims adjuster, and here Houston we've been fairly busy due to Harvey, and I just can not continue to drive with leg cramps, sore back, etc due to the seat issue. (And before anyone responds, yes I am aware this really is as they say "a first world problem"...but it is still one that I think can be easily solved)

I've attached a photo showing the space between my knee pit and the front edge of the seat from my Lariat, and a photo of my friend sitting in his Tundra, edge of seat is in perfect spot for comfortable driving. We are both 6'5", however he is a 34" inseam while I am a 36" inseam. Both of our seat bottoms are 20" from seat back to front edge. The seats are not the same width though, the Tundra seat is about 1.5" wider, which is nice b/c it's more room, but I feel that main problem is that others like me, really need that seat extended a few inches in order to be able to sit properly and comfortably.
I took the truck to an auto upholstery shop, they added better padding/foam to the seat, and it feels more comfortable for sure, however, my legs are still being pinched on my hammy's because the edge of the seat still sits right below them and adds pressure which causes the pinching and lack of blood flow to my legs.
Anyone else have this issue? And can you swap out seats from older model F150's, or has anyone seen some sort of seat extender that straps to the front edge of the seat similar to those memory foam lumbar supports you can get on Amazon or Brookstone?

thanks for the help in advance...
F 150 seat showing the 4-5 inches of space between my knee pit and the front edge of the drivers seat. Edge of seat digs into my hamstrings
Tundra seat showing the ideal location of the knee pit and the front edge of drivers seat.
F150 drivers seat
Tundra drivers seat, same length as F 150

acdii

The seat bottom between 09-14 and 15+ are the same size. I put the cushion from a 12 FX4 in my Lariat and no different. What you might want to do is open up the seat back and unclip the lumbar

grayjaxx

that's funny cuz I'm the opposite... drove to Texas in my wife's 2017 explorer and I wanted to die. Drove down there from Minnesota in my f150 and it was glorious. I love my seats although I'm not sure if they are different at all from OP... I have a 2017 f150 XLT special edition and the seats feel less stiff than my old 2015 f150 XLT and miles better than my 05 f150 lariat and 08 Silverado Ltz that I've owned. My last ram I had was a 1995 so... not really a comparison.

robdom75

acdii, if I unclip the lumbar, will that a: allow my hips to sit further back on the bottom seat and b: will it interfere with the other seat adjustments, airbags, or foul up any of the electronic components of the truck in general?

TOYSTRY

Take it back and trade it in for a Limited 4x4, that's what I have and my seats are comfy as hell and they have built in massagers........I'm not joking either on the massage feature.

tuckr2

I’m reading this and wonder how I missed the information when I bought my 2018 XLT SCrew. My 2011 with split bench seats were super comfortable. I was excited that my new XLT had buckets and heated seats. After about 20 minutes driving I begin to squirm trying to find a comfortable spot. Even my wife noticed and mentioned the comfort difference. Recently I went to eBay and bought some seat bottom cushions (from China) trying to find a bit more comfort. A 2 1/2 hour trip had me squirming again. Not quite as bad but when you spend this kind of money you really gotta ask can you deal with this for the next x years? I like the foam plan and may opt to take mine to a upholstery shop for some seat modifications. We plan to travel extensively and this is our trailer pulling rig. Hope we can figure this out.

Drtrdr

Have had my 2017 Lariat FX4 502A for 2 months, it’s painful. Can’t find a position where it doesn’t totally cut off circulation in my legs. I get pain from the hips down to my feet after about 15 min. I miss the seats that I had in my 2014 GMC All Terain, could sit in there for days with no issues. I like the truck other than the seats. Unless I find a reasonable fix soon it’ll be on the market I guess.