Thread: Disco 2a Seat travel / Leg room

Righto, I've bought a nice Disco 2003. First annoyance was the severe lack of leg room in the driver's hatch... After searching for a solution on the net - epic fail (so many folks have asked the question but had no response).

Time to learn by doing... Follow these instructions and you'll achieve about 3 inches more room... It's dead simple and took me 2 hours (including thinking time) from tools out to tools packed away.

First, you'll need these tools plus a philips head screw driver. The sockets are a 14 mm torx and a normal 17mm.

P3310740.jpg

Remove all of the plastic shrouding around the seat base (the plastic plug at the back pulls out in two parts)

First thing to do is work out which side of the seat has the "stopper" further forward. The seat rails each have a stopper in them, one is further forward than the other. The one that is struck first is the one you need to remove. This will then allow the seat to travel further back giving you the magical luxury of another couple of inches. As you push the seat back, listen for which side emits the audible "clunk". mine was on the side closest to the centre console.

Disconnect the seat belt (conveniently also a 17 mm socket!) and all of the electrical junctions under the seat and use needle nose pliers to access the clip-plugs (from the back door) so you don't break them off. Once all electricals are clear, undo the four torx bolts (the one closest to the seat winder is held in by a 17 mm nut under the floor pan).

Use this fantastic opportunity to vacuum up all of the MacDonalds fries, dog hair and dust which has accumulated under your seat. Collect the small change as you go...

Take the seat out and locate the little stud thing that is inside the red circle I have drawn in the following pic

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Now, centre punch the middle of it and then drill out with a 2mm drill bit (this will allow you to get it out easier and replce it later if you want). Put a rag around the area to catch all of the drill waste so it doesn't end up all inside your seat and then do a confirmatory vacuum once you're done.

Then use a combination of a lever - flat head screwdriver (against the actual stopper inside the rail) and a centre punch (and hammer/knockometer) to work the thing out. Mine came out easily with a bit of manoeuvering.

This is what the little critter looks like when you've done the medievil dentistry work to get it out:

P3310746.jpg

Now get the seat back in, reconnect your belt and electrics, put the plastic back shrouding on and enjoy the pleasures of motoring without developing deep-vein thrombosis....

My only problem with the porject - not finding $50 worth of small change under the seat to pay for the torx socket set I bought specifically for the job...

Now for a Bullbar, side steps/rails and some lighting for the front to evaporate the roos that jump out in front of me...

That is all.

Adam

Worse would be realizing that a 12 point socket will undo it just fine

Yeah they were pretty tight though and I really wasn't keen to end up with nicely rounded up bolts! Call me pedantic - yes. Swearing and throwing a 12 point socket across the yard when it all goes wrong - no...

I've been burnt before so I played this one safe!

Just a quick question on this...does the seat stop mod cause any safety issues. I take it the seat is still unable to fall out of the back of the slide due to knurled ends on the rails (although if thats the case surely they would not be as strong as the solid stops? I ask this bcause I am about to install some HSE seats and I understand they might not give as much travel as the manuals. How much travel do you lose with electric seats and in turn claw back with this stopper mod?

Cheers

Ps apart from how good they look I take it the HSE seats are more comfortable?