12PACK

Two weeks ago, I took a trip to Carlisle, PA. 400 miles each way and after being in the truck for only an hour, the pain began. Right behind my right knee. There isn't enough support in the premium cloth seats for even a young average size guy (5'10" 170 lbs) like me. I was wearing shorts with nothing in my pockets as I know having a wallet in a rear pocket can cause leg and back pain.

I was using cruise control, tilting the power seat up, down and every different way I could, moving my leg everywhere (which is hard with the 6 sp) but still nothing to ease the discomfort. I met a guy there who has an 04 with the same seats, and is a good 4 inches taller than me and he has the same problem. He mentioned raising the front of the seat as high as possible and lower the back. It was better but no where near acceptable. On the way home, I stuffed a sweatshirt under my leg for support and this helped greatly.

I did a search here and most of the problems from other posters was with the lumbar and not the seat bottom. I have another trip planned and I've got to do something prior to that.

Anyone else have this problem and do you have a solution? I'm going to go to a local upholstry shop and have more padding added to my drivers seat unless someone has a better idea.

TIA.

SuperGewl

Order yourself some SRT10 seats

kayjh

How many miles on your truck? I test drove trucks extensively before buying one and found the seats firm, but OK. After I purchased mine, I took a 2 hour trip to the lake and found my leg going numb. I tried removing my wallet, changing the seat position, etc. , but nothing worked.

After a few thousand miles, the seat broke in and it has been fine ever since. I almost got rid of the truck during the seat break in period, but in thr end, all it took was time and mileage. Good luck.

TAS05CTD610

I agree and have the same problem. I'm 6'4" 190lbs, so I'm tall. I find my lower back and right knee do the same thing.

The knee problem is from not having a transmission mound to support your leg (my s-10 had a deep pocket you could rest your calf on, and take the strain off your knee). One hint that works is to bungee cord your right knee to your left knee (Ok before you laugh to hard....Seriously, try it, it works for me, may seem, look funny, and if the toll collecter says anything just drive away, but it does help)

We made a trip back from Virginia, 10 hrs, talk about pain, I almost had to have my Wife to be drive back, and it takes a heck of a lot to pry my hands off that wheel

I agree that they don't make seats like they used to. I had a 86 ford bronco that had seats like a Lazy boy, yes you'd fall asleep in them, but boy where they comfy as all heck. One good point for a ford, where's the other 99

CMC

Does this only pertain to premium cloth seats? I have the regular cloth seats and just got back from a 3500 mile trip and have no complaints.

12PACK

2100 miles on my Cummins. I still have my 95, which is still my daily driver until I sell it. The Cummins has only been used for family jaunts where we'll be going at least 50 miles.

Ironically, a friend of mine who sold me the truck (he took a job at a Dodge dealer in CT in April) told me I was going to love the seats. He's had a number of rams including ones with this premium cloth.

I'm not sure if breaking it in is going to help. There's no support for my right knee as it hangs a couple of inches off the seat. My 95's seat is the same way. Last year on my trip to Carlisle, I had to stretch my leg across the hump to ease the pain. (Gee, maybe I should just have my leg replaced...or cut off) With the 6 sp, it's not possible, safe or comfortable to do this.

I wanted the Laramie J package, which would have given me the leather seats. I couldn't find any with the NV 6 speed (Didn't want the G56). My friend let me know about his dealer having this SLT. I checked it for the 70 mph vibrations, the door weatherstripping issue but didn't consider the seat as it's different from the premium cloth in my 95.

I think I'm going to get some more padding for it. It will look nicer than a fluffy pillow. Bungy cording my knees? For me that would be get off the pedal, shift my knees left, depress clutch, shift, release clutch, shift knees right then accelerate. Sounds.....interesting. (OW! My hips! )

Is there a song I should be singing when I do this? Thanks for the replies.

jasonrhackett

I have a 2005 quad cab one ton and I have the same problem. So do most the guys I've talked to. There's just no way to get comfortable in these seats!!! I've sat in the SRT-10 seats and they seem to be an improvement, but these seats never bothered me during little test drives. I didn't notice any problem until I had to sit in them every day. I've found a few sites online that have aftermarket seats, the best selection seems to be here:

http://www.guytoys.net/fullseats.htm

hope this helps. If I get some ever, I'll be sure and post what I think of them!

Lee S

I have the leather seats in my Laramie and I had the premium cloth seats in my 95 SLT gasser. There's not much difference to me in comfort. I've not done any long trips with the new truck but I only have one point to make--600 mile plus days are not comfortable no matter what seat you're in and I did a lot of those in the old truck. At least the power seats in the Laramie allow variations of position I never had in my previous truck.

12PACK

Agreed. The wife's S70 used to bother my lower back when we first got it, but it's fine now. Hopefully this seat will do the same.

Those seats look nice, Jason. If I did alot of driving, I just might go that route. As for now, I think I'll add some padding or duct tape a ball of shop rags behind my right knee. Once I do this, I'll let you know how my knee handles long trips. Maybe I'll put a couple of old towels under a set of these: http://wetokole.net/photogallery/vie...&action=images Atleast it would look nice.

tfarmer96

I have the same problem, but last weekend i found a fix. Somewhere between Dallas and San Marcos i tilted the front of the seat down and the pain behind my knee went away. I dont know if the seat hits a nerve or what but it worked for me.

Ram04

I found the same thing to be true. It took me some time to realize if i have the seat bottom tilited back its gets very uncomfortable after a little while. Its better but I think they could improve on these seats.

4x4not

I have found that after about 6K my seats are STARTING to get broken in, and the back pain is less on longer trips. Hopefully by 10K the seats will finally be acceptable

Schmed

I've been daydreaming of swapping some BMW seats into my '04.

My '87 535is had the most comfortable, firm, and super supportive seats ever. I drove from Michigan to Colorado and had no issues or fatigue after 15 hours of driving (average speed=81mph!)

I figure the ideal BMW seats are from '87 and '88 535is, or '89-95 525/535/540/M5. Not for fit, but for overall support and comfort. I really, REALLY hate seats without adequate side bolsters. Seats are supposed to keep you from sliding around!

Not sure what it would take to retrofit something like that.

The only problem is that it would probably ruin the value of my Laramie-packaged leater interior!

12PACK

Took a trip with the family yesterday, about 45 minutes each way. Both times, on the way there and coming home, behind my knee started to bother me just as we got to our destinations. So, 2500 miles and I still haven't broken it in, if this will even help me. Still think I'll add some extra padding before my next long trip.

I wonder if calling DC would help, or stopping into a dealership and asking their opinion. (Like I should have to do this with a 3 month old truck)

1sttruck

I have the regular cloth seats and find them very comfortable, as does the rest of the family. I have mine adjusted so that I'm sitting pretty upright with good access to the controls. I'll guess that the fancy seats had to remove padding and springs for the power stuff.