Driving is a pain in the neck!

[Martinjmpr]

Okay, I meant to post this right after my March trip to Utah, but I got too busy and it slipped my mind.

Here's the issue: My March 08 trip was the first long distance driving trip I took with the truck (purchased in Jan of 07.) Although it behaved very well off road, I noticed a problem during the trip: While driving, whether on trails or on the highway, after just a few hours I started to get a sharp pain in the base of my neck!

Now I'm fairly tall (6'1") and I undersand the ergonomics of the truck are not neccessarily designed for me, but I'm curious about whether anyone else has experienced this with the 95-04 (1st gen) Tacoma?

And before you ask yes, I tried numerous adjustments: Seat closer to the wheel, seat farther away from the wheel, more reclining, less reclining, steering wheel low, steering wheel high. Still got the sharp pain!

I should also point out that my truck is a non-TRD and has the 2/3 - 1/3 split bench (which is really just a regular bucket seat for the passenger and a bucket seat for the driver with a weird "extension" to accomodate a mid seat passenger, although the only person who could actually sit in the "middle seat" would be an elf, a gnome, a dwarf or maybe a midget with no legs.)

It seems fairly obvious that the problem has something to do with the way I'm holding my head when I drive. Is there a way to lower the driver's seat so that I can be looking more straight ahead and less at a downward angle? (sometimes I miss my Montero that had a suspended seat with 3 height settings I could adjust!)

I don't really like the stock seats anyway and am hoping to be able to change them out for either bucket seats from a TRD or maybe 4runner seats if I can figure a way to adapt them.

But any advice/experience from tall 1st gen Taco owners would be appreciated!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Not a Taco owner, but I was gonna say I bet your seat is too high and you're subconsciously hunching down. Or maybe the seat back you need is between two stops and you are leaning your head forward or backward a little.

I'm just a bit taller than 6' and the 60/40 stock bench in my truck was pretty good for a bench. In fact, I'd say it was a pretty decent seat in general. But I have aftermarket bucket seats from Summit Racing so that I could mount the Tuffy. The bracket has 3 height locations (top position is pretty close to stock bench height) and I'm in the lowest position at the moment, which is too low. I've have the parts to put different seatbelts in there for like 4 years, but you know how that goes... Anyway, I get a shoulder pain sometimes and so I don't think seat height can be ignored and I bet it's the root of your problem.

I would mess with position height using cushions or whatever so that when you do get those buckets you can build in whatever changes in angle or height you need when you fab up the brackets. In my case, going up one position on the bracket raises my seat about an inch or so and it makes a world of difference.

 

[RonL]

You are not alone, My brother has a 2002 and everytime I ride with him, my back hurts and my legs fall asleep. I think it is the seat is so close to the floor and my legs are straight in front of me.

I don't have a fit, but I do feel your pain.

 

[ntsqd]

I can't address the generation specific, but I can offer some observation and experience with this sort of thing.

Is the seat lower adjustable for tilt? One of the crucial things often overlooked is not just setting the seat to sit in, but also setting the seat so that your whole back is supported rather than compressing your spine down to the seat bottom. This means that the bottom needs the be higher at the front and the whole seating position be more reclined. The idea is to support your whole back with the seat-back. Quite common to see Mastercraft/Beard/etc. seats installed in race trucks with the seats too upright due to space constraints. This leads to spinal compression on hard hits. My paraplegic friend didn't understand what I was telling him until he augured the truck hard at his first race. The seat mounts got changed first thing.
I've since extended this line of thinking to my overlanding set-up and it has paid off.

IME the comfortable and ergonomic OE seat is a rare thing. Later seats are better, but model trim level has a large influence on the seat quality. Ironically the model I'd desire would be the stripped model, which would have the worst seating.

HTH

 

[snipecatcher]

hey

I'm the same height as you, and my last Tacoma had the same split bench. One thing I can say is that seat is terrible! I put some seat covers on it so I could stuff some foam mattress material under them in the lumbar region, and it helped immensely with the lower back problems. I'm only 21, and in great shape, but that seat is just not made well for my lower back to start aching in the first 2 hours of driving. I now have a different Tacoma with bucket seats (Toyota calls them that anyways, they aren't really buckets, they have no side support) and I have done the same thing with this truck for lower back support. Also, one thing I've noticed is that I have terrible posture while driving. Have a friend sit in the passenger seat and take a picture of you at random. I think you'll see what I'm referring to. I now have to force myself to sit up straight, which I do quite often. Good luck,
-Dan

 

[Martinjmpr]

I can't address the generation specific, but I can offer some observation and experience with this sort of thing.

Is the seat lower adjustable for tilt?

AFAIK it's not. Just forward and backward. The seat back adjusts, of course, but the seat base stays in the same orientation.

It's frustrating, if it were too short I could just add padding but it seems to be too tall. I've noticed that if I sit in the truck and look straight ahead I'm actually looking through about the top 6" of the windshield. So I assume the neck pain is from the fact that I'm holding my head in a slightly tilted-down position.

 

[Fishenough]

Good advice for the truck, but what about you. Consider asking your doc for a CT scan, possible MRI, of you cervical vertebra. If there is any nerve compression/impingement, or other vertebra conditions, it is better to find out early. Speaking from the experience of ignoring neck pain for several years, until entering the world of nerve paralysis and cervical fusions. Cause if caught early enough spinal problems could/can be avoided!

I'm not a doctor by any means (I just play one on discussion forums), I just advocate spinal care to the extreme.

-Kev

 

[maxama10]

Maybe you could find an 05+ trd at a salvage yard.

 

[CYi5]

I put a Tacoma limited seat in mine with the lumbar support and height adjustment and it made a significant distance on back pain for long trips.

 

[Clark White]

I get the EXACT same thing when I'm driving long distance in my '00 Tacoma! I have the bucket seats, not bench, but I've found that it is usually caused by my seat being too vertical, causing me to hunch a bit. If I recline the seat one or two notches and consciously make my self sit with a straight back, the pain goes away.

Clark

 

[toyota_jon]

I havn't got the pain in the neck so much as pain in my lower back. for me lumbar adjustment is critical in order for me to drive long distances. and i usually have mine all the way forward. When i made my trip to anchorage i had some honda prelude seats in from the previous owner by the time i hit BC (about 3 days in) i had to shove a pillow behind my back otherwise i literally could not sit in the truck. after i did that i was able to complete the trip in alright condition.

When i drove back home from anchorage (1 year later) I put in a stock SR-5 '88 4Runner seat. with full adjustments. I absolutely love this thing. I went and sat in a mastercraft seat and even with my seat being 20 years old and breaking down i STILL preferred it over the 'craft seat. I think when it comes time i will simply refoam and recover these seats. Oh and BTW when i drove back home i had ZERO back troubles.

 

[wentz912]

I will second the motion!! The SR5 buckets out of the 2nd Generation pickups/ 1st gen runners are AMAZING!!:wings: :wings: i'm 6'4" and have got my seat dialed in perfectly I could probably drive to boise and back (16 hour round trip) and be totally okay.

 

[Cackalak Han]

I'm 6' and didn't notice any neck pains from my 7.5 hour drive a few weeks ago. However, my butt was really sore. The seats in my 2002 4Runner Sport Edition worked pretty well on longer trips and had the extra cushion in the side bolsters. I was also thinking of swapping in the 4Runner Sport seats with perhaps some sort of memory foam on top of the factory? Then maybe lower the seat ~2".

Also, while we're on this subject, any of you have the headrest foam bust on you? The foam in the passenger side headrest has cracked into a few pieces and the plastic frame is sticking through. Very annoying.