Low Back seat replacement options

Has anyone considered/used seats from industrial equipment to replace their trashed seats? I know you can get a upholstery shop to recover them but from what I see they charge an arm and a leg. I saw some pretty good looking seats in the Northern Tools catalog for some reasonable prices. I know the passenger seat won't tilt/fold but these seats look pretty nice. Check out Northern Tools online and search for "forklift seats".

Comments?

 

I guess it depends on the underlying seat frame and it's strength. Admittedly, I'm not a car seat expert, but I like to think that car seats are built to a higher spec for impact resistance, etc.

I picked up some front seats out of a junk yard from a mid-70's Dodge van...$35 each. I've seen the same seats up to the mid-80's in Dodge also.

 

I was wondering about automotive vs industrial use too but when your talking automotive safety standards (safety- Jeep Ha Ha) 1972 vs industrial standards in 2011 it could very well be that the industrial seats are better? stronger? or not. Your Dodge seat looks pretty good and the price sure was right. I remember seats like that in my late 60's hippie van.

I not particularly heading in the fork lift seat direction but was just seeing if anyone had other options, and there are...like Dodge van seats.

 

I was considering some of the folding-backed bass boat seats that they sell in Cabela's

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/largeImagePopup.jsp?productId=701032&cImage=s7_018893_784_01

 

I still err on the side of caution. I"m not convinced that a non-auto designed seat will hold up to impacts...such as a rear impact and having the seat fold backwards. Yeah, I know, it's a Jeep and there isn't much there for safety to begin with, but to me getting the wrong seats multiply that issue. It's bad enough to have low back seats and not protecting your upper spine.

 

The van seats were a common swap back in the day. I recall the Ford van seats specifically - they have a big front bolster and are rather close to the steering wheel, but unless you have huge thighs, they are ok. Comfortable too.

You really want low backs? They were more-or-less phased out in favor of high backs. The higher backs provide whiplash protection in a rear collision. Even the big bench seats were equipped with head rests after the mid-70s or thereabouts, not to rest your head but to prevent neck injury.

The usual approach is to snag some passenger car buckets (typically with high backs) at the local junk yard. Lost of discussion of this in the past - you could look through these posts for some suggestions. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&...=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=ff3e2739446bc197