Seat placement in relation to drivetrain

nhl_bullitt · Aug 31, 2015

Some of this I will be able to answer for myself when I get to the shop, but I am at work and can not stop thinking about the seat placement. As in, not a whole heck of a a lot of room obviously. Progress is being made on the buggy and will post updates soon, but finally got an engine/transmission/tcase in there for mock up last night. It was late and I did not have time to throw a seat in to test fit (may have to buy different seats anyway too).

If anybody has pics of when they were mounting their seats in a bouncer style chassis, feel free to post them. I searched around. The Indecision build has some good pics in it. I might be able to slide the engine 2" further forward, then maybe the front edge of the seat will be angled above the tcase. Just trying to think out important scenarios before I burn in the mounts for the drivetrain.

Similar note: Almost every one run a carrier bearing up front when the front axle is slung so far forward?

patooyee · Aug 31, 2015

Just about every compact buggy I've ever seen or built myself the seat has been shoe-horned in very tight to the t-case. Most will probably tell you that r&r of the t-case is the single most difficult task on the buggy.

Beerj · Aug 31, 2015

Also keep in mind your steering. I have plenty of room to push my seats behind the tcase but doing so would force me to have a huge dash or stupid long steering column. Case will be here thurs so I'll have a better idea what's what by then but I'm not against building a seat mount off the case if it puts my seat where it needs to go. Im also hoping to avoid a mid bearing on the front shaft. The axle is sitting exactly where it needs to be for left and right.

nhl_bullitt · Sep 1, 2015

Thanks for the comments dudes.

I had some nice suspension seats from the last build that I would have liked to use in this one. Well yesterday I placed the seat (with NO mounts/hardware attached to it) in the chassis. The front was literally resting on the case and the bottom was wedged against the "floor" and near the b pillar. It was not low enough for me to use. My hair was rubbing the tube. I'm 6ft exactly, so not too tall or short, but it was not working. I think I'm going to have to run Kirkeys. :-\ I have never seen a Kirkey out of a vehicle. Can I come up with a nice way to mount them with out buying those brackets they sell?