# Any way to increase driver's leg room?



## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

So I thought that the driver's leg room was adequate when I test drove the Routan but having lived with it for a while now it's driving me crazy. Is there any way to increase it, such as by modifying the seat rails? I've searched the forum but can't find anything. Am I the only one with this problem? I'd do anything to gain an extra inch!


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## tuanies (Oct 16, 2009)

CDJackson said:


> So I thought that the driver's leg room was adequate when I test drove the Routan but having lived with it for a while now it's driving me crazy. Is there any way to increase it, such as by modifying the seat rails?


 I've never had a problem but I'm only 5'7" 



CDJackson said:


> I'd do anything to gain an extra inch!


 I bet that's what she said.


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## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

> I bet that's what she said.


 I guess I left the door wide open to that one. 

I'm 6'3" and with the seat absolutely all the way back my knees almost touch the dash board. I can get it a little better by lowering the seat, but then I have the sensation of driving in a bathtub.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

I'm 6'2" but our SEL has the power adjustable pedals, no issue here. Sorry.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

Diagram you will need: http://www.factorychryslerparts.com/images/parts/Chrysler/fullsize/i2273624.jpg 

The front seats (item #4 in diagram) in the van are bolted to seat brackets (#6, chrysler calls it "riser") by 4 bolts. The risers themselves are bolted to the vehicle floor via four 21mm nuts accessible from the underneath of vehicle. 
While I would not mess with the seat itself, I see it possible to relocate the risers. 
There's no rocket science, just metal floor and holes drilled in it. 
Just drill 4 suitable holes and reinstall it to new location. The spare tire will have to come down (to provide access to one of the four nuts under the van). You would need to remove the center console, middle row seats, and middle storage compartment cover, and misc. trim sills in order to remove the carpet from the driver's area. 

Now if you move the risers too far, you might render the left side storage compartment cover unopenable. 

I am talking from experience as I stripped the entire interior when drying my Hurricane Sandy flood-damaged Routan. 
I would estimate the project as 4 hours of work.


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## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

We also have the power adjustable pedals but even with the pedals set as far back as possible it is still uncomfortable. 

Thanks for the diagram. Drilling new holes in the floor seems like a logical solution, so long as I am very careful about it, but that will leave four extra holes in the floor of the car, which I'm not too crazy about. I suppose I could find a way to plug those holes. Are there any indentations in the metal floor of the car that would make moving the bolts difficult? 

I'll have to examine the risers more closely, but I wonder if there is enough extra space that I could drill new holes into the risers a bit farther back. Another idea was to examine the seat tracks to see if there is some kind of stopping mechanism that prevents backwards travel and adjusting that. Obviously I have to be careful here--I don't want to wreck the seat. I was hoping someone had already attempted this. If not, I'll have to consider carefully whether I want to be the guinea pig.


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## Artem (Dec 26, 2012)

OKay I might want to take my words back about moving the risers. 

I took a closer look at my photos and found that there is no room to move the risers. 

 

There is also not much room on the risers itself to move the seat back. You can probably squeeze 1 inch out but barely more. 
I would examine the stopping mechanism but yeah you really need to be careful.


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## 58kafer (Jun 27, 2007)

You're gonna need to cut your feet off.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2


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## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

That's a great photo. The problem is with the rear, passenger-side mounting hole. With every other one it looks like you could add at least an extra inch no problem, but that hole is just too close to the underseat storage. 

I took a closer look at where the seat track affixes to the riser. On the front, I could drill holes and easily add an inch but on the back it won't work. The end of the seat track is flush with the end of the riser and the mounting holes look about as far back as they could go. Nor does it look like it would be easy to adjust the stopping mechanism. There are two large screws that run front-to-back inside of the seat track--I believe that once the seat gets to the end of the screw, it stops. I don't see any easy way to modify it. 

This may be a lost cause. If I adjust the seat bottom all the way down in the back and put the back of the seat way back I can increase the space between my right kneecap and the dashboard from an inch to about two inches. It makes reaching the radio a pain but that may the best I can do.


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## Row1Rich (Sep 11, 2001)

I'm 6'4" and I've never had a problem, even on 8 hr drives. Do you have a power drivers seat?
If so, slide it all the way back and down, then tilt the front of the seat up to increase the distance to the pedals. Adjust steering wheel accordingly. Works for me!


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## CDJackson (Feb 28, 2013)

That's what I've ended up doing. We took a three-hour drive recently and it was tolerable. I'm just used to so much more legroom on my car (a Subaru WRX), which is tiny compared to the Routan.


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## kctdi (Jan 24, 2004)

I always drive with the seat rear all the way down and the front all the way up. Feels more like sitting in a comfortable chair then on a flat bench. A little odd at first but now any vehicle I drive thatehas power seats gets the same adjustment. Our van has the sunroof which also kills headroom so this adjustment method helps head space also. I am 6'-2" and have alot of upper body length so any gain for headroom is welcome to me. I have never liked sunroofs because of the amount of lost headroom.

KC.


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## redzone98 (Jun 10, 2004)

Artem said:


> OKay I might want to take my words back about moving the risers.
> 
> I took a closer look at my photos and found that there is no room to move the risers.
> 
> ...


 Anything is Possible with a Welder and some time


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## RS transporter (Aug 10, 2007)

@Artim - or any Routan owner could you guys possibly measure the distance of where the Routan seat risers bolt to the floor? ie distance between the two up front, distance to the two rear bolts and width. I guess you could just poke underneath your seat with a tape measure and do a quick check. I've got something up my sleeve...  TIA, Cheers, Thompson


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