If you’ve ever owned or operated a truck, you understand the importance of preventative maintenance. Tires, oil, fluids, brakes, and other wear items are replaced at the end of their lifespan for obvious reasons – to ensure time, distance, and money aren’t lost to unforeseen mechanical problems.
Here, we discuss an often-overlooked wear item that affects all truckers – the driver’s seat. If you’ve been in and out of a number of semis, you can probably attest to the fact that not all original equipment (OE) manufacturer seats are made with adequate support to begin with. Truly a surprising area to cut costs when you consider the amount of money that goes into engineering and manufacturing the rest of the rig. Unfortunately, sub-par seats are a common problem.
Technically, semi truck seats are known as “suspension seats” because they sit on a scissor-type frame that provides up-and-down travel to cushion the driver over bumps. An air pressure shock absorber dampens excess seat movement and keeps things stable. Factory seats usually have durable vinyl upholstery, relatively low seatback height, and adjustability in a few basic directions. Standard cushion width to accommodate most drivers is around 18 inches.
Why Truck Seats Need To Be Replaced Regularly
No matter how well a seat is made, the level of support it provides will diminish in linear fashion with 100% certainty when wheels are rolling and the driver’s seat is occupied. As seat bottom cushions and seat backs wear, indentations and ruts form that cause bones, joints, tendons, and muscles to be deprived of proper support.
Studies of truck drivers indicate improper support increases the odds of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and soft tissue injuries which seem harmless at first, then persist until they’re bad enough to put a driver out of work. The body becomes more prone to MSD-related injuries when lengthy blocks of sedentary driving are followed by short bursts of activity. Without physical warm-up, normal tasks such as strapping down a load, cranking a trailer’s dolly wheels, or pulling a fifth wheel handle can result in the kind of overexertion that leads to sprains and injuries. And then there’s jumping down from the cab to the ground – a bad habit of many truckers which can drive enough force through the body to compromise back and knee areas that have already been stressed by worn-out seats.
You replace lots of parts in a truck over the miles – so why wait on worn seats? They are, in fact, a wear item the same way tires and brakes are. The only difference is, the breakdown they can cause is physical pain and injury that results in lost work and paychecks. When you look at it objectively, it’s easy to see the price of a new seat is far less.
Factors To Consider When Choosing A Seat
We offer a number of replacement suspension seats from manufacturers we’ve hand-picked because of their proven records of quality and durability. These seats come complete with a suspension frame that bolts right into any truck floor. They’ll also include shock absorbers in the seat suspension, firm foam cushions, adjustments for seat angles/cushion length, air height adjustments, lower & upper lumbar supports, and side bolsters. Some are even available with a swivel base, built-in massage, head/shoulder adjustments, and heating/cooling abilities. Upholstery choices include cloth or vinyl, and some may offer leather. We’re confident you’ll find seats we offer are a substantial improvement from factory seats.
Before choosing a replacement seat, consider how much headroom exists inside your truck cab. If you’ve got a low ceiling, you’ll want a seat with a short base assembly. If you have the room, a taller seat suspension base will typically allow more up-and-down travel over bumps. Bostrom Seating brand seats use the moniker “LoPro” for all short-base seats, and “HiPro” for tall-base seats.
We stress the value of firmer foam cushions when it comes to body support – especially in trucks when you’re sitting in the same position for hours. Softness and cushiness shouldn’t be confused with comfort. Fluffy pillows may feel good at first, but it’s firmer support that saves you over long distances.
An “isolator” in the base of the seat allows a slight amount of back-and-forth rocking to reduce shocks from any sudden jolts when accelerating or decelerating. Seats equipped with isolators usually have a lever that locks the seat in place when that’s preferable.
Seats We Offer
For starters, we’ll look at several best values in replacement truck seats. Bostrom Seating’s Baja HiPro 915 Mid-Back Vinyl Truck Seat features a taller base with air suspension, a “mid” height seat back that reaches the shoulder area, a 20” wide seat cushion that’s larger than many OE seats, durable vinyl covering, and a reclining seatback.
The Bostrom HiPro 915 Manual Lumbar Truck Seat adds manually adjustable lumbar support, a choice of vinyl or cloth upholstery, a seat base isolator, and a choice of mid back (shoulder height) or high back (head height) seat backs. Seat cushions are 21” wide.
If you’ve got a truck cab with a lower ceiling height, consider one of Bostrom Seating’s “LoPro” seats with a shorter suspension base. For example, the LoPro 905Sc Manual Lumbar HighBack Seat (choose high- or mid-back seatbacks) features an adapted shock absorber suspension, 21” wide seats, an isolator, and adjustable lumbar support. For those that prefer this seat in cloth, we’ve got the LoPro 910Sc Manual Lumbar MidBack Seat.
Moving up to a deeper level of comfort, we’ve got the Bostrom Seating Wide Ride Serta HiBack Ultra Leather Seat. With a built-in seatback massager for the spine, this seat specializes in creating deep, long-lasting comfort. Wide, 23” cushions recline to a flat position, and the seat features a range of adjustments for the seat shock absorber, lumbar support air bladders, seat cushion length, and more.
The Serta-licensed “Cool Action” gel memory foam that you sit on doesn’t crush down or become lumpy the way OE seats can. Compared to traditional memory foam, Serta’s gel foam provides twice the support and seven times the ability to transfer heat away from the body.
We also offer the Minimizer Long Haul Series Ultra Leather with Heat & Massage Seat. For starters, it’s got a swivel base. Not only does that convenience feature simplify getting in and out of the truck, it also allows easy access to the rest of the cabin to get to a sleeper area or to face a laptop and files mounted on a stand or passenger seat. Seatback and cushion areas feature both heating and cooling functions.
The Minimizer seat also allows the driver to adjust height, shock absorber suspension firmness, seat cushion length, lumbar support (upper, lower, sides), seatback angle (folds flat), and the top portion of the seat back which moves separately from the rest of the seat. A seat base isolator reduces road shocks, and a lever allows the seat to be locked in place to eliminate play when advantageous.
Last but not least, the Minimizer is equipped with a 6-motor massage system with adjustments for speed and intensity. Using the massage system greatly increases blood flow and improves circulation. So when you approach to your destination, turning on the massager primes muscles and joints for activity after hours of sitting still. When you get out of the cab, you’re not stiff or sore and injuries are prevented.
Note that in our Semi Trucks Seats main section, we offer more than just replacement suspension seats. You’ll find useful hardware components such as brackets & bases, replacement seat belts, seat cushion pads & foam inserts, and custom headrests.
We also encourage you to check through other sections of our website where you’ll find great products such as interior accessories, exterior accessories, lights & bulbs, mechanical repair parts, wheels & tires, tire chains, audio electronics, and more! If you have questions about anything on our website, we'll be happy to help on the phone seven days a week!