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Have lower back pain driving your RAM? This could help!

SD Rebel

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For many of us, the shape our RAMs bucket seats, especially on Rebel and Special trim models seem to cause back pain. Especially lower back pain, which can be elevated a bit by tilting the lower seat up, but it's not always enough and especially bad if you are a taller person. There usually isn't enough adjustment to make it go away.

But there is a simple albeit not exactly cheap fix, called Seat Jackers by Desert Does it. It's essentially a pair of aluminum spacers that fit on the front of the seat mounts to raise the front 1" over stock. At $89 they sound pricey, but they are well made, designed, built and installed in a way I would trust in a collision than something I would try to fab up. There is a 15% discount code still active, well worth it's weight in gold if you have back pain driving these trucks. Out the door with discount code, I paid $76.50.

By raising the seat in the front by 1", it gives you much more leg and thigh support which alleviates the stress on your lower back. Before I couldn't drive 1/4 mile without starting to feel some lower back pain, now I can drive 50 miles and not feel any pain at all. A couple of other members here have done the same thing with similar results.

It's honestly night and day difference. They have been pretty well known in the Toyota community, but recently started producing them for current and previous gen RAM trucks, Jeeps and Durango's.

Link to site: FRONT SEAT JACKERS® (2019-2022 RAM 1500)

Seat Jackers.JPG


My Installation Notes supplemental to the factory installation directions:

- You will need a 12mm E-Torx socket for your seat bolts. You need to remove both the front seat bolts and loosen the rears for this installation.
- You will also need a 15mm socket for the supplied bolts with the kit to finish the installation.
- The plastic covers that hide the front two seat bolts pull straight out towards you. A single clip holds them in place.
- The right rear seat bolt is uncovered, but the left rear seat bolt is covered by a plastic housing with a clip-over cover, just use a flat head screwdriver to remove the cover and expose the bolt.
- The stock seat bolts are on pretty tight all the way through, something like 10-15 ft-lbs almost all the way from beginning to end of the thread. No Loctite needed when putting them back on.
- However, the two new bolts used to tighten the seat rails to the spacers will require blue Loctite.
- Torque wrench is recommend to tighten all the bolts to 27 ft-lbs.
 
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Wild Bill

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This is going to sound really silly...
During the summer I put the heated seat on medium for a few minutes then turn it down to low. Honestly it helps me.
Also, I change the seat in all directions including the tilt.
 

SD Rebel

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This is going to sound really silly...
During the summer I put the heated seat on medium for a few minutes then turn it down to low. Honestly it helps me.
Also, I change the seat in all directions including the tilt.

Not at all, great tip, I've done the same thing, but trust me, you want a permanent fix that doesn't require heating the seat and zero compromises, these things are worth it.

I've done the "clamshell" position on the seat, tilted the bottom front all the way up, pushed forward the recline, adjusted the lumber all the way, it helps but still not enough. I went from living with it and squirming around from time to time, to zero pain.

If you can't get 100% comfortable with the stock setup, for the price of a tank of gas and 15 minutes of your time, I highly recommend them.
 

CatServant

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I mainly use the lumbar adjustment. I have three fused vertebrae in my back and the lumbar support does the trick.
 

Dewey

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I mainly use the lumbar adjustment. I have three fused vertebrae in my back and the lumbar support does the trick.
Lumbar adjustment helps but I wish it had more range. Never seems enough. When I drove Chevy’s they had much more and really helped my screwed up back on long trips.
 

SD Rebel

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Lumbar adjustment helps but I wish it had more range. Never seems enough. When I drove Chevy’s they had much more and really helped my screwed up back on long trips.

For me, the lumber helped, but nowhere near enough adjustment. But that was just a band aid. Getting to the cause of the lower back pain, which was the lack of support on my legs, was eye opening. I had no idea that was the cause, lived for 3 years with this occasional back pain driving this truck, but these basic spacers fixed my lower back pain.

It could be the same for you, maybe before you consider the purchase of these spacers, try putting a pad or flat pillow at the edge of your seat to raise your legs up a bit and see if that helps.
 

SD Rebel

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I guess I have just the right body for the truck because I can drive mine for hours on end and be extremely comfortable .

I think we are the minority with back pain, there was a thread about it a year ago, and adjusted my seat based on that thread and it helped, but still not pain free. I have several vehicles I drive, and my RAM is the only one that hurt my back, at least to this level.

Luckily now, I don't have to worry about it anymore. I thought all this time all I needed was more lumbar support, turns out the fix was lifting the front of the seat higher, never would have guessed that.
 

scottmoyer

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Everybody will be different. I never had any issues with my Silverado and could drive it for 10 hours with only needing to get out and stretch some. The RAM hurt from day one, until I started messing with the controls and found myself lowering the front of the seat cushion, not raising it. With mine raised, it hurt my back. Also, the lumbar kills my back, so I need to remove all lumbar from my seat. I can now drive for hours without any pain at all.
 

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