International 4700 Interior upgrades?

[Truck Puller]

I am looking at some International 4700's and have noticed they are very utilitarian. I'd like to upgrade the seats especially but some searching in the internet hasn't revealed much of anything. Does anyone know where I can find seats/accessories?

 

[Doc Weaver]

If you can't find anything pre-made, then you can always take the route I did. I went on Craigslist and bought the rear captains chairs from a ford van. With a little ingenuity, a welder, and factory floor pedestal, I got comfy seats for about $150

Doc Weaver

 

[geofkaye]

...ONE ISSUE THAT NEEDS TO BE MENTIONED:...What is comfortable for you might not be for me.....I'd find the seat first and then think how you are going to mount it....my stock Volvo seats are the best for may back that any seat in a vehicle ever has been and they are bone stock made by: National Seat...I just rebuilt them and welded all the broken interior braces back together as the welds broke over time and I's sure over weight.....now I am not in pain after 5 hours behind the wheel.....and no sciatica in my legs any more b/c I use the forward tilt on the seat bottom.....geofkaye

 

[Gary Atsma]

Right on! about having good seats, as this is ONE area not to go cheap on. Anyone w/ANY form of back problems (You don't now? You will.... someday......) would concur with the above.
You owe it to yourself to have GOOD seats!

Gary

 

[Truck Puller]

I wondered if the seats from a Class 8 would fit in the 4700 cab.

The drivers side has a stock air ride and the pass. side is a rigid bucket, and I'd like to put in a pair of nice air ride's and a 12v air compressor to pump them up.

 

[geofkaye]

...IT WILL BUT YOU NEED TO USE A PLATE WITH BOLTS GOING BOTH WAYS IN ORDER TO BE SAFE - ALSO PROPERLY MOUNT THE SEAT BELTS....[UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET RID OF THE OLD LADY AND GET A YOUNGER MODEL]....;&gt

.....geofkaye

 

[Gary Atsma]

Originally posted by Truck Puller:
The drivers side has a stock air ride and the pass. side is a rigid bucket, and I'd like to put in a pair of nice air ride's and a 12v air compressor to pump them up.

If the truck has an air seat in it already, that tells me it should already have an air system. So why the 12V compressor? Just curious....

 

[geofkaye]

Puller: are you sure that the seat is not a springer with a shock absorber ....there were a lot of them out there in years past.....all military used to be that way.....when the shock went the driver went to the hard top quickly.....I always appreciated canvas tops....more and more as Asia got more bomb craters partially filled in during the rainy season.....geofkaye

 

[Truck Puller]

"get a younger model"....hmmm tempting....

The drivers seat has a hand pump on the seat. You can swing it to face the front so it can be pumped up while sitting in the seat.

 

[Doc Weaver]

mine had an air ride pedestal with this goofy hand pump attached to the seat base. a military mechanic buddy told me it was common on some military vehicles. It looked like a hand brake in a sports car.

Puller, is that what you have? I've never seen another one.

Doc Weaver

 

[Truck Puller]

No, it's not like the hand brake on a sports car. I'll try to post a picture of it tomorrow.
Looks more like a hand pump for basket balls and such.

 

[geofkaye]

.....had a seat out of an old freightliner that worked that way-but the shock was shot and I headed to the ceiling of the cab once too many times....replaced with fully automatic sears seat[out of my pocket].....but it was vinal and I got hives on my back and butt[crack]....so I sat on one of those bead things that the swamis use in taxi cabs..,...yes! thy do work!...but my backside had pock marks all the time....so I switched to an cloth covered seat when the seat accidentally caught fire in the parking lot-must be someone was smoking in the cab-wasn't me- I don't smoke.....anyway the new cloth seat lasted for a year till I left Amerigo and went with Goodyear Tire and Rubber.....probably still in use cuz Amerigo is a cheap azz operation.....Goodyear tripled my salary and gave me a college education as long as I worked for them...ah! those were the days!.....geofkaye

 

[Doc Weaver]

Originally posted by geofkaye:
.....had a seat out of an old freightliner that worked that way-but the shock was shot and I headed to the ceiling of the cab once too many times....geofkaye

LOL! Mine did the same thing.

 

[geofkaye]

.....after the 5th or 6th time in a days run it ain't so funny....matter of fact I think I invented a few new word that day in 197..er..1[?]...geofkaye I sure Dr. Weaver knows the feeling when head banging has gone just too far....

 

[Truck Puller]

I've got a line on a couple of air ride seats out of a HDT, going to call tomorrow to see if they still have them.
What can I do for a "glovebox"? The 4700 only has 2 pockets in an overhead console, and I'd sure like something more since all the storage in my 06 dodge spoiled me. lol

AP

 

[geofkaye]

....between the seats-a steel console box-on the floor -or something behind the seat...there was a guy that made an overhead shelf out of oak cabinet plywood and covered it with headliner cloth....looked factory....he was a radio nut and had maybe 4 radios and linear amps with a whole forest of antennas......looked like the back of a COP Car.....geofkaye