short driver problems (vertically challanged)

Ask a medical doctor, who generally dismissed chiro's as quacks.

 

I felt the same way, I told my wife it would take a pair of mules to get me into a hospital. But there comes a time after laying on the couch for six months and you feel like your life is over, you'll do just about anything to get it back. It was the first and hopefully the last surgery I will ever have, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined it was going to be.

 

Back on topic::: The proper way to adjust the seat for the best ride is to adjust the up and down to where your feet are FLAT on the floor with your knees just barely above your hips. Then adjust it forwards and backwards so your foot is on the fuel pedal all the way. If you want turn the isolator button to on or off. Believe it or not it's best with it on so it takes a lot of the hard bumps out of the forward and backwards motion. It smooths that jerking out a lot. Setting the seat on the floor adds sharp bumps to your ride and causes fatigue! Those seats have been designed to keep you from getting fatigued if used properly. Use the lumbar support as that will keep back aches down with proper posture in the seat. If you have those torture devices made in vinal do use a cushion or those wooden beads. No kidding they actually work but a word of warning to you men and you women that don't shave your legs; DO NOT WEAR SHORTS or SIT IN THE SEAT IN YOUR SKIVVIES or NAKED! The beads will catch every hair it can between the beads and pull them out! I don't know how hot wax feels but I CAN tell you this has got to be right up there in pain! note: I never did the naked in the seat deal but a hairy arse has got to hurt not to mention another dangley body parts I don't even want to think about! ROFLMFAO!

For those of you with the short legs and having a problem reaching the pedals check with the dealer for pedal extensions or I think the Iowa 80 has them or look on line but the cheapest is 2x4's cut for all 3 pedals and tied on but I did see one girl who used the long tape velcro to secure the wood to the pedals.

A very bad thing to do is sit so close to the steering wheel that your arms are bent too much. You will NOT be able to control the wheel when you're to close to it and you're needing to make an 8 armed monkey in a banana picking contest look slow! You need to be able to move fast and you can't all scrunched up on the wheel. The straighter your arms are on the wheel the better AND they won't get as tired straighter.

Also being that close to it will hurt you badly in an accident in 2 ways. First when that air bag in a truck equipped with them deploys it could or will knock your arse out, burn your face from the friction of it deploying or the wheel will crush your chest from hitting it to hard even if you are wearing the seat belt, you're so close that you will hit it before it locks or the wheel will drive backwards due to a front end collision. Sitting back from the wheel gives you a "cushion" from both scenarios. This is also good advice when in your POV. Ask a few of our EMT trained forum members of the dangers of being to close to the steering wheel or maybe they will chime in on this. I've seen a collapsed chest from a steering wheel and a face with a second degree burn from an air bag! I don't want to go there and neither do you!

Put a little air under you so the seat has a cushion to ride on. It's better for you and your back. Just get used to the "floating" which only takes a few days and you'll wonder why you thought sitting on the floor was a good idea. Now some of these drivers think they "look so kewl" sitting on the floor looking through the spokes of the wheel, Me I think a little differently, as in NOT!

 

Well, I don't do it to look cool, it's where I feel the most comfort and take's a lot of strain off my leg's sense I'm of the taller type. As for that lumbar support, I tried using it but it just make's thing's worse for me so I don't bother to use it. Of course the seat's companies get in these truck's are of about the lowest quality you can get.

Thank you wildbill. If I ever do end up having to go in for surgery then I'll keep your post in mind to help keep me calm because with something like that I will panic and they would end up having to sadate me the minute I get admitted in the hospital because I'll already be panicky on the way there.

 

Thats exactly what my trainer taught me. But then I passed a driver a driver one day and then on the cb I hear werner must be desperate they let somebody 5 year old drive a truck. I thought it was so funny but I did have 1 truck I had a problem with because it just sat on the the floor and air thing didnt work but I just sat on a few pillows.

 

back to the mans thread before it got jacked!i hear ya bud im 5'6" and drive a 2000 mack vision and the seat wasent bad but not the way i liked it so i swoped it out for a 99 mack ez460 seat,got forward enough to were i can ingage the clutch and just high enough to see over the dash=i lkie my sets low.but my advice is to find a seat that has more adjustment to your likeings and swap them out.if your a company driver talk to them and they may help you out.sec let me swap out seats,said its safer than riding on a pillow.

 

I have to agree about sitting too close to the steering wheel. I'm 5'3" tall and last April was involved in a head on accident in a Chrysler Town & Country van. I was stopped at a light and was hit by a car doing aout 45 MPH. Spun me around and pushed me about a 100 feet back down the road. The only real injury I sustained was bruised sternum and chest wall contusions. I still wear my seatbelt all the time, but I do sit back alittle further these days.