What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Who has tried reducing the height of the RV-6 seatback?

vfrazier

vfrazier

Well Known Member
Who has tried reducing the height of the RV-6 seatback? It seems that the seatback is 2 or 3" taller than it needs to be. Reducing the seatback height would make it easier to access the baggage compartment, and easier for me to put my arm around my sweetie... or whomever is in the passenger seat.

Has anyone cut it down? Any unforeseen problems?
 
It was a common modification to the early -6s.

An old online comment from Steve Barnard, whose RV-6A was tested by the CAFE folks...

I have a flying RV6-A with the seats lowered exactly 4 inches and love it.
They were cut off at the bottom and I also put 2 inch lightening holes in the flat areas of the seat backs to reduced weight. I was able to remove 2 lbs. of weight out of the seats.
 
I just cut the backs on our 7 about 2 weeks ago,wish i had done it 6 years ago,i cut ours 3/4 of an inch above the hinge line on top and riveted another piece of angle across the back for stiffness,,now i can put my arm around my sweety when we fly plus you can actually reach into the baggage area in flight,also easier to get bags out,we have slider/taildragger and before you would sometimes have to sit in the seat facing backwards to get bags out of the back.
 
RV6 Seat Back Height

I built a 6A tip-up and reduced the seat back height to just above the hinge line. There's no difference in comfort, and it does make it significantly easier to get stuff out of the back, especially in flight. I highly recommend doing it.
 
gwhite1 said:
I built a 6A tip-up and reduced the seat back height to just above the hinge line. There's no difference in comfort, and it does make it significantly easier to get stuff out of the back, especially in flight. I highly recommend doing it.
Click to expand...

Ditto for the slider :D Rosie
 
Vince, here are a couple of photos of my -6 slider with the seat backs cut off even with the cross brace. Total access to the rear, would do it again in a heartbeat. :)



 
But what about the safety aspect? What happens if you get rear-ended with no whiplash protection?:D

Seriously, this sounds like a good modification - I think I'll do this on my 9.

Greg
 
Can't believe I haven't seen this mod or thought about it on my -6. Pulling bags in and out of the back is a pain every time. It's a DUH!! Moment. Maybe at condition inspection time if my cushions will work with shorter backs.
 
Thanks guys. The seats are heading for the band saw shortly.

Pat, thanks for the perfect photo! Just what I needed to see.
 
Just make sure whoever builds your seat cushions knows your seats are non-standard. My seat back cushions (D.J. Lauritson) are the same length as the seat backs so wouldn't fit shortened seat backs properly.
 
one question .... in a crash ... your shoulder harness would want to push your shoulders (and your back / spine) down ... with a normal seat back .. how far down do you have to go before the shoulder harness hit the back of the seat top.

If you make the seat back lower ... would you not be (your back) be pushed down further ??

Silly question ??
 
Jan, I don't think it's a silly question, but I don't think it would make enough difference to worry about. Most guys shoulders are well above even the standard seat backs.
 
JanRV6UK said:
If you make the seat back lower ... would you not be (your back) be pushed down further ??

Silly question ??
Click to expand...

I don't think it's silly at all... It's a valid safety concern. Much like the heavily modified RV-10 that received first great praise in Sport Aviation and then was torn apart by Van in a later issue, not all mods increase safety or reliability, despite the convenience they appear to offer initially.

But, to each his own. Some people go the other way and install the Classic Aero seats with headrests... :)
 
higher seatback

Those seats look great, but I will go with a higher seatback.

Consider a tip-over accident. I want my head and neck to stay in roughly the same plane (alignment) as my torso. Seems the lower seatback might be a disadvantage when the directional forces on the body abruptly change.
 
Last edited:
I just installed some "temporary"

short seat backs in my -6A ----- REALLY like them! I ordered some hinge from Van's and installed them on some 16 x 18 3/8 plywood. I made seat-back cushions from 2 inch foam and covered them with some vinyl leatherette. I have been flying with them a few hours. Reaching into the baggage compartment to retrieve "stuff" is now a pleasure, and the seating position change is not noticed. I will now cut down my original seat backs and make cushions for them.

Edit: My plywood was cut about 16 wide by 22 high to come to just below the top of the cross bar.
 
Last edited:
I made the modification about 3 weeks ago. I didn't have to re-rivet the angle back on because the seats were stiff enough with the flapper . I just put some edge banding over the sheet metal for safety.
I cut the foam inside the leather backs and just folded the excess leather on the bottom, no problem. I also added another (4th) row of hinge rearward about an inch from the third row. I finally am able to sit with my legs extended and my knees further from the dashboard. Much more comfortable. The whole mod on both seats took less than 2 hrs. I can't believe I didn't do this 3 years ago. I also moved the rudder pedals forward. We were only able to go forward about 3/4" because of a fuel line obstruction but it made a real difference. This took about 4 hrs. to do as we had to fabricate the straps for the rudder cables. I waited to do this till I found an AP who is A: young B: 5'5""tall and C: is thin. Somebody please finish an RV-14 and put it up for sale.
 
Last edited:
I'm an exception, I guess

My -6 had the low back when I bought it. I almost immediately changed it back to the original design for the potential safety issue. I also found it a little more comfortable on the very long x-c I commonly do. I've learned to work with the luggage issue just fine.

I just don't like to mess with the original design unless the change is really well-proven as safe as the original design.
 
I increased the pilot seat to include headrest protection. often people break their necks after a crash from being snapped back. but, I like being able to lean against it on long flights. I did cut the passenger down to ease loading luggage.
at one time I tried moving the cross brace back[2.5"] in order to tilt the seat back more[I'm 6'3"]. this resulted in reduced view over the cowling and I found it hard to land as well, despite 10 yrs experience by then. I ended up returning it to it's original position
 
I built some "trial" backs

out of 3/8 plywood, put the hinges on the bottom and made some "JoAnn's" cushions covered with cheap vinyl --- I flew this way for about a month and decided this was the only way to go ---- remade my original seat-back cushions and cut the metal seat backs off about a half-inch below the stand-off --- works great and the access to the baggage area in flight is very handy!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top