I once commented that the most comfortable chair I owned was the driver’s seat in the hay truck. It was the Anchor-Loc brand and different from most air-ride driver seats.
Instead of an air bladder and swing-arm suspension, this seat looked like a modified air-brake chamber. The rubber air chamber was totally enclosed in metal and instead of a multihinged mechanism, a 2-inch round tube protruded directly up from the center. The fore and aft adjustment was attached to the top of this, and there was a means to allow the seat to swivel.
Like most air seats, the height was adjusted by a push-pull air valve. Push and add air, which both made the ride stiffer and raised the seat height. Many felt the resulting ride was too stiff. Since my weight back then fluctuated between two‑ and three‑quarter hundredweight, I thought the seat was a perfect fit for my carcass.
In February of 2012, I purchased (Elli said more like adopted) a mega-cab diesel pickup. About two months later, my son Ryan gave me the low-profile air seat suspension his employer had taken from a Stinger stack wagon when they replaced its seat with one usually found in a heavy truck with more up and down movement. Something about badger holes and driver comfort.
I made a small air tank from a thin-wall metal tube, threaded goes into and goes out of fittings to it. I positioned it on the floor behind the driver’s seat and hard-wired in a robust 12-volt air compressor. Now, I had up-down air plus a super handy means of airing up tires. I carved away at the factory seat mounting hardware until I had a nice big flat spot on the floor. I bolted the seat suspension to the floor, attached the airlines, then attached the factory seat, complete with the factory height, fore and aft, and recline functions.
A couple or three years later, I was left unattended at an auto salvage yard. I came home with a nice pair of fully reclining leather high-back bucket seats, originally in some form of a Subaru. They made a nice upgrade in appearance and ride comfort. When Elli saw me “messing” with the passenger seat, she came right out and made sure I was not adding air ride to her side. My previous pickup had air ride on both sides, and she deemed the need for monitoring the air pressure to maintain the desired softness of ride to be a hassle.
The ability to recline to full horizontal made renting a bed when traveling a nice perk rather than a necessity. So I’m back to where the most comfortable chair I own is behind the steering wheel of my (now) pickup truck.
Last weekend I traveled to Caldwell, Idaho, to be part of the event when my newest grandson officially received his name and father’s blessing. My 18th grandchild, the 10th child for Ryan and Bethany. We mashed at their house for lunch afterward. Bethany had her mom and at least three sisters there, complete with husbands and so many little people that I didn’t try to get a count.
The household was hectic. I lost track of the times I nearly stepped on someone’s kid. With the mass of humanity and the activity, Grandpa (me) got too warm. I observed that the lunch seemed at least a short nap’s time away – so I grabbed the oldest grandson and asked a favor. (My hearing is such that unless a child is directly in front of me and looking at me and there is no other noise, I simply cannot understand what kids are trying to say to me.)
Thomas said that he would gladly step outside and wake me from a nap when the food was ready. I tiptoed out to the curb and sat in my pickup. I got my pillows located, the windows opened for just the right breeze, reclined the seat, closed my eyes and was sound asleep for what seemed just a few minutes when ...
Thomas’s voice announced that food was ready. I had Ryan laughing because it was like when being on the road with the big truck, stop for food, place my order, slide back against the wall of the booth, relax and just as I would nod off, the food would arrive.
Right after lunch, the relatives were getting ready to head back to Utah. The adults seemed to be frantically searching for something. Being a naturally curious sort, I asked, “Did someone lose a kid?”
One of Bethany’s sisters failed miserably at sounding insulted because she was laughing when she replied, "No! We did not lose a kid!”
Then another adult explained that one set of car keys was AWOL.
I then asked, “So which kid doesn’t want to leave for home yet?”
About that time the missing keys showed up from being cleverly hidden inside a diaper bag. A muffled shout went up and they started herding kids out the door.
I firmly believe that the timing of the keys being found was all what spared me from having Bethany’s sisters throw things at me.
