Weird one- I get a dead leg driving my locost, my left leg.

Its OK when 'on it' and changing gear but when driving about normally it really comes on fast. Starts as pins and needles in my calf and then takes over my whole leg.

I thought it was the seats, so changed them and it made no difference.

Its not the vibrations as I can sit in the car without it running and it still comes on as bad.

I assume its the 'rest' position of my left foot but don't know what to do to rectify it. I've tried different shoes etc.

Has anyone else ever had this? (Notably tall people). I'm 6'3 but I'm not short of leg room length-ways; my leg is almost at full stretch when the clutch pedal is on the floor so its all OK in that regards.

I welcome anyone else's experience/ideas here, this is really ruining the enjoyment of my car.

IIRC some manufactured cars (could be Caterhams or Westies) have an indent in the transmission tunnel to act as a foot rest when not changing gear.
Certainly my foot (size 9) is almost resting on the clutch pedal even when it's off the clutch, space to the left being non-existant.
Providing there's enough space inside the tunnel at that point there shouldn't be too much difficulty fabricating an indented foot rest.
You should be able to fix it all from inside the footwell by rivetting/bonding it in place after cutting an appropriate sized hole.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe10

Stick a peg or bit of bar on the floor to allow you to bring your left foot back and rest so that the back of the thigh is not laying against the seat base.

See if that helps. in some vehicles I can have that issue and bringing my foot back helps as it raises my knee and take the pressure off the back of the thigh area.

Need to fit a bar across the floor in the passenger foot well to give them some relief from it also and give a better footrest..

The other thing to try would sit you more upright, by tipping the back further forward and drop the front of the seat. Are you using fibreglass or padded?

Adrian.

I used to have the same problem I sorted it by raising the front of the seat base. You could try a cussion on front edge of seat base to see if it makes any difference before you do any thing permanent
Hth.m.

[Edited on 11/1/14 by MkII]

I find that I sometimes get the same problem when driving mine, it affects my right leg and seems to be only if I have my wallet in my rear pocket so must be something to do with putting pressure on my lower back when sitting in a certain position.I have tried altering the seat position a bit and did raise the front of mine a little with a 12 mm wooden spacer under the front which helped but didn't cure it.
Paul

I had the same problem added 2 x 20mm alloy spacers to front of seat.

Sounds like sciatica to me - seating position causing pressure on the sciatic nerve perhaps? I get it really badly as lower left back ache and pain in buttock and thigh if I drive our skoda octavia in heavy stop start traffic! Physio-terrorist made it hurt lots, but helped unlock something (piriformis?) which eased it a lot!

Anyway, try a different seating position or a medic!!!

Apologies for the delay in replying to this thread, I saw the replies on my phone but wanted to wait till I get back on a PC to reply properly.

So from the replies I have above 4 good ideas to try:

1 - Foot Rest in Transmission Tunnel
2 - Peg/Bar on Floor for Heel
3 - Cushion under thighs on front of seat
4 - Medical help

In order of ease of trying:

Cushion under thighs on front of seat
Peg/Bar on Floor for Heel
Foot Rest in Transmission Tunnel
Medical Help


I'll get some cushioning and try that first, it's the easiest thing to try so hopefully that will resolve the issue.

In regards to the suggestions of tilting my seat back - that was my initial attempt some weeks ago. 'yellowcab' made that suggestion as his seat is also tilted back by 30mm or so. The problem I have is, due to my height, the seat is resting on the rear bulkhead. There, to put spacers under the front of the seat I'd need to move the seat itself further forward - which I can't do because then I don't have enough room for my legs

Hope one of them resolves the issue!

Hope one of the above sorts you out Dave

Thankfully you don't have to drive anywhere to experience this annoying pain / dead leg, so should be a relatively easy experiment.

A folded hand towel should replace any cushioning if Boni let's ya

a small rolled up towel behind your lower back has worked for me before to. Like they have said above, it's not always your legs causing the issue.

quote:

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Originally posted by Duncan36
a small rolled up towel behind your lower back has worked for me before to. Like they have said above, it's not always your legs causing the issue.

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I'm really not qualified to say Dave. I broke my back in 2003 and i know that's caused me to have problems with my legs etc. My mother's back was the cause of her leg problems as well.

Everyone is different and it's just a matter of trial and error or a very expensive consultation lol.

[Edited on 14/1/14 by Duncan36]

Thanks Duncan, I'll start with a rolled up towel first then

Just to bring this back up to date, incase anyone in future has similar issues - I've tried with a rolled up t-shirt under my left thigh, taped to the seat. I've done 3 journeys so far with it in various positions ranging from at the upper point of my thigh to the front edge of the seat (just above my knee) and, although it doesn't seem quite as bad I still suffer from the symptoms.

The next test will be the rolled up towel across my lower back.

Solved - Put a 1" thick foam cushion on the seat. Absolutely no issues.

Happy days.

Just needed a booster seat then shorty lol

[Edited on 28/4/14 by Ben_Copeland]