The old hoopty has taken a battering from my ass and the dogs.
The driver seat had a small rip. Now, it’s worse:
That’s a 25 year old, 100K mile seat right there.
The passenger seat had tears from a certain dog’s nails.
Aria would get in the seat, or stand on it to go under my feet when she had a spell of not wanting to be in the truck. That was caused by coming home from the Girl’s in a thunder storm. Really messed her up. It’s why she finds a hidy hole in the house during storms now.
So I found a company that makes OEM seat covers – Texan Auto Seat Covers. I ordered these months ago. But in my normal fashion, I dragged my feet putting them in. You see, you have to take the seat apart to do it. Now that I have more time on my hands, I tucked into it the other day. I started with the passenger seat, since it’s manual. I figured to learn on that one before tackling the electric driver one.
The seat was easy to remove, especially with a 1/2″ impact driver. Front is held on by T55 Torx bolts, the back by 18mm nuts. What’s up with American cars with the 18mm bolts? None of the Japanese vehicles I’ve had – cars or bikes – use this size. They use 17mm. Sometimes 19mm. So out it came.
Not to tough to take apart. There’s two bolts holding the backrest adjuster on. The opposite side is just a post that the seatback pivots on.
I had the damn thing on before I thought to take pics. You can see the plastic clips on the back of the seat. You pop off the old ones, pull the cover off, cut the hog rings and the cover is off. You see that upper left.
Speaking of hog rings, you’ll need the pliers to do this. Get a kit. The rings don’t come with the covers.
It took a minute to figure out how to use these without going back to the youtube video.
There are tabs that hang down from the cover with a bar at the bottom. These fit in a slot in the seat foam, at the bottom of which is another bar. So, what you do is put a hog ring in the plier thusly:
Position the tab bar on top of the foam bar, mash them together with the open ring and clamp it. Start with the front, as it positions the cover where it needs to be on the foam. Nothing to it.
Once it’s attached, you pull the cover over the foam, which is tough since it’s new and tight. Then you really have to use an elbow and mash hard to clip the cover in place.
I got the seatback on, but it looked crooked and to be honest, it was later in the day and it started raining like hell. No way I get it back in the truck. So screw it. I had enough. I went in to feed me and the dogs and put my feet up. I think I had a little over two hours into it at this point. I figure I did something wrong with the seatback and I’d figure it out tomorrow.
The next day I sized the seat up. There’s only one way to put it together. Only to bolts hold the seatback on. Still, it looked off:
I looked at the driver seat – Same thing. Only that one tilts to the left. That’s how it mounts. you don’t notice it in the truck. So before I bolted it back in, I had work to do:
Yikes. Coffee spill and dog hair. BTW – that spill came with the truck. I use the holder on the dash.
Last Christmas, my Daugher and Son-in-law gave me a couple unusual gifts. The first was a Ryobi plant sprayer. The second was a set of nylon brush drill attachements:
I puzzled at the time about what made them choose those. I use the sprayer every day. Turns out it’s super useful. As were these brushes.
Worked really well when combined with my little Bissell and shop vac.
Didn’t go for broke here. It’s under the seat.
After that, two bolts two nuts later:
The foam relaxed and those wrinkles are mostly gone. Better yet, the truck has that new car leather seat smell. Nice! Also, the slight shade difference isn’t noticeable. It’s not a show truck, after all.
I looked over the driver seat, and it looks easier. There are wires to disconnect, but the base looks easier to remove. This one, I’m going about differently. I didn’t get a good shot of foam on the passenger seat. It’s OK. But it’s 25 years old and not as springy. The driver one has more wear and tear. So I bit the bullet and ordered the foam from the SeatShop.com.
You can really see where the rings go in that one. I think it’s worth the money in the long run and will make install marginally easier.
This is one of the reasons to get a truck. You can get nearly any interior part – seat covers, foam, dashboard pads, anything. It seams to be easier to find them than stuff for cars. This is important to me as I look to buy a beater car.
I’ll post the driver seat when I get in gear and get it done.
Inspected By Pat 