Installation of replacement leather (3 Viewers)

[Bruneti]

I don't know if this advice will work perfectly for a re-cover, but I would think it should. In the oem manufacturing environment they put a thin plastic bag around the foam bun & while it's in position on the seat frame pull a vacuum on it. This sucks the air out of the foam bun to make it smaller for the leather seat cover to be quickly slid on. Once the leather is slid on, the vacuum is released and the bag pulled (ripped) out. They use the same vacuum trick with the headrest bun. Sometimes you find some remnants of the bag they used under the edges and corners where it's really tight. Then they stretch the seatcover and hog ring it. I have one of the pneumatic hog ring guns they use for when I someday do mine. I should rent it out or something. But it might take different rings that fit it's magazine.

Thought this might help save you guys some time. They obviously can't wrestle with a seat for very long on the production line. Maybe some of the principles can still be used by the do-it-yourselfer to save time.

 

[e9999]

I don't know if this advice will work perfectly for a re-cover, but I would think it should. In the oem manufacturing environment they put a thin plastic bag around the foam bun & while it's in position on the seat frame pull a vacuum on it. This sucks the air out of the foam bun to make it smaller for the leather seat cover to be quickly slid on. Once the leather is slid on, the vacuum is released and the bag pulled (ripped) out. They use the same vacuum trick with the headrest bun. Sometimes you find some remnants of the bag they used under the edges and corners where it's really tight. Then they stretch the seatcover and hog ring it. I have one of the pneumatic hog ring guns they use for when I someday do mine. I should rent it out or something. But it might take different rings that fit it's magazine.

Thought this might help save you guys some time. They obviously can't wrestle with a seat for very long on the production line. Maybe some of the principles can still be used by the do-it-yourselfer to save time.

darn, that is indeed smart....! (filed away for future use for something)

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

In regards to the hog-ring discussion, an alternate and easier tool: zip ties. I've used them in lieu of hog-rings while fixing seats on other cars, and used them this weekend when I recovered the cloth drivers seat in my FJ80 with new Toyota fabric. They're small so they easily loop through the same areas, you can tension them to pull the fabric/leather tight, and tough little SOBs so they won't break. I did my driver's seat in about two hours with no special tools, it looks factory with no bulges. I simply used zip ties in every location that previously used a hog-ring.

Note that this was on an FJ80, the later seats may be different. Though from looking at the pictures, it's VERY similar if not identical.

 

[Scalci]

Love this, from where can I buy the leather kit from and ship it to South Africa?

 

[AATLAS1X]

You found us.

 

[PDoyle]

Subscribed!
Also, after searching for good quality leather cleaner for a long while and using Leatherque among others, I've found a little bit of woolite or equivalent ( 1/2 a cap full) and 3 -4 cup fulls of water using a soft cloth on the seats really, really, does a fine job. Leather needs moisture. I have been using this method for 6-7 months now and it's better then any $$$ cleaner I have used.

 

[MrOffshore]

I've been working on installing my new leather seats...first I must say it's not as difficult as you might expect...and easier if you know a few tricks. I will also say that it's a time consuming job...I started on the second row and had about hours on the first one as I was trying to figure everything out and thoroughly clean everything before reassembly.

The second seat was done in about hours and that included stopping and going to Jo-Anne Fabrics to buy industrial thread and needle to sew the plastic rail back to the leather that tore off when I was trying to install it. The leather on the top front of the seat wraps over the back and two plastic clips have to come together...it's tight and difficult to do...I had a Snap-On hook tool that helped me tremendously, but it was still difficult...I actually broke a sweat doing this part and the first seat took me over an hour at this section of reinstallation (novice).

I believe the quality and fit of the leather is better than I expected and I have very high expectations...but being completely truthful there was one area that might need some attention in the construction of the seat covers...I don't think they're locking the threads when they stop stitching...when you're fitting some areas of the leather (the rear armrests for example) the threads start to come apart...I am going to have to take both armrests out and stitch them back a bit and tie the threads down. If I had known this I would have tied the threads down a before installing or added some stitches of my own. Trust me this is a very small detail and hardly worth noting, it might not even be common, but it was the only gripe so far that I would bother mentioning.

I have only removed the leather at this point on my front passenger seat...this was a daunting job and while the write up in this thread is great along with pretty good supporting photos, there were a few things I didn't catch...removing the plate that sits behind the electric seat controls is a bit confusing...don't simply pry it off or you're going to break the tabs...it's like anything if you know how it works you can pull it off...if you don't, you usually learn by breaking it before it comes off...case and point the lumbar knob in this thread. I will post some detailed images when my installation is complete and not the areas that I feel need some extra attention...hopefully in the next several weeks as I think this job is being spread out longer than I anticipated.

I did the two-tone beige and taupe color...can't tell you how much I love the look. Shane was great in dealing with me and answering all of my questions...he spent a lot of time making sure I was comfortable in what I was ordering and I can't thank him enough for his patience and honest opinion of what I was thinking about doing.

I also purchased the steering wheel...it was a fairly easy install...much easier than I anticipated...about minutes total time and again, I took my time and cleaned everything up well before reassembly. The one thing I would point out on installing the steering wheel is make certain you pay attention to the position of the wheel so you put it back on straight...I think I am off about one gear, not big deal it's easy to get back in and move. The quality of the leather and stitcing is honestly better than I believe it was when it came from Toyota. It's amazing how there two modifications (or shall I say repairs) can make your truck look new again.

Forgot to mention, although I did use silicone spray, nothing has been too difficult to fit...I think the silicone probably has helped me to situate/adjust the leather when it's on...you can manipulate the leather and foam to get a good tight fit. I only have one area that has a sag in it and I know it's because during my first seat I didn't pull tight in a certain area and hog-nose the section tight...I might go back and pull it, but I am waiting to see if it "plumps" up a bit before tearing it down again.

Also, I bought 300 hog nose rings...not enough for all three rows in my opinion...including some of the wasted ones I had to cut back out when I missed hog-nosing to the wires that are embedded in the foam...I bought straight hog nose pliers and curved ones in a kit...didn't want to be short. I've used the angled ones about 98% of the time...and where I chose to use the straight ones I could have used the angled ones...straight ones would be very difficult to use in all applications...the point being if you're only buying one version, get the angled ones...and buy LOTS of hog nose rings, they're cheap.

I don't believe I am going to purchase the Toyota seat bottom foam...my passenger side only has one area that is broken down...I can rebuild it with some foam from a friend of mine. The drivers seat has quite a bit of mashed down foam on the outboard bottom seat cushion...but I am going to try to rebuild it as well...I have some quality foam and an electric knife...so I hope it goes well as I don't want to re-do the front seats...they're some work! If you're entire seat is worn you would need to replace it, not cut your own because of the wiring that runs inside of the foam when it was molded. My friend asked me to send him my good cushio and he was going to scan it and cut new ones for me with his 5 axis router (pays to have buddies with unreal tools), but after realizing the wires were there it didn't make sense. Thought for a moment I might be able to offer factory looking HIGH quality foam at a fraction of the dealerships price...but it doesn't look that way!

Looking forward to sharing what I learn during the remainder of the install...I will also post about the third row seats as I bought these too...Shane says it might be a handful, but I think I will get it tackled and report back to you guys. Wish me luck...hopefully no more broken plastic pieces...not even sure if I can get these from the dealership without purchasing entire assemblies (not gonna happen)!! I appreciate this thread, it gave me the confidence to tackle this job!

 

[MrOffshore]

One the seat back, remember you need to put the seat back in the rails and tighten the two each per side bolts before using hook rings to close the back up

Don't forget this part...I say this because I ruined one seatback...it had been days since I removed the old leather off the seats before reinstalling...I should have read back over this instructional before starting back up but didn't. I assembled the backrest of the seat entirely before bolting it back to the frame...at which point I cut holes in the leather to mount the frame to the outside of the seat backs...big mistake...costly. Thanks to Shane, he's going to be able to get me a new seatback! Costly mistake, but you live and learn.

What you want to do is install the leather onto the seatback but do not wrap the sides of the leather back around to the back of the seat until you have re-bolted it to the frame...there are NO exposed metal framing parts that are covered with plastic pieces....like I thought (WRONG!). After it is re-bolted you can then finish the sides wrapping the leather (actually vinyl in this section) around to the back and hog-ringing it closed.

I will note also that when you're recovering your side armrests (the ones mounted in the door) the staples are about 1/8" or shorter...I didn't have any staples short enough not to go through the leather, so make sure you test your stapler through your old leather before stapling into your new leather and possibly destroying it. I used a hot glue gun, it made it very easy going around one little section at a time and enabled me to wrap it tight...the glue dries very fast but is hot to the touch for sure!

I did this also on the seatbacks of the front seats. I found the 3M glue to be OK for getting the flats sections to hold but beyond that they didn't work too well in the creases...I used the hot glue gun to get it to hold in the creases that are just outside of the magazine netting mount. One more thing...when using the hot glue gun on the area that are exposed, try to make sure that you take the glue gun tip and spread the glue down, don't let it simply come out in a line...you need to smear it around, if you don't it will leave bulges under the vinyl that you can see. Spreading it down by smearing it makes it flatter, it actually holds a little better too.

When you're done with the exposed side, flip it over, trim the vinyl a bit and cut the notches in the corners so when you fold it over (like the original) it will lay down better and not be all built up on top of each other...a little overlapping is fine, the glue will hold it well...I doubt that the 3M glue will hold this well at all...a hot glue gun is less than $5...invest in and stay sane.

I also took the time to remove the foam that was glued down on that peeled off from the original vinyl when I removed it...that took some time, but I thought it was important because I don't think the new vinyl would have stayed glued down to the foam...it needed a good bond to the actual paper-like material. One more suggestion...because the replacement vinyl does NOT have a foam backer it will show just about any imperfections...including as mentioned above the hot glue if it is not spread around before pushing the vinyl down to glue it...and the rivets that hold the mounting hardware (metal springs) will also show. Worth noting, because if you want to try it you might consider leaving the torn off foam on the back and trying to get it to glue down directly over it...this would save a tremendous amount of time in trying to remove and the foam padding would hide the rivets...my guess was that it wouldn't hold but I wish now I had tested it...my rivets don't show too much, but I am anal. Another idea might be to smear enough glue on the rivets to level them out before 3M glueing the vinyl down initially.

I glued the middle of the of the vinyl down to the edges of the creases mentioned above and then pulled the vinyl back a bit so that I was able to glue it into the creases area where it is apt to pull away if the glue fails. The remounting of the magazine netting holder will also mechanically help to hold the vinyl in place, but I didn't want to rely on that...I am not certain I am going to put them back on...the seats of the second row catch them and stretch out the shock cord, which is difficult to find anywhere...shortening it up helps, but its not too elastic-ie anymore...I couldn't find the brown cord anywhere and the only elastic cord I found was black and oval in shape...it just doesn't look right (not at Lowes, Home Depot or Jo-Ann Fabric or any of three hobbie/craft stores I tried)...easy enough to add later.

Sorry for hi-jacking this and going on and on, just hoping this helps someone from butchering a seat like I did...read carefully and try to disassemble and reassemble in the same day.

 

[volos]

Great stuff. My wife and I actually pulled the leather off the back and sowed in leather patch and added cut foam (which i burned in). Worked great, certainly not OEM but not torn and more comfy, and was a perfect solution for an 80s lover living on a grad-student budget. This thread helped at many points (lumbar knob was a big save). Working on the bottom now, and I was wondering if anyone had any pointers for the electrical control panel. I notice that you seem to be able to get at one screw of two from the back side, but I don't know how to get the other one or if the panel can just be pried. I don't want to beef on it to much for fear of breaking.
Thanks.

 

[subzali]

Okay, have a question. The OEM seat cover has one flap with a wire in it for the hog ring to attach to. Shane's cover has two flaps. Do the hog rings need to go through both or just one? Which one?

EDIT: I just went ahead and went through both flaps, figured why not. The metal rod with the rubber straps had me scratching my head for a minute too, but I think I now have it installed satisfactorily.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD at 85mph in an FJ40

 

[thespecialone]

darn, that is indeed smart....! (filed away for future use for something)

Japanese didn't invent the process of putting leather on seat covers, but they perfected the process!

 

[Old Fort]

Tip: Use care when cutting the slot in the new seatcover for this seat-latch lever on the rear seats. When you "feel for it" under the newly-installed seatcover, the tip of the lever - protruding from the seat at an rearward angle - will present itself to your fingers about one inch too far to the rear of the seat. So initiate your cut a bit forward (couple of inches) from where you feel the tip of the lever. Otherwise your cut might extend beyond the coverage of the trim plate, and be a highly visible mistake. Mine turned out okay, but it was a close call.

 

[Old Fort]

Tip: These small metal brackets, with their companion screws, serve to fasten the bottom edge of the seat-back panel to the seat frame. During handling, one of mine broke out of the old particle board verrrry easily. Handle with care.

 

[Old Fort]

Other miscellaneous TIPS:

(1) My kit was missing the replacement shock cord for the "magazine racks" on the front seat-backs, and i couldn't ever get MetricTLC to send it to me. I found useable black cord at both REI and Whole Earth Provision;

(2) My kit was missing the flat piece of vinyl (Frito-catcher?) that resides at the back of the front-seat lower cushions and is fastened with velcro and push-pins. Not sure if it was intended to be part of the kit, and I never raised the issue with MetricTLC because my old ones were still in decent shape so I just re-installed them;

(3) My kit didn't have enough hog rings. (And I had very few wasted.) Posters herein have indicated that they are easily sourced, but I did not find this to be true in my area. I guess this just isn't hog-ring country. After burning a tank of gas driving around town looking for them in fastener/hardware stores, I finally bummed some from the local auto upholstery shop (Coleman's - thanks for the help!).

(4a) My kit contained one badly flawed headrest. It took a couple of weeks, but MetricTLC came through with a replacement. Thanks! And....

(4b) did you know that the general consensus is that the front headrests on a 1993 are slightly larger than the rear ones? I had to pour up a big glass of Tito's and stare at them for a couple of hours to convince myself of this. But I now think it's true.

(5) Return to Romer's Post #11, above, and pay attention to TomH's first, uppermost pic showing the 12mm screws that serve to fasten the rear of the front seat bottoms in the frame. To avoid delays, it is critical to position the electric seat - before disconnect and removal, if possible -so that the heads of those screws are exactly in the middle of the side access holes. Otherwise, your socket may not have enough clearance to fit over the head of the screw.

(6) The J-channel (is that what they can be called?) fasteners on the MetricTLC product (such as at the bottom edge of the rear of the second-row seatbacks) are crimped much more tightly than Mr. T's. After a half-hour of swearing at them, I used my needle-pliers and flat screwdriver to pry them open a good bit, which made it much, much easier to accomplish the connection.

My seats now look pretty darned good. If your seats are beat, you should do this job.

 

[NLXTACY]

Soooo happy I found someone local to do all my seats, arm rests, head rests, console for $500 on the install

 

[Romer]

Tip: These small metal brackets, with their companion screws, serve to fasten the bottom edge of the seat-back panel to the seat frame. During handling, one of mine broke out of the old particle board verrrry easily. Handle with care.

Other miscellaneous TIPS:

(1) My kit was missing the replacement shock cord for the "magazine racks" on the front seat-backs, and i couldn't ever get MetricTLC to send it to me. I found useable black cord at both REI and Whole Earth Provision;

(2) My kit was missing the flat piece of vinyl (Frito-catcher?) that resides at the back of the front-seat lower cushions and is fastened with velcro and push-pins. Not sure if it was intended to be part of the kit, and I never raised the issue with MetricTLC because my old ones were still in decent shape so I just re-installed them;

(3) My kit didn't have enough hog rings. (And I had very few wasted.) Posters herein have indicated that they are easily sourced, but I did not find this to be true in my area. I guess this just isn't hog-ring country. After burning a tank of gas driving around town looking for them in fastener/hardware stores, I finally bummed some from the local auto upholstery shop (Coleman's - thanks for the help!).

(4a) My kit contained one badly flawed headrest. It took a couple of weeks, but MetricTLC came through with a replacement. Thanks! And....

(4b) did you know that the general consensus is that the front headrests on a 1993 are slightly larger than the rear ones? I had to pour up a big glass of Tito's and stare at them for a couple of hours to convince myself of this. But I now think it's true.

(5) Return to Romer's Post #11, above, and pay attention to TomH's first, uppermost pic showing the 12mm screws that serve to fasten the rear of the front seat bottoms in the frame. To avoid delays, it is critical to position the electric seat - before disconnect and removal, if possible -so that the heads of those screws are exactly in the middle of the side access holes. Otherwise, your socket may not have enough clearance to fit over the head of the screw.

(6) The J-channel (is that what they can be called?) fasteners on the MetricTLC product (such as at the bottom edge of the rear of the second-row seatbacks) are crimped much more tightly than Mr. T's. After a half-hour of swearing at them, I used my needle-pliers and flat screwdriver to pry them open a good bit, which made it much, much easier to accomplish the connection.

My seats now look pretty darned good. If your seats are beat, you should do this job.

Good tips. I did mess up the cut around the lever bracket. Thanks for contributing

Subzali - Sounds like you figured it out. You know where I live though

 

[quabity control]

I just finished this job, at least for the front seats so far and just thought I'd pitch in my .$.02 too.

1. I replaced both lower cushions on the front buckets. It is a bit of a bear getting the leather stretched over the front edge. I opted not to use the silicone spray because I was worried about screwing up the lovely new leather smell. It can be done without. I think it made things a bit more difficult in a way, but I started hog ringing from the center of the cushion and worked my way to the edges. I wanted to be sure that the bars were all centered in their channels and figured I could massage all the edges around. My hands were tired.

2. I'm recovering the back panels of the front buckets now. Don't know if there an easy way to get those one way star fasteners off the back of the netting frame. I was worried because the frame studs are plastic and I felt like prying the steel fasteners could pop them off. Ended up taking them to work and just splitting them with a tiny drill (I'm a dentist, so those tools are helpful). Probably a little cutoff disk in a Dremel could work without chewing up the panelling too much.

3. Questions. What kind of adhesive for the back panel recovering? I bought Weldwood contact cement and am planning on brushing on and then stapling around the edges. Also what sized staples did you guys use for the armrests, center console, back panel, etc?

 

[mtnzorro]

Looks good! I'm at roughly the same stage as you in this process (and same color). I emailed Shane about which adhesive to use, and he recommended 3m super 77 glue. I'm planning on doing those this weekend.

Did you install the heated seat elements too?

 

[quabity control]

Yeah I did. Didn't totally understand the directions about a 1 inch hole though. Does that mean its OK to cut some of the carbon webbing as long as you don't cut too much? I used a hole punch to punch between the webs, but did snip one or two fibers. I wish I had punched those kind of holes for the lateral ties on the seat back since the width is an issue there, but no creases on the finished product with hog rings, so all's well. Hope I can get the wiring figured out. You did the seat heaters I presume? Thinking of finding Lexus ES switches or just using the provided ones on blanks or something else?

Just pulled apart the console cover. Looks like I need to go get some short staples. Also, there was hardly any adhesive under that.

Also I'm thinking seriously of covering OVER the prior cover for the back panels on the buckets. Looks like the existing adhesive is going to pull some of the foam apart on the prior covering and could get messy. Only issue I see is if the plastic studs on the netting frame are too short to make it through the extra layer, but I don't think so. Any thoughts?

Overall, LOVE the look, feel, and smell. Super product.

 

[mtnzorro]

For the 1 in hole question, the directions in my seat elements said that i could cut up to 2 of them. I think a hole punch probably would have been a lot cleaner. For the holes that I cut, I lined each side of the element with this insulating tape that was included in the kit.

For the seat backs, Shane had mentioned using a wire brush to scrape off the old foam before applying the new leather. I think I'm just going to delete my rear baskets, as I never use them anyway. I did note that the cardboard/particle board itself was cracking in some spots, so i'll probably try to reinforce that in some way.

I sourced a couple of the lexus oak switches, but i'm missing the pig tail that goes between them and the harness under my center console. I emailed Dave Stedman stedman@japan4x4.com about getting those, and he can only get them with the aftermarket switches (which run about $62 a piece). At this point, I think I'm just going to install the switches that came with the kit, as I don't mind the look, and will be happy to get rid of a couple of those coin holders for that purpose.

Hopefully I can get it all back together this weekend. I'll post some pics once i do.

I have the middle row covers as well, but I may let my hands recover some before knocking those out.

The covers look amazing. My old front seat was complete garbage, so I'm pretty excited about how much of a difference these have made.