new leather seat cover install info

[fireball]

Guys, I ordered a set of new leather seat covers from MetricTLC a little while back. Finally getting around to installing them and looking for a little help. Anyone have any photos, install tips, info, etc.? I tried a quick search but didn't come up with much. Thanks!

 

[fireball]

I started with the passenger seat. Got the seat back disassembled and started on that. Here's my first tip that I didn't do... test the PS seat heater to make sure they work! I have a feeling this one doesn't. Still looking for any threads,tips,photos of anyone who has done this install.

 

[yotasavg]

Whoa did that get wet or something? Was it hard to get the old leather off?

 

[ENGINE er]

I did the metric seats on the front 2 rows about a year ago.

My hands hurt for a week after. Invest in some large snips to cut the old hog rings.

I also had to go to the hardware store and cut some new steel wire to affix the hog rings to in the seems.

It's really crappy work but the end result is awesome.

 

[fireball]

I don't know if it got wet or what... I'm going to drop the seat bottom back into place and hook up the heater today to test the seatback portion before reinstalling.

ENGINE -er, I am reusing the original steel wire. Were you not able to? The new covers are missing some of the fabric to attach the wire to, so I'm a bit worried about getting those portions tight. Not sure why they weren't included. Also, the seat back covers don't have holes cut for the armrest or head rest. Did you just cut holes or do they need to be sewed,sealed,etc. once cut? Thanks!


These pictures aren't the greatest, but compare the old vs. new. If you look closely at the new seatback, you'll see the light grey fabric sewed into the seams. This is where the steel wire threads through that gets the hog rings to attack it to the foam. The first horizontal seam up from bottom, the new leather cover does NOT have the grey fabric. There were 3 hog rings pulling this area back into the foam on the OEM covers.

 

[PDPerry]

While i didn't replace my front leather, I did take it off to have a tear repaired.

I 2nd the motion for a good & large pair of snips for the hog clips.

And I cheated on their replacement; I just used zipties. Works just fine.

Sent from my iPad using IH8MUD

 

[ENGINE er]

I just carefully cut Xs for the pass through and trimmed where appropriate.

With the plastic covers they finish out nicely.

I'm trying to remember why I had to re do some steel wire, I think I had some factory ones that were missing. I had grand plans of documenting the job but it was getting so tedious I was more focused on getting the job done right.

Also, for the bottoms I just cut the leather and pulled as tightly as I could and hog ringed it to the seat bottom mesh.

 

[fireball]

Engine, any pics of how yours turned out?

The seat back heater in both driver and pass side isn't working so I ordered new heaters. The new heater will make it difficult to use the horizontal seam attachments on the seat bottoms.

Here are the zip ties laid out and ready:



And the stopping point until the new heaters arrive Saturday.

 

[ENGINE er]

I personally wouldn't trust zip ties, but I'll see if I have some pics of my finished seats on the net.

I would fear the zip ties would create a rub point and they would wear over time through the leather.

They could also stretch.

 

[fireball]

The tortoise won right??!!

New seat heaters arrived today. One seat back complete.

 

[Porter]

Not too shabby Fireball. I'll be starting on my passenger seat this weekend, maybe more if I'm good.

 

[FlammableFishie]

View attachment 849151

Looks great!

 

[fireball]

Have fun Porter! It's not a terrible job, but not exactly fun. I used a mixture of hog rings and zip ties. I bought some Ty-Rap 7" premium zip ties which are much nicer than standard ones. If you use ties, make sure you use a nice end/flush cutter and then rotate the tie so that the nub is buried in the foam instead of facing/touching the cover. I can't imagine having any problems with them.

On the seat back, I couldn't even figure out how to get the hog ring pliers in there to install in some of the areas even had I wanted to! In this photo you can pretty clearly see the 3 distinct tie locations in the lower horizontal seam. I don't know why the new covers don't have the fabric to accept the metal rod sewn into this location. The upper seam looks much better.



The seat bottom is the same way, new covers only have the metal rod fabric for the front seam. I'm going to skip the rear seam altogether on the seat bottom and see how that turns out.

 

[Porter]

Question- did you remove the headrest covers, then install new cover, or just add new cover over the old?

And I like the combined use of zipties and hogrings- I think I'll ziptie to get semi tight, then follow up with proper hog rings.

 

[fireball]

I'm not sure how you would get the hog ring and the pliers down into the grooves? Two of The attachment points on the seatbacks have access from the back so you can put the Rings in that way:



Keep the original head rest and armrest covers on and just put the new ones overtop.

 

[fireball]

A few wrinkles in the seat bottom but not too bad. This is a lot like work...

 

[Porter]

I just finished passenger seat, and the small second row seat with the MetricTLC leathers. You will have to scavenge several of the plastic grab rods off the old seats, and fish them down the new fabric sleeves for the hog rings to attach (or use metal coat hangar rods if you wish). Overall, the finished product is a huge improvement. Fingers, wrists and trapezius muscles recover in 24 hours or so, unless you stab a finger with a hog ring, ouch. Anyone doing this job in one weekend is a beast.

I'm glad I'm doing this, but this will be my last upholstery job I'm quite sure. And Fireball, your skills might be a bit better than mine-will post pics when all done in the next week I'm guessing.
Labor so far...
5 hours passenger seat complete turnaround,
3 hours small back seat
1.5 hours 2nd row headrests. Front row headrests, and seatback leather will be done by upholstery shop-dont want to screw those up.

The pic below is astronaut style, but you get the idea.

 

[fireball]

Porter looks great!

I'm only doing the fronts and haven't gotten around to the driver seat yet. The pass seat I could pick at a few hours a time over the course of a week but I'll need to do the driver side quickly !

Fwiw I put the new armrest and headrest covers right over the original stuff.

 

[Porter]

I finally got my leather install completed. Overall I'm happy with the finished product, there was some custom fab required in a few places, but nothing too difficult. There will be blood! Sore fingers, shredded fingernails and sliced flesh is all part of the process. It seems with me it's part of every process on the Land Cruiser! After completing this job there's simply no way I'll ever sell this truck.

The most challenging seat was the double bench in the second row. Also, I removed all headrest leather and armrest leather with an X-Acto knife then was able to get the new leather on. I thought the two front head rests would be a bear, but they were rather easy.

 

[Porter]

The before pic