Finally got around to replacing my leather seat covers. I bought a 2-tone 40th Anniversary set from (Shane Walters) AATLAS1X. I had originally planned to slap on the 2nd and 3rd row seatbacks myself and have a shop do the rest. Being zippered, how hard could it be? Well let me say, real *&^%$# hard.
So hard that in typical 80 Series Forum fashion, I decided NO ONE else could get this right to suit me, so I did the whole damn thing myself. All 3 painful *&^%$# rows.
I am not sure how many hours, probably 30 including seat R&R and carpet cleaning etc. And that doesn't include recovering the armrests or door panels, though the set includes the raw leather for those areas.
So for those who have done this themselves,
's to you. I'd rather do an entire front axle rebuild in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Tonopah, NV in 110 degree July heat than do this again. My advice is save yourself some agony and just pay someone to do it. But if you must, then here's what you need and what to watch out for:
- A whole &^%$load of #1 hogrings. I used 4 boxes because I had to undo my screwups a few times.
- Hog ring pliers. Ace Hardware sells this stuff (in da South at least.)
- A really good, new, sharp set of long-handled side cutters to remove the hogrings you screw up.
- A box of razorblades.
Some issues:
- The covers fit relatively well, but require some serious man-handling to stretch into place. I have a couple spots where I sure hope no one fat gets in my truck, for fear of some stitching popping loose. This was mostly apparant on the driver's lowers. I replaced both front lower foam cushions with new OEM foam and it took nearly everyone in my house te help me get the frame compressed down into the foam far enough to get the seat cover edges folded over and fastened.
- There are NO cutouts for any of the bolt boles, headrest tubes, etc. I found that by tapping the leather with the rounded end of my 1/2" ratchet against the undelying bolt hole, the hole opening would cut the leather in a nice neat circle and I could then finish it with a razor blade.
- The UGLIEST part of this ordeal was when I discovered that the cutouts for the power seat switches were missing. Even worse is that Toyota stitched in a piece of backing plastic to keep the leather opening from tearing on the side of the seat where the switch mounts. They then cut the necessary holes in that backing plastic so that the switch can protrude through. The switch itself mounts to the seat frame and is fixed in place, so if you get the backing stitched into the wrong spot, you are screwed. The switches won't pass through and the outer cover won't hide the stitching once you snap it on. So I had to disassemble the old seat cover side panel with the backing plastic in place and try and line it up with the new one and mark accordingly. Then I had to go have those stitched in by a local shop. I got home only to find that once I wrestled the new covers on, the openings still didn't line up quite right with the switches. I managed to make it work by moving the cover around a bit and removing some of the backing plastic, but it was not easy.
- The last issue is that the nice, neat "tucked" look of the OEM seats is accomplished using hogrings that pull the inside backing panels down against wires that are embedded into the foam. Once you cut the old ones out you'll see what it entails. Just don't forget to do all of them or the seat will not look tight and factory-installed.
This is a very tedious job if you want to do it right and have it look OEM-perfect. But it can be done. My truck had stunk from the PO's cigar smoke and now its like new. Headliner is clean, pillar covers are clean, carpets are clean, new rugs (including a brand new OEM cargo carpet mat I found hiding on eBay for $35) and the new hides look great. I have bought 3 of these trucks new and this is 100% as good as the day I drove them out of the dealership.


So for those who have done this themselves,

- A whole &^%$load of #1 hogrings. I used 4 boxes because I had to undo my screwups a few times.
- Hog ring pliers. Ace Hardware sells this stuff (in da South at least.)
- A really good, new, sharp set of long-handled side cutters to remove the hogrings you screw up.
- A box of razorblades.
Some issues:
- The covers fit relatively well, but require some serious man-handling to stretch into place. I have a couple spots where I sure hope no one fat gets in my truck, for fear of some stitching popping loose. This was mostly apparant on the driver's lowers. I replaced both front lower foam cushions with new OEM foam and it took nearly everyone in my house te help me get the frame compressed down into the foam far enough to get the seat cover edges folded over and fastened.
- There are NO cutouts for any of the bolt boles, headrest tubes, etc. I found that by tapping the leather with the rounded end of my 1/2" ratchet against the undelying bolt hole, the hole opening would cut the leather in a nice neat circle and I could then finish it with a razor blade.
- The UGLIEST part of this ordeal was when I discovered that the cutouts for the power seat switches were missing. Even worse is that Toyota stitched in a piece of backing plastic to keep the leather opening from tearing on the side of the seat where the switch mounts. They then cut the necessary holes in that backing plastic so that the switch can protrude through. The switch itself mounts to the seat frame and is fixed in place, so if you get the backing stitched into the wrong spot, you are screwed. The switches won't pass through and the outer cover won't hide the stitching once you snap it on. So I had to disassemble the old seat cover side panel with the backing plastic in place and try and line it up with the new one and mark accordingly. Then I had to go have those stitched in by a local shop. I got home only to find that once I wrestled the new covers on, the openings still didn't line up quite right with the switches. I managed to make it work by moving the cover around a bit and removing some of the backing plastic, but it was not easy.
- The last issue is that the nice, neat "tucked" look of the OEM seats is accomplished using hogrings that pull the inside backing panels down against wires that are embedded into the foam. Once you cut the old ones out you'll see what it entails. Just don't forget to do all of them or the seat will not look tight and factory-installed.
This is a very tedious job if you want to do it right and have it look OEM-perfect. But it can be done. My truck had stunk from the PO's cigar smoke and now its like new. Headliner is clean, pillar covers are clean, carpets are clean, new rugs (including a brand new OEM cargo carpet mat I found hiding on eBay for $35) and the new hides look great. I have bought 3 of these trucks new and this is 100% as good as the day I drove them out of the dealership.


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