I think I see what you’re talking about. Metal bar on bottom of seat near the front edge?
Escape gear Seat Cover install help
- Thread starter silverhorse
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I believe it’s further back and closer to the underneath of the seat. I’ll get underneath there tomorrow and see if I can get it on camera.
Bear in mind I installed mine about a year ago so my memory isn't perfect.
Ok, I went out to see if I could get pictures now because I’d obsess about it otherwise, and who wants dreams about seat covers.
Anyway, first off I’d run that seat cover behind the plastic on the seat as seen in picture 1.
The bar in question is visible from the front, I was able to get a picture of it through this small opening on the passenger side seat, there wasn’t enough room on drivers side. Opening in this picture circled in red.
From this opening you’ll need to look up toward the bottom of the seat cushion in an area where you’ll be convinced you’re never going to reach and you’ll think removing the seat would be a good idea. I don’t know if that would make it easier or not, just know it is reachable from the rear with the seat installed and at its highest position. Strap and bar in question in this next picture.
At the bottom of the above picture you will see a head lamp, the next picture shows the scene from further away in the hopes of helping you have some spatial idea of where to look and what I’m talking about.
I hope this helps. It’s a tough job but that’s because these covers fit fantastically.
Good luck and let us know when your victorious.
Dude.......lifesaver! How the heck did you find that? It is seriously like way the heck up there. First 3-4 minutes I was positive my 08 must not have had the bar. Went back re-read your post, then got a bigger flashlight out and went back determined.....magic, there it was in all it's glory.
You saved my butt in a few ways:
1) Don't know why I didn't think to raise the seat all the way up. That'd have made the entire front install mucho easier. That was the ticket for finding and being able to reach the bar from the 2nd row
2) I knew mine looked a bit sloppy on the front edge when I took my previous pics. Then I saw you tucked the whole front edge and buckles UNDER the plastic. Sooooo much cleaner looking. Pauls video talks about the outside edge with the piping going under the plastic, but I didn't see or catch that the entire front edge goes under the plastic also. Looks much less DIY with that all cleaned up,
3) Now the 1 other part I thought looked a little sloppy was that the seat cover didn't go back all the way as far as it looked like it should. I could still see .5 to 1" of leather on the seat near the crease. Well now with this extra strap and that beefy bar i was able to fully tighten that up which pulls the flap and whole bottom cover further into the seat crack looking much cleaner.
Anyways, If I'm ever back east I owe you a beer
. Thank you! Much more impressed with the fit now. saving the Drivers for daylight now.
So glad to be able to help. Lord knows I’ve benefited a ton from so many people on here so I’m glad to be able to contribute to the overall mud brain trust.Dude.......lifesaver! How the heck did you find that? It is seriously like way the heck up there. First 3-4 minutes I was positive my 08 must not have had the bar. Went back re-read your post, then got a bigger flashlight out and went back determined.....magic, there it was in all it's glory.
You saved my butt in a few ways:
1) Don't know why I didn't think to raise the seat all the way up. That'd have made the entire front install mucho easier. That was the ticket for finding and being able to reach the bar from the 2nd row
2) I knew mine looked a bit sloppy on the front edge when I took my previous pics. Then I saw you tucked the whole front edge and buckles UNDER the plastic. Sooooo much cleaner looking. Pauls video talks about the outside edge with the piping going under the plastic, but I didn't see or catch that the entire front edge goes under the plastic also. Looks much less DIY with that all cleaned up,
3) Now the 1 other part I thought looked a little sloppy was that the seat cover didn't go back all the way as far as it looked like it should. I could still see .5 to 1" of leather on the seat near the crease. Well now with this extra strap and that beefy bar i was able to fully tighten that up which pulls the flap and whole bottom cover further into the seat crack looking much cleaner.
Anyways, If I'm ever back east I owe you a beer
View attachment 3297864View attachment 3297865
Make sure you move the seat to the max positions up and down before calling it a wrap. I found on my first attempt I had routed a strap in some way that limited the up or down max and I had to re do that particular strap.
This is the type of install that even with the best instructions you really need to dive in and sort your own way through it with the instructions as an aid. But once completed these really are the best fitting seat covers I’ve ever had.
The only downside to these is conditioning the leather from time to time. I have not done this since I installed them a year ago and the covers are not dirty enough to require cleaning yet… not sure what my plan is going to be.
Good advice about trying all the seat adjustments. Yeah I'm loving them so far now since re-doing the front straps. Thanks again for the advice!
How are y’all washing these?
I believe the time has come for mine to get washed, the vacuuming has reached its limits and after the last three weeks on the road they need it.
I also realized my install had one fatal flaw related to the bar on the front seats. I’ll have a post covering this when I reinstall them as this has been discussed before with questionable pictures.
I believe the time has come for mine to get washed, the vacuuming has reached its limits and after the last three weeks on the road they need it.
I also realized my install had one fatal flaw related to the bar on the front seats. I’ll have a post covering this when I reinstall them as this has been discussed before with questionable pictures.
I think they say to machine wash them gentle cycle and then let them air dry. Edit: Or is it hand wash them (like in the tub) and then let them air dry?
SEAWOLF
GOLD Star
That impressive you removed the seat to install. On mine, there is a front flap goes over the plastic kick panel, but maybe I installed them wrong.
Actually, I removed the seat to remove them.
After finding the care instructions online I decided against washing and ended up spot treating the problem areas with a tooth brush, soapy water, and a shop vac. They came out great.
I had to remove the seats to get the covers off because of how the little clip things were wedged between the support bar and seat bottom, see pics below… this would be the “above”’position as it’s on top of the bar in between the bar and the seat bottom. Also, I pulled the passenger seat out without raising the front bolster all the way up so I had to put it back in to raise it for install.
This all begs the question, how is everyone else installing these… under or above the seat bar. I went with above as it allows the front bolster full range of motion but it makes loosening the straps practically impossible.
Removing the seats had the added benefit of settling the bet between my wife and I as to who dropped the most food down there during our recent trip… it was her and it wasn’t even close.
Here is the bar, tt is in the front of the seat behind the plastic wrap around cover.
The seat covers have 5 straps, one of these straps need to wrap around this bar and back the the buckle like this.
The other 4 straps.
As you can see the buckle placement is right against that bar so loosening is an issue. I hadn’t planned on taking the seats out to do this but having done it once I think it will be a biannual maintenance item. This all owns me to properly condition the leather and clean the seat covers as well as clean up after my wife’s snacking casualties.
It also allowed me to run the straps right up against the seat avoiding any issues with wires and stuff, there’s a lot going on under there and feeling around with just my hands with the seats installed was a PITA.
I had to remove the seats to get the covers off because of how the little clip things were wedged between the support bar and seat bottom, see pics below… this would be the “above”’position as it’s on top of the bar in between the bar and the seat bottom. Also, I pulled the passenger seat out without raising the front bolster all the way up so I had to put it back in to raise it for install.
This all begs the question, how is everyone else installing these… under or above the seat bar. I went with above as it allows the front bolster full range of motion but it makes loosening the straps practically impossible.
Removing the seats had the added benefit of settling the bet between my wife and I as to who dropped the most food down there during our recent trip… it was her and it wasn’t even close.
Here is the bar, tt is in the front of the seat behind the plastic wrap around cover.
The seat covers have 5 straps, one of these straps need to wrap around this bar and back the the buckle like this.
The other 4 straps.
As you can see the buckle placement is right against that bar so loosening is an issue. I hadn’t planned on taking the seats out to do this but having done it once I think it will be a biannual maintenance item. This all owns me to properly condition the leather and clean the seat covers as well as clean up after my wife’s snacking casualties.
It also allowed me to run the straps right up against the seat avoiding any issues with wires and stuff, there’s a lot going on under there and feeling around with just my hands with the seats installed was a PITA.
I haven’t decided if the side straps are in their optimal positions or not but the covers fit well so I guess it’s fine.
Seat belt buckle side.
Other side. This one is difficult to see how it’s routed but it’s similar to the seat belt sides outside the metal seat frame but under the plastic.
Seat belt buckle side.
Other side. This one is difficult to see how it’s routed but it’s similar to the seat belt sides outside the metal seat frame but under the plastic.
steffen
HELC
After reading this thread, I feel like I’m about to embark on an epic quest where the health and welfare of my hands, self esteem, and seat wires are all threatened. Seems the easiest thing is to simply take the seats out. Or is that more difficult, or should I just attempt going fist first from the back of the seat. I have big hands…. Help.
I took my seat out, it’s not that bad of a task. The bonus of seat removal is being able to clean u see the seat and find all the lost stuff down there.
If you have a spacious work area inside where you can do this then go for it.
A word of caution, the corners of the seat rails are sharp as heck and will scratch anything they come into contact with so be careful with the actual extraction.
