it's my 80 that's Baja Bound..

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Operation comfy cruiser...

Ok. Since day 1 of owning this rig - I have hated the seats. The original seats had a huge holes in the leather with disintegrating foam. I thought some new leather would make the seat a bit more comfortable. I ordered the "genuine leather" seat covers from a land cruiser specific outfitter. While the fit was great - the material wasn't leather, it was vinyl. Needless to say the seat was extremely hot and very uncomfortable and after 6 months the stitching was starting to give.
So my quest for comfortable seats continued. One morning with an open work schedule I decided to take a trip to Mastercraft's headquarters to sit in a few seats. I really liked one in particular as it was a suspension seat that reclined. But their bracketing didn't fit and they weren't interested in making one for me and I don't have the skills to, so I left. The search goes on...
Finally I went to a local shop so I could get an accurate quote to rebuild my seat cushion and re-skin my 2 front seats. After visiting with Jason at California Fabworks (Carlsbad CA) for about 30 minutes - he quoted me a great price and ordered the leather.
4 weeks later the leather was here and my appointment was set. In order to keep my truck I dropped off my PS seat for one day then my whole truck another day. I'm a sucker for bells and whistles, if you haven't noticed, and added the heated seat option during the install. I asked Jason not to completely install the heater switches because I'm trying to source a dual temp, vertical switch that fits in the middle console change slots (ES 300 switch of which year I don't know yet). He said no problem and left me plenty of slack just in case I have to modify something.
So far I'm extremely happy with the seats.

NOTE: I'm not talking about Shane's leather - the vendor I mentioned earlier has since changed the wording of their ad to be clear its not leather.

Here are 3 pictures... first one is the original seat the day I bought it. 2nd is the day after I re-skinned it with "genuine leather". 3rd is after California Fabworks rebuild and re-skin.
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for sale and new seats 032.webp
 
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Looks great! Cost????
 
Very nice! They may be getting a call from me.
 
Looks comfy too!
 
Who sold you genuine leather seats that turned out to be vinyl? It'd be nice to know for the future. Truck sounds pretty nice BTW!!
 
80BajaBound said:
a few more pics...
Click to expand...

My 100's seat belts were nasty, unbolt the shoulder bolt and pull all the webbing out from the re-tractor and use a zip tie to keep it from going back in. then close the door and put it all in a bucket full of hot water and and soak them. Then spray with Castrol Super Clean and lightly scrub with soft brush till clean. Soak in clean water and rub and rinse very well in the bucket. then towel dry and then hang dry. They will be as new.....

Shane
 
AATLAS1X said:
My 100's seat belts were nasty, unbolt the shoulder bolt and pull all the webbing out from the re-tractor and use a zip tie to keep it from going back in. then close the door and put it all in a bucket full of hot water and and soak them. Then spray with Castrol Super Clean and lightly scrub with soft brush till clean. Soak in clean water and rub and rinse very well in the bucket. then towel dry and then hang dry. They will be as new.....

Shane
Click to expand...

Shane, are you saying my seat belts need cleaning?!?:flipoff2:
Thanks for the tip:cheers:
 
Mine were so bad they would nearly stand up strait!

If you do it they way I said, they will come out looking new, or look in my thread and see the end result.
 
damn - looks great! i should have gone with the perf'd leather from shane for my rig! :clap:
 
AATLAS1X said:
Mine were so bad they would nearly stand up strait!

If you do it they way I said, they will come out looking new, or look in my thread and see the end result.
Click to expand...

I'll take that as a yes, though mine don't stand on their own...:o

As far as the perfs go Adrox, I'd go without next time. Before purchasing I didn't think about the idea of spills and dust/ dirt getting in there. But after a small amount of coffee spilled on my new seats, I scurried to find napkins to dry it up before it soaked in.
 
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Monday I scored a used m8000 w/ synthetic line and hawse fairlead. I drove down to Sorrento Valley (36 miles round trip) to pick it up. I chatted with "Baja Dan" (expedition portal guy) for a few minutes and off I went. When I arrived home I started cleaning out the receipts and loose paper floating around. While picking up some change in the middle console, I noticed a lot of heat radiating from the transmission. I picked up a quarter that was resting on top of the bolt at the bottom of the console - it was HOT to the touch, the bolt, quarter and everything around it. I'm guessing the bolt was about 150* (too hot to touch for a extended period of time).
I'm hoping this is just a ATM issue as I'm replacing it in a few weeks. My question is...
Should I be concerned about anything else besides the transmission?
 
80BajaBound said:
Monday I scored a used m8000 w/ synthetic line and hawse fairlead. I drove down to Sorrento Valley (36 miles round trip) to pick it up. I chatted with "Baja Dan" (expedition portal guy) for a few minutes and off I went. When I arrived home I started cleaning out the receipts and loose paper floating around. While picking up some change in the middle console, I noticed a lot of heat radiating from the transmission. I picked up a quarter that was resting on top of the bolt at the bottom of the console - it was HOT to the touch, the bolt, quarter and everything around it. I'm guessing the bolt was about 150* (too hot to touch for a extended period of time).
I'm hoping this is just a ATM issue as I'm replacing it in a few weeks. My question is...
Should I be concerned about anything else besides the transmission?
Click to expand...

hmm, that is strange because there is really nothing from the tranny touching the floor pan, even the shifter is a separate mount on top of the tranny. If the floor pan bolts are that hot, then something is really hot in the driveline. I would be most worried about the transfercase because you are keeping that, have you had the fluid and stuff checked on the tranny/transfercase?

Cheers,

Michael
 
Catalytic converters generate lots of heat. They are offset, but still should be checked. Make sure the heat isn't coming from the rear heater or hoses.
 
cody c said:
Maybe flush the trans cooler or install an aftermarket one. Heat is the biggest killer of auto's aparently.
It might not hurt to check the t-case fluid while your in there, though it is probably fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks Cody - I'm going to flush the trans cooler then drain and fill the tcase fluid - hopefully my tcase is ok.

tlcruiserman said:
hmm, that is strange because there is really nothing from the tranny touching the floor pan, even the shifter is a separate mount on top of the tranny. If the floor pan bolts are that hot, then something is really hot in the driveline. I would be most worried about the transfercase because you are keeping that, have you had the fluid and stuff checked on the tranny/transfercase?

Cheers,

Michael
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if it's been checked - I'm going to change the fluids anyway. Did you receive my check with you named spelled correctly?

yoopercharged said:
Catalytic converters generate lots of heat. They are offset, but still should be checked. Make sure the heat isn't coming from the rear heater or hoses.
Click to expand...

I insulated my entire truck to keep that heat out. I used sound deadening material for the quarter panels and doors but used Mighty Mat (AUTOMOTIVE / AUTO / CAR INSULATION FOR UNDER CARPET | eBay) for the floor boards all the way up to the firewall. The only place I didn't insulate is under the middle console, exactly where I'm getting this heat.:bang:
 
Burrito warmer?
 
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