How do you reupholster a seat?

[71swb4x4]

I checked the FAQ's, and tried a goole search but I've come up empty-handed. Has anyone reupholstered their own seat? Any tips for me?
I am reupholstering my buckets from my Jimmy. I bought new upholstery from a board vendor, I just need to figure out how to get it on. My foam looks good, but I haven't pulled the old upholstery yet so who knows. I have pulled one seat out of the Jimmy and can see that I need to get some hog rings and hog ring pliers to attach the covers. Is there more to it than that, or can I just pull the old covers and put the new ones on?

[shifty]

Basically, it's just that simple.

Use some cutters to clip off the old hog rings. Remove the old cover. Remove the existing foam and make sure it's not flattened in some areas. If it's nasty or falling apart, you can buy new foams for it from any of the board vendors. Some seats use a spring + foam setup - there are wavy springs that run front to back on the seat (top to bottom on the back) - check for broken ones if this is how your setup is.

So - remove old cover by snapping the hog rings. Check the foam and springs for it crapping out. Replace as necessary. Slide the new cover on (i've heard of using cellophane over the old foam to make it slide on easier). Snap on the new hogrings like the old ones after you remove anything used to help slide the new cover on.

There's a good "howto" around here somewhere...

[71swb4x4]

Thanks shifty. I just found this how to that seems pretty good: http://www.fourwheeler.com/howto/51159/
It's a bench seat for a 72 but it can't be much different than doing a bucket.
I will go get some hog rings tomorrow and see what I can do.

[powell72]

Let the covers sit out in the sun for a couple of hours so they get good and soft. They're much easier to work with then.

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by powell72

Let the covers sit out in the sun for a couple of hours so they get good and soft. They're much easier to work with then.

I am guessing you have never been to South Dakota in late December, although I can't believe that things are much warmer in Northern Colorado.
I will have to figure some other way to soften them.

[powell72]

Sorry, stupid comment. I forgot I did mine in June!

[powell72]

By the way you could have done them here today, it was 57 degrees.

[matthufham]

the upholstery shop i'm going to, the guy said he would sew one up however i imagined, blah blah... and the key thing he just had to do was add a layer of thin foam over the worn seat foam, and you would never know it was the same seat. this guy has a contract with the school district and does seats on school buses for a living, he says he will always do this foam thing, or if it's real bad he'll just put new foam in it.

[zeeklu]

The hardest part for me was cleaning the old foam off of the seat frame. Chris

[shifty]

matthuffman is correct - if you want to add more foam to your seat or create your own seat foam, here's my tips:

Get your foam from the fabric store. They sell it in different heights and thicknesses - you can use this to pile them on and contour the seat to your shape.

To shave the foam off for shaping, use an electric turkey carver, it's a quick and easy way to shape.

To stick pieces of glue together to make the rough cubic shapes you want (before shaving) use spray-on upholstery glue, you can get it from almost any store.

Long story short, get the foam in the shapes and sizes you need. Glue them together to make your rough shape, then use the electric turkey carver knife to perfect it.

Hope this helps.

[71swb4x4]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just got back from the store with the hog rings and pliers. I will give it a shot tomorrow and see what happens. I will take pictures along the way.