seat cover question

[Jazgeek]

I got a set of seat covers that caribou used to sell off of ebay. Question for anyone who ever bought them previous.

do I remove the old seat vinyl and put on these new ones or do they fit overtop the old vinyl?

[adrians]

Jazgeek,

If they're vinyl covers or 'skins' ( like the ones I got from Bruce's) then you carefully removed the old vinyl covering and put the replacement vinyl cover over the foam and steel frame ( after you've painted the steel frame - to stop the rusting )

Regards

[Warren]

Be very careful pulling those cheaply made Caribou seat covers as they will want to rip at the seams near the bottom of the seat back. You will need to squeeze in the seatback foam then pull the cover over. There are some rods which are re-used which maintain the grooves(folds) of the covers but that is not a big deal as the new covers will have the places sewn in to insert the rods. Take some pictures of how the old seat covers are attached to the seat frames fro later reference. Go ahead and buy a bottom driver seat foam from International as you will probably need it.

I was not able to successfully stretch the headrest covers on some "trial" used headrests so I still have the original headrests which are still in good condition and a close match.

If you have the problem of bent/warped seatback frames, need to replace those with later more "beefy" frames. Mine is a 1979 and I believe the replacement stronger frames were from a 1982 junkyard car. I discussed this on the old forum a few years ago.

[mbouse]

Warren and all...

to get the replacement cover on the head rests, you need to use a professional grade steamer and get those covers as limp as pasta. careful, they will be hot as you quickly stretch the now pliable vinyl over the stubborn foam. It is possible that you will tear a stitch or two on the bottom of the cover....which you can easily re-stitch without being able to see the repair.

from the desk of BEEN THERE, DONE THAT.

[launieg]

I had great success getting headrests on another vehicle by using the plastic bag trick. Put a plastic shopping bag over the foam and the cover slides on easily over it. Then, either leave it in, or pull it out in pieces. Worked beautifully, but I only had one experience doing it - otherwise almost impossible to get the cover on. (Not my trick - old trick found on other forums.)