TheAMCForum.com Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > The Garage > Body/Interior
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - installing new seat "socks"/covers
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Click for TheAMCForum Rules / Click for PDF version of Forum Rules
Your donations help keep this valuable resource free and growing. Thank you.

installing new seat "socks"/covers

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 234
Author
Message
billd View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: Jun/27/2007
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline
Points: 30894
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/25/2018 at 3:04pm
It didn't matter where I laid the seat parts - Pickle, Lucky, any of them, found and confiscated them as cat beds. I had to hide the NEW parts, afraid they may do as Pickle does sometimes - "kneed them into shape".......... ugh, claw marks in new seats? Nope, lock those things away!
When I brought the new parts in, Koko and Tuvak immediately checked them out and wanted to make beds out of them.
(spelled that way to avoid law suite from Paramount in case OUR Tuvak became a star)
Back to Top
billd View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: Jun/27/2007
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline
Points: 30894
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/25/2018 at 6:26pm
Well I discovered something - the first seat I took apart and redid was the driver seat - and I found it interesting that on the bottom part of the seat - the hog rings that pulled the seat down into the foam to give it shape were not around the seat frame itself   - like they missed or something, and I thought that was weird. But I also believed the rings had been put in from the bottom - no reason to not believe that.
When I pulled apart the passenger seat bottom I found out differently!
One side had only ONE ring around the wire bale and frame and all the rest were just around the wire and into the foam. Then on the other side of the seat two rings made it around the seat frame wires, the rest were into the foam. And the foam BOTTOM was did not have holes in it where they would have put the rings in. And all the rings were close at the bottom of the seat foam, indicating they came in from the TOP.
So that's why there were SO MANY rings, and only one, two or three made it around the seat frame - they were indeed put in from the TOP. 
The proof or evidence is that - 
The foam was NOT penetrated from below - there were no holes were any of the hog rings were,
The hog rings were all situated such that the opening would have pointed downward and then closed - that's why so many had only gripped FOAM and not gone around the frame wires,
MOST of the hog rings went only down into foam and never made it around the frame - to grip the foam only and not the frame shows they were inserted from the top side and not the bottom. 
I can see why they would do that - you don't want a lot of holes in the foam in that area from inserting the TOOL that put the rings in - because that foam is what went between the rings, the cover and the frame below. With the foam compromised in that area, it would have been metal against metal (which it later was with wear.
So somehow the factory did it all from the top - I have pictures to show it wasn't done from below now that I've taken apart the passenger seat. 
I also found a logo that sure looked a heck of a lot like the CHRYSLER STAR LOGO!
I may be wrong, but it sure looks like a Chrysler logo. I'll post a pic later.
I found date codes - most are November 1972 but one is January 1973 - both of which support the idea my car was made after February 1973 possibly as late as April? Seems like a long time to have PC seats in stock - January to April........... but I'm just "guessing".

Pic of the logo and date as promised - the others didn't have this and were dated something like November 1, 1972




Edited by billd - Mar/25/2018 at 6:40pm
Back to Top
Lyle View Drop Down
AMC Addicted
AMC Addicted
Avatar

Joined: Jul/17/2014
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 772
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lyle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/25/2018 at 7:21pm
Well the seat looks real good. They may have hog ringed the bale cord with the material folded up from the front or side but I cannot imagine how it could be done from the top. But if there's a will there's a way and maybe they they did.
Anyhow, looks good and the Eagle cable looks good also.
Back to Top
billd View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: Jun/27/2007
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline
Points: 30894
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/25/2018 at 7:33pm
I'm going to try to pull the foam to the side and go in from the top/side. The bottom isn't working although using wire to hold the thing in place while I place the rings is a good idea and I did use that on the first seat. 
After I de-rust the passenger seat bottom frame and get it painted up and cleaned up nice, I'll put that one together and try a different method of going in with the rings. 
For the back of the seat the DeWalt tool worked fine - for the seat bottoms I'm using other pliers and those are working out very well. Luckily the bottoms don't require that many rings.

I had plenty of metal sheathed cables but didn't want that thin stranded cable running in metal, plus if it RUSTED, YIKES. So I found out the thin cable runs VERY smoothly in this plastic heater control cable sheath. 
Man, I can't find a stopping point - seats, while they are out, do the shifter, geesh, put in a console at the same time but that needs fixing up, too. Can't just do one thing without a dozen other things taking place, too.
Back to Top
billd View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: Jun/27/2007
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline
Points: 30894
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/25/2018 at 10:12pm
Got the passenger seat back put together. I had the cable replaced, etc. and tonight put the cover on.
All that's left now (HAHAHA - all that's left HAHAHA) is to do the bottom of the passenger seat. That's the harder part IMO.
I still have to finish cleaning up the seat bottom frame, paint it, and then do the rails for BOTH seats - remove rust and scale, clean them up and paint them, but the parts I do in the house taking up Barbara's quilting and sewing table area are almost done. 

Boy is this going to make a huge difference. 
Still wish I could come up with a BACK SEAT better than mine (actually almost any back seat is better than mine!)




Back to Top
billd View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: Jun/27/2007
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline
Points: 30894
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Mar/27/2018 at 11:10am
New "covers" successfully installed on all 4 parts now - driver seat bottom and back, passenger seat bottom and back. 
I finished the passenger seat bottom this AM - man, that is the hardest part of the whole thing, those bottoms.
I remove the little bit of rust that had started on each frame, treated the rust areas (rust CONVERTER, not just a "cover it up" stuff), painted them and let them dry 24 hours after each step (no need to work with paint that's less than slick when stretching covers over them!)
So with the passenger seat bottom cover on, I put the stainless trim on each seat bottom - the one that goes around where the seat back latch or hook goes into, and the two black plastic buttons on the backs of the sear frames - the ones that the seat back tips back against when you put the seat back in normal position after having it forward. 
I am happy to say that my fingers haven't totally failed me in that I was able to detect the original screw holes in each area, and CAREFULLY installed those remaining parts without any boo-boos, no extra holes, no tears or rips, no slips of the knife or screwdrivers, the screws went right in the proper holes and made only one hole in the vinyl per screw. Perfect. They look great.
So once the SHIFTER is in, after I figure that out, and the console is in place, these seats go back in the car where they will be far safer. 
Thanks to those who gave tips such as the dry cleaning plastic bag over the backs to make the covers slip right on. Slip on they did but the kicker was they wanted to slip back off until I got at least a couple of hog rings back in the bottom - but that bag trick was great. And as my wife said - they won't crinkle and make noise in there. 
And the other trick for using wire to pull the wires in the seat bottoms into place and holding them there until I got the hog rings in - it would have been far worse without that one, too. Once at least 1 or 2 rings were in place it wasn't that big a deal but the wire ensured they were correct and even  before I started the hog ring process.
The DeWalt tool was perfect for the seat backs, then I used my hose clamp pliers to put the rings in the seat bottoms where the DeWalt tool couldn't reach - which was most of those on the bottom. But that tool made the seat backs go FAST - I was able to use it on all of the rings for the seat backs - no fumbling. 
And NO, I am NOT going into the auto upholstery business - geesh, I'm too old and clumsy for that, I feel really good just getting my own done.
Plus I have too many other projects and tasks and things to do........ stick to what I'm better at and leave THIS to those who are far better and know far more than I do (which is a whole lot of people)

Thanks again for tips - you honestly made these go a whole lot easier!!

Once these are in place, I'll do pictures of the completed seats, installed.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 234
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.03
Copyright ©2001-2019 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.125 seconds.
All content of this site Copyright © 2018 TheAMCForum unless otherwise noted, all rights reserved.
PROBLEMS LOGGING IN or REGISTERING:
If you have problems logging in or registering, then please contact a Moderator or