The Custom gets a little more custom with new seats

Sonders · March 13, 2023

well, had a very productive weekend. Came across a set of OEM grey leather replacement seat covers from one of our vendors at work. $200 for the set, I couldn't pass up. Started Friday evening with the rear seat. Let me tell you, the covers for the seat back storage bins.....they are a huge pain in the ass to swap out; my finger tips still hurt from fighting with the hard plastic tabs that lock the cover in place. Seats weren't all that hard to remove or install in the truck. The little plastic locking tabs in the sitting surfaces of the seat cushions are a nightmare and also hard on the fingertips. The front seats were a little tougher than the rear as there was more disassembly required, as well as more of the plastic tabs to deal with on the seat back and the seat bottom. I started with the passenger seat, and finally got into a routine on the drivers seat and it took half as long to finish. I still have to finish the front headrests, but below are some pics of the process.

I've hated how the front headrest angle forward since day one of owning the truck. On long road trips, after a few hours my neck and shoulders would hurt from my head being tipped slightly forward from the dang headrest. I decided I would try to remedy this while I had the seats a part. I completely took apart the drivers seat headrest and am working on straightening the angled posts. Basically sticking the posts in my vise and slowly bending them back ever so slightly a little at a time to straighten them. I also figured while I had them apart I'd remove the metal clips that lock the headrests to the seats. Now I can pull the headrests out without having to use a screwdriver to unlock the stupid clips.

Sonders · March 13, 2023

oh and my great deal was a little disheartened when I realized that there were no covers for the jump seat. So unfortunately it's still black cloth. Trying to figure out something for it. I've not seen anywhere to order just a leather cover for jump seat only. I was a little surprised by how little the carpet covers on the floor and none at all on back wall. I probably could have added more sound deadening while seats where out, but really the truck is really quiet inside the cab as it is, so I left it alone.

Jettech1 · March 14, 2023

14 hours ago, Sonders said:

well, had a very productive weekend. Came across a set of OEM grey leather replacement seat covers from one of our vendors at work. $200 for the set, I couldn't pass up. Started Friday evening with the rear seat. Let me tell you, the covers for the seat back storage bins.....they are a huge pain in the ass to swap out; my finger tips still hurt from fighting with the hard plastic tabs that lock the cover in place. Seats weren't all that hard to remove or install in the truck. The little plastic locking tabs in the sitting surfaces of the seat cushions are a nightmare and also hard on the fingertips. The front seats were a little tougher than the rear as there was more disassembly required, as well as more of the plastic tabs to deal with on the seat back and the seat bottom. I started with the passenger seat, and finally got into a routine on the drivers seat and it took half as long to finish. I still have to finish the front headrests, but below are some pics of the process.

I've hated how the front headrest angle forward since day one of owning the truck. On long road trips, after a few hours my neck and shoulders would hurt from my head being tipped slightly forward from the dang headrest. I decided I would try to remedy this while I had the seats a part. I completely took apart the drivers seat headrest and am working on straightening the angled posts. Basically sticking the posts in my vise and slowly bending them back ever so slightly a little at a time to straighten them. I also figured while I had them apart I'd remove the metal clips that lock the headrests to the seats. Now I can pull the headrests out without having to use a screwdriver to unlock the stupid clips.

You went all out!! Great mod. I would do this if I could find the cloth ones with the compartments. So far no luck there but oh well. Looks great and I'm sure this will help others who want to do the same thing!! Awesome!!

Jettech1 · March 14, 2023

14 hours ago, Sonders said:

I've hated how the front headrest angle forward since day one of owning the truck. On long road trips, after a few hours my neck and shoulders would hurt from my head being tipped slightly forward from the dang headrest.

The seats in my truck don't do that to me but I had a 2014 Impala that drove me nuts because of that. I finally ripped out the headrests and did the same thing. Put them in a vice and bent the rods slightly back. That was no easy chore either, those rods were hard as hell to bend, but well worth doing.

Sonders · March 14, 2023

Got the headrest bent back a little and put back in the truck; fits my head perfect now with a slight back angle, instead of forward angle. I wanted to also fit some sort of lower back lumbar support between the seat cushion and leather cover while I was at it, but couldn't get anything to fit and still get the cover on. One of these days I'll swap the drivers seat out to a power seat w/ lumbar when I come across one.