Reno67

Hello all,
I have a question on changing the seats..........the driver's side is looking alittle worn and could use a rest. I have read the archived posts on the topic and would like to ask you more knowledgable folks which is easier to perform.

I understand there are two good ways to do this.
1. Remove seatback frame, leather, and cushion by removing the bolts that connect the seatback frame to the seat bottom frame. And swap the whole thing (frame and all),
2. Remove the setback leather and cushion (using the bolster squeezing method). And swapping only the seatback leather and cushion and not swapping the frame.

I would like to do this without damaging any of the leather if I can. I am kinda a novice to this, so any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated. I have the service manual and it seems to point to method #1.

I have the standard seats with power controls for both driver and passenger seats. Not sports seats.

thanks much.

skidmark

It's much easier to just swap the cushions, it took me about 15 minutes to do both and no tools are needed. You'll find a metal handle in the front of the base seat. Push down on the cushion and pull the handle down and push it toward the back and the cushion just pops out. The back cushions are held by 4 clips (2 on each side of seat). Just push in toward the center about halfway down and you should feel it unclip. Do the same on the other side. The other 2 are near the top, use the same procedure. Once you get the first clip removed you'll get the idea, it's very easy.

JonM

JasonL

Are you trying to swap the seats from side-to-side, to even out the wear?

On the 94-96 seats you *must* unbolt the seatback frame from the seat bottom frame. This is because the frame is surrounded the leather/foam. Piece of cake, it's like eight bolts per side.

The seat bottom cushion will unhook like the earlier cars.

You don't really want to swap the entire frame, because the reclining adjustment levers will be on the wrong side. Also, the reclining adjustment mechanisms (a rod and spring deal) might be on opposite sides for driver and passenger...so you'll want to remove the bottom cushions and inspect both frames before you unbolt anything.

Reno67

Thanks for the replys.

I am trying to swap the seats between the drivers and passengers side....... to even out the wear. I can swap the seat bottoms (leather, cushion), but was not going to swap the bottom frame. I was trying to determine if it was easier to swap the seatback frame (including the cushion and leather) or just the cushion and leather (not the seatback frame).

The service manuals says I have to remove the seatback frame from the bottom frame to remove the cushion and leather anyway. It looks like this is the way to go with my 96. Right?

thanks again

Jeffvette

Just do it the simple way. Undo the 4 bolts per side and the pigtail and swap them over. The only downfall is the seats are going to look backwards. The sports set crease will not be going the correct way, and the base seat should be fine though.

JasonL

I just took another look at my seats. It looks like you have two options

1. swap the entire seat assembly (seatback tilt lever will be on wrong side)

2. Unbolt seatback frame from bottom frame.

I just verified that the seatbacks will work properly on either side if you do #2. It only takes a few extra minutes so that's what I'd recommend. The service manual procedure pretty much says it all...piece of cake :)


[Modified by JasonL, 8:55 PM 10/28/2002]

R23HTC

No, because the base of the seat has the reclining adjustment and it'll be on the wrong side.

When GlockLT4 totalled his '94 I got his passengers seat and did the swap. If you want the base to be on the proper side this is what's involved.

Take both seats out of the car. You can unbolt them from the motors and leave the motors bolted to the car. (lighter this way as well :yesnod: ) Swapping the bottom seat cushions will be the easist part. The backs aren't to bad. If you set the seats side by side you'll notice the frames for both of the backs (stock seats, I'm not sure about the sports) are the same. You'll have to disconnect the reclining mechanism on both and unbolt them from the bottom frame. Switch them and hook the mechanism backup. I suggest putting the center bolts on the sides in first loosely and then adding the others. You'll see as you do it. I also switched the bottom springs around as obviously the drivers side gets more wear than the passnegers side. If you're very tall, you may want to forget this or some even take them out all together for more headroom. Good luck.

I now have two passengers seats, but you'd never know it because one is on a drivers frame. :D

Reno67

Hi all,
I just finished swapping the seatback frame (incl cushion and leather). I un-bolted them from the seat bottom frame. It took me almost 3 hours......... but next time it should be easier. Thanks for all the tips and help. This is a great forum.

cya
:seeya

GS 163

After reading this post, you guys got me thinking. My drivers seat is showing wear, not bad, but still showing some none the less. I went out and looked to see how involved it would be, I unscrewed the the latch bezels on the top of the back of each seat. Removed seat cushion, unzipped the seat cover on the back and pulled the foam and leather off each seatback and swapped. When reinstalling, making sure to line up the inflatable bolsters in the right place. Put seat cushions back in place, make sure all the 6 way adjusters are working fine. Total time start to finish, 20 minutes. No problems, only tool need was a phillips screwdriver to remove and replace 4 screws.:)


[Modified by JPLT1, 3:35 PM 10/30/2002]