Upholstery?

[Cbarnes]

I did a search for upholstery, didn’t find anything real recent.  I have found a set of Captains chairs and console at a local wrecking yard.  Was hoping to find factory upholstery to recover them.  Does anyone have any new leads on factory upholstery?

Thanks,
Carl

[FuzzFace2]

Are you going to do the work or you looking for factory cloth to have a shop recover them?
I would say if a shop have them get something close unless this is a show truck and has to be 100% factory then you will need to look at SMS for the cloth and have a shop sow it up.

As for a kit you can do part of a problem what I find is what different placed call a "cover kit"
Is it a blanket "cover" or a factory replacement of the bottom & back of the bench seat they call "cover kit"?

I would love to get a factory or close to it kit to redo the bench seat in my truck and what I am finding there is nothing like it so may just get something close and give it a shot of doing it myself?
Dave ----

[Rusty_S85]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Are you going to do the work or you looking for factory cloth to have a shop recover them?
I would say if a shop have them get something close unless this is a show truck and has to be 100% factory then you will need to look at SMS for the cloth and have a shop sow it up.

As for a kit you can do part of a problem what I find is what different placed call a "cover kit"
Is it a blanket "cover" or a factory replacement of the bottom & back of the bench seat they call "cover kit"?

I would love to get a factory or close to it kit to redo the bench seat in my truck and what I am finding there is nothing like it so may just get something close and give it a shot of doing it myself?
Dave ----

I don't know if LMC still has it, but they had a listing I saw few years back that were upholstery kits that come with the top and bottom already made all you do is simply install the burlap to the springs, put the batting or foam down and slip the upholstery covers down over then hog ring the bottom close to the frame.

I personally won't be doing this because I know vinyl doesn't handle daily use very well and I personally want a local upholstery shop to make me the covers out of leather.  Only thing is I don't know if it would be possible for the upholstery shop to duplicate the OE pattern.  I seem to recall the inserts on my old seat were a basket weave type pattern in vinyl.

[Cbarnes]

Definitely not a show truck,  but would like to keep it some what original looking.  I can have a local upholstery shop install cat skins leather.  Haven’t checked with them yet, they may have access to the factory looking fabric.  Was just hoping someone was making the pre sewn covers that you could put on at home.

[BigBrother-84]

Hi Carl,

Is your truck with a bench seat?
If so, I bought mine from LMC and I’m very satisfied.  I decided to keep the original vinyl under and "wrap" it with the new upholstery.  Did a very nice job, original style look.

I think they sale couple of styles, this is the one  I bought (49-5735).


Hope this can help you!

[Cbarnes]

My truck currently has a split back bench.  But I am wanting to put the Captains chairs and console in it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Carl, what have you found at your local wrecking yard?

I know that Bronco's were available with bucket seats and a console but I don't recall any regular cab pickups did.
When I think "Captain's chairs" I think of a van with seats that swivel and have arm rests both sides.
Knowing exactly what vehicle these seats are from might help find someone with correct patterns.

I do believe that Dave is right. Only SMS has the proper fabric.
Gary has (unfortunately) been down the upholstery road a couple of times...  and it's well documented!  
Even if he doesn't have a source for a kit he does have the information about which seat bases/trays fit which floor pans, etc.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh, man, you had to remind me of that.  

Yes, I've been down that road and had a horrible experience followed by a good one.  So I was going to go down the road again recently with bucket seats that Chad/Little Beefy gave me but the deal fell through because the upholsterer guy wouldn't even return my calls.  So finding a good upholsterer is getting very difficult.

But mounting the buckets or captain's chairs is another story, although it depends on what your truck is, and your signature doesn't say.  The regular cab and the front of the crew cab trucks shared the same floor pan, and Broncos and Supercabs shared a floor pan.  But only the Broncos and Supercabs got the buckets and captains chairs, so they don't fit easily in regular cabs or crewcabs.

In the 90's Ford made a seat base that will bolt into the regular and crewcab trucks and you can bolt the buckets or captain's chairs to that.  However, they are sought after and are running around $400 at present.  So I'm thinking of making one out of angle iron and the "feet" from a bench seat.

[Cbarnes]

I found a several different sets of seats at the wrecking yard.  A couple of them are from Broncos, one set is from a F150 supercab. The ones from the supercab are actually the right color.  My truck is a supercab with the split back bench seat.  I will get that added to my signature Gary.

[Cbarnes]

Couple of pics.

[Gary Lewis]

Being a Supercab you should be able to bolt the buckets or captain's chairs right in.  Just get all of the brackets with the seats.

Good job on the signature.  And nice truck.  

[BigBrother-84]

Very nice truck Carl!

[kramttocs]

That bench looks pristine!

Not sure if you've looked into it or not but another member, Chris, did the swap not long ago:

I was able to utilize the 2 outer bench holes on the driver side, I then had to drill the inners.  I welded nuts to the floor to make installing easier.  The inner rear bolt on the driver side landed on the seat belt reinforcement plate so I didn't need to add any strength to the floor.

For the passenger side only the outer front bench hole could be reused.  I was also not able to weld the nuts on this side because of all the heat shielding, but I was able to use large fender washers and nuts.  It was just more of a bear needing to hold a wrench on the bottom as well.

[CRittaler]

that bench is in waaaaay better shape than mine was.

I swapped from a split bench to captains as kramttocs mentioned.  I don't know what my seats came out of as they came with the truck as parts when I bought it.  I'm guessing they're from an 89 F350 as that's what the rest of the parts are supposed to be from.

My truck did not have the bolt holes for the captains, there were dimples in the floor pan that gave an idea of where the holes needed to be, but I had to drill them and where possible weld nuts to the floor for the ones that didn't match up with the bench holes.

[Cbarnes]

Thanks Guys,

I bought this truck from a guy in Salt Lake City solely based on pictures and a carfax report.  It had evidently sat for quite a while.  It only had 44,000 carfax certified miles on it.  The interior definitely is indicative of that.  

The captains chairs that I found are all from 80-86 Broncos or the sole F-150.  Hope to try and get them Friday or Saturday.

Carl

[Nickelplate]

Hey, not sure if you need fabric for seat covers, but TheEstateStash on etsy has thousands of rolls of OEM vintage car seat fabrics. I was able to find the perfect original fabric for my 1986 Maroon bronco seats.

[Cbarnes]

Thanks Nickle,
 
Will check them out.