I'm trying to remove the fabric from the front middle fold down seat/armrest.

Anyone have any tips as to how to open the thing up so I can remove the fabric? I've mostly gotten the lid of the console apart, but I'm not having any luck with the rest of the fold down unit.

 

Thats one he!! of an idea! Mine looks like a piece of artwork it is so stained up, grey vinyl would be nice instead.

 

Let ne know what ya find out and replace it with mine is pretty stained up never thought of going that route!

 

I've removed the fabric and it's now the black "leather" vinyl seat from a Lariat model.

I'm in the process of changing out my gray water spotted cloth to the black leather covers.

I'll post some pics later.

 

Goslow I am considering the same thing. Post more info pretty please

Any problem areas? How did you adapt the rear stuff to the center stuff?
thanks
Chris

 

I didn't have to use the rear stuff. My set off of ebay came with the material for doing the center seat/fold down console.

I had my driver and passenger seat already out so that's what determined the route I took.

Here's what I did (this may destroy your console so be warned).

pictures are here, I'll try and inline link them as needed.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...w.cfm?num=8878

The seat portion is fairly easy compared to the passenger seat.

- Feel under the lower front fabric and undo the plastic holder, then peel up
the fabric until you can see the foam (you may need to undo the plastic holder on each lower side)

- Once you lift up the foam you'll see two bars near the front that are below
the steel form, I used a screwdriver to push down on the rubbery teeth holding the bars it and lifted on the steel form, then the seat portion will slide
forward and out

For the fold down console: (If you have the right extensions/flex stuff you
could remove the 4 bolts holding this in like the seats do (2 of the bolts are
under the rear of the seat sections you'll see when you remove the seat),
however you need to disconnect the 12v powersupply connector which is under the seat part of the console)

- Fold down the console, remove the screw on the plastic arm cover on the
passenger side, the one where the console release handle is, the cover should
now pop off (there are two plastic large teeth you'll need to look at to pop it
out). Then remove the two bolts that are revealed from the cover removal.

- The driver's side has a screw down low and sort of in the middle where the
drivers seat is located, remove that.

- The drivers side cover has a fold around panel near the top with teeth
holding it to itself near the front side of the structure, if you play with it
gently you should see how it pops open and slides back

- remove the one torx bolt holding the console and you can tilt the console up and it should slide out at an angle (There's a plastic stub that acts as the
arc holder that is mounted to the console and will stay attached when you
remove it).

At this point you have the two pieces, the seat is standard stuff

The console is a pain.

Open the lid of the console and remove the long pin from the hinges. One side will have a flat end that you can grab with some pliers and pull.

The lid is really the worst part of this, I broke some of the teeth that hold
the structure together trying to pry it apart, at one point I thought I was
going to have to just go order a replacement lid (if they offer such a thing).

I didn't get a picture of the lid part.

Still on the lid:

- unscrew the two screws in the handle

Here's the art part of this, I used a flat head screw driver to start gently
prying between the cloth edge and the plastic under part of the lid. I started
at the front of the lid. Once you get the lid a little open you can grab the
cloth and sort of pull it out walking around the unit. After I did that I
could see what I was dealing with.

- There are teeth running down the inside edge of each underside of the lid, I
managed to pry it apart destroying about 80% of the teeth on one side and 10% on the other. You could hear them rattling around inside. Once you get it apart it's obvious as to how it goes back together. I had to cut the piece I
had to fit, it was too large to stuff back together. (I had to use some tape
to hold the vinyl in position to put the lid clam shell back together)

-Putting it back together, I started with the unit flipped upside down and
worked on the hinged end first. If you press right near the middle you can
start the pop in process, then work around the edges on both sides up to the
top, where the handle can screw back in and hold it.

Now the rest of the console:

- Another gentle pry on the fabric near one of the cut-outs will get it started
and out, continue that all around until the fabric is off, remove the two foam
rubber parts and you can get all of the fabric out.

Here is the console flipped over.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...7075&anum=8878

-continued-

 

-To remove the soft thing surrounding the cup holders flip it over and use two
long needle nose pliers. The orange handled pliers are pointing to one of the
many teeth you need to release. If you use 2 pliers at once on each side of
the tooth you can convince it to pop out, wedge something in between the soft
part and the hard plastic to help it have some downward movement.

There are multiple locations for these teeth, as in shown here https://www.f150online.com/galleries...7076&anum=8878 (also one on each side under the metal parts that you can't remove due to the plastic rivet method of holding that thing on).

Once you get that thing off it looks like the 3rd photo https://www.f150online.com/galleries...7077&anum=8878 (the cupholders are now right side up).

- Photo 4, https://www.f150online.com/galleries...7078&anum=8878 shows the ring removed, you can use a flat head screw driver and
press it up in a couple of locations and it should come out pretty easily.
That ring is used as the friction holder when you fit the new stuff, you'll
upholster the thing and then use a screwdriver etc. to poke the material over
the lip and into the channel, then you pop on that ring to hold it in place.
(I had to use the handle end of a screw driver to sort of hammer it back in,
until each of the teeth popped in).

I had to make holes in my material for the bolts.

Photo 5 is the finished and installed view.

 

Fantastic, and with pictures. I am still digesting the info you provided.



Did you get the covers on e-bay? One vendor kept putting up what looked like 40-20-40 front covers, but kept saying the had the console. I would have bought any that said 40-20-40, but haven't seen but one set of those, and at the time I hadn't decided to get rid of my grays.
Chris

 

Yeah, I got them on ebay. Same as others have from the used mustang parts vendor.

 

Yup that's the guy. When you bid on them, did they say 40-20-40? or just call them bucket? Also, how good of condition were they in? Like new, or just very good?
Thanks
Chris

 

They were as new as could be. Completely perfect.

I think they said they were bucket for the front, there was no mention in the listing about the front center console stuff...

 

Excellent write up Goslow. The center console definitely is the most challenging to figure out. I'm in the process of reupholstering my tan cloth seats in my 05 Supercab with tan leather. For anyone looking for a good set of upholstery, try www.leatherseats.com. Price is around $650 for the complete package to include all seats, headrests, center console. Make sure you get the hog rings and hog ring pliers. Makes life a lot simplier. They have all kinds of custom add ons, like different color center inserts, flat/perforated/bunched center inserts, etc.

I've completed the rear seats, driver's seat, console lid and all the head rests. Just need to work on the passenger seat and center seat and console. It takes some muscle at times, but the process is not too difficult. Rear seats are the easiest. You do need to cut holes for the head rests, bolt/hinge holes, and seat belt retractor if you have a supercab.

 

I like the wet okole covers