All,
I want to thank you all for your participation on this board. It is an incredibly valuable resource for those of us that love to tweak our rides. I just completed my best mod to date. The seat covers. They look incredible. If not for the board and the guidance provided by you all, there's no way I could have done it in the short amount of time that I did, 5 hours.

To help the cause, I took some pics along the way. I did have to make a couple of changes to the covers, which are fairly well documented in pictures in my gallery. For those of you considering it, please get the hog ring pliers and some hog rings. It is the best way to go and they're cheap.

The last couple of mods I plan to make is to add Sirius to the mix and to do something about the power problem. A truck this nice should not be so underpowered. The Tahoe I had would blow the doors off of my FX, which I hate.

Thanks again. I am finally proud enough to share pics of my ride with the group.

Dave

 

Dave, are those hog ring pliers need for the front seats? I just ordered oem leather seat covers @ Ebay. I have a reg cab so I would only be doing the front seats. How long and how hard was it to do your front seats?
Thanks for your input.
Marco

 

Nice lookin truck! I like the way those nittos look on stock FX4 rims. What is the exact size of them?

 

You need them more for the fronts than the backs. Be careful when pulling off the old covers. On the fronts, there are actually three rods in each seat. Two of them run front to back and one runs side to side toward the front. I started to tear one of the rods out of the cushion, but I caught myself. Another tip, since it's fresh in my mind. Take the seat out all. You'll need a Torx for your ratchet, but I can't see how you could do it with the seat in the truck, although there is someone that said that they have. It'll take you 2-2.5 hours to do the two front seats, and that is taking your time.

If you ordered the seats already, head to a true value hardware and check in the fence section. That is where I found mine. They were less than $10. If you can't find them anywhere, let me know. I would be willing to drop mine in the mail for you to use with the rings you need and you can send them back when you’re done. I'm in DFW, so postage wouldn't be much.

Good luck Bro and let me know if you need those pliers.

 

Nice truck!!
Im also in the process of putting the oem ebay leather in my screw. I have the back seat bottoms done, but am waiting for the sew shop to patch the rear back rest. How much did you get charges for that? Also due to being in WI I am getting check corporation seat heaters installed in the fronts. I am so glad to be getting ride of the factory cloth. I don't know what ford was thinking the day they picked those. Got a pic of the rear patch job?
For anyone wanting to buy the ebay leathers, they accepted my "best offer" of $90. I tried less but they wouldn't bite.

 

I am almost sure they are 325/60/18s. I got them about a year ago just before our annual trip to the mountains.

Thanks for the kind words. I have checked out your rig a few times. That Supercharger is money!

 

Nice job and nice color choice on the truck too!

 

I didnt use the Hogs Rings when I swapped out my covers, Zip ties work great. just turn the little square back into the foam so it doesnt show or feel thru the seats.

 

Just curious about your snug top. how much was it, and where did you find it locally in dallas area?
Thanks,
-Patrick

 

Big Dave, What was different about your FX4 seats that reqiured you to cut the leather covers? I am currently waitting to install these leather covers into my XLT but I haven't heard of anyone having to cut them to fit like you described. Are the FX4 seats different from the XLT seats and Lariat seats?

 

Thanks Dave, your the man
I will go look for them pliers at True Value

 

I just completed the ebay leather seat covers on the front of my 2004 SCAB. It took me about 3 hours to do both seats by myself.

Like BigDave4 wrote earlier, you will need to take the seats out of the truck. Disconnect the negative lead to the battery first. Then use a #50 torx bit on your ratchet on the bolts. Disconnect the airbag and seatbelt sensors under the seats. Then lift the seats out. Be careful because the seats are quite heavy, about 70lbs is my guess.

I didn't have access to a pair of hog pliers so I used 2 pair of needle nose pliers, which worked just fine. I reused the hog rings that held the original seat covers in place.

In this picture you can see the attachment points for the hog rings. Just put the new leather seat cover over the foam and attach at the hog ring points. Flip the seat over and hook the plastic clips to the under side of the seat.


Here you can see the finished seat ready to be reinstalled into the truck. Notice that I have a SCAB so the seat belts are intergrated into the seat. You will need to make a couple of cuts to make this fit. I used a x-acto knife to make these cuts.


Here are the seats installed in my truck.


Hope these photos help and inspire you to see this mod through.
Ox

 

Thanks Ox, they sure will help me My covers will get here friday. How do you take the top part of the seatbelt off? I have a reg cab so the seatbelt is intergrated like yours.
Thanks for your photos and tips.

 

My local trim shop charged me $75 to do the patch work. They also gave me about 200 hog rings for free, which I though was cool. I'll take a pic of the patch work tomorrow. You can't even tell. It looks stock.

Thanks.

 

I got it at DFW Camper Corral. You need to haggle with them, but you can get it for less than $1000 installed. I got that one because it looks best and is about 98% water tight.