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M1008 Seat Cover Replacement/Upholstery

Zeus51

Zeus51

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Ok, I have searched the CUCV forum for info on this and I thought I'd try to start a current thread of recommendations. So, what is everyone using to re-cover your M1008 bench seats? Are you using local upholsters or do you have certain name brand re-covering kits that you prefer? And what is the going price for services or kits, $150-250??

I've seen LMC, Brothers, 1A Auto all mentioned as good kits. What are your thoughts or experiences? I need to re-cover my M1008 bench seat...
 
cucvrus

cucvrus

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I use a local upholsterer. Gone are the $100-$150. repairs. I get them done all pleated and stuffed just like stock. Perfect. About $300-$400. That is provided it has a good metal frame and the main bolster cushion is not chewed down to crumbs. At this point they are 30 + years old. You can always throw an Indian horse blanket cover on it. Very uncomfortable but covers the holes. I would opt the expensive way. it always works out better cosmetically and comfortably. They have a perfect match vinyl and cloth combo if you want comfort and matching form. But I would recommend matching the pleats like stock. Just looks nicer and is not as hot as the flat vinyl. Have a Great Day.
 
rodent

rodent

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I did the LMC cover. Turned out nice but fitment is not as tight as a custom upholstery shop. I did some new 1" foam on the bottom on top of the frame/springs and re-used the stock bottom foam and just slid the new cover over existing vinyl on the back part. There's a video that goes into detail how to do it. My upholstery guy wanted $500 which isn't bad. You can see with the LMC cover, the top corners by your shoulders how there is extra material.

20180202_212346.jpg

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While I had it apart I also did seat heaters.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObtsewSj-Q0
 
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Recovry4x4

Recovry4x4

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A while back there was a glut of new seat bottom covers that were sold on GL. Since most of my problems were the seat bottoms, I got new bottoms. I had to replace the foam on one seat but the other went well. Gimpyrobb had bottoms and still may have more.
 
Zeus51

Zeus51

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rodent, thats a good looking seat! I recently saw one completely done in black/gray tweed that looked good too. Cucvrus, I'm starting to lean toward a local upholstery service just purely due to the fitment. There's something about paying $250 for a kit and the fit not being 100% that seems to get under my skin a little.
 
FrankenCub

FrankenCub

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I used to work in a marine upholstery shop and recovered a lot of seats, anything and everything from bass boats to show quality cars. With trucks the biggest problem is the foam breaking down after the cover rips, but can be easily fixed with some spray tack adhesive and 1" thick foam. Some were really bad and took thicker blocks of foam glued in and reshaped with 40 grit paper disk on a grinder. This will save you good money over buying new foam. Some covers we custom made, either because the off the shelf replacements were garbage or not available. For common vehicles like trucks we had a source that made very good quality covers that fit great, and were very reasonably priced. When the shop owner jumped ship and moved to Florida unannounced I grabbed a bunch of the paperwork. I'll look through it and see if I can find who the source was and post it here. It's been 14 years or so, hopefully I can find it.
Seats are really easy to repair yourself if you take your time with even a decent quality cover.
 
GM72K10

GM72K10

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Recovry4x4 said:
A while back there was a glut of new seat bottom covers that were sold on GL. Since most of my problems were the seat bottoms, I got new bottoms. I had to replace the foam on one seat but the other went well. Gimpyrobb had bottoms and still may have more.
Click to expand...
He does, bought 2 from him last month.
 
dougco1

dougco1

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gimpyrobb said:
PM box cleaned up. I'm ready to recieve PMs again.
Click to expand...
What's wrong with you gimpy! You almost missed out on a potential sale. On the same note, I was setting up Times for job interviews last week and one applicant's phone/mail box was full;??? She didn't get an interview.
 
Zeus51

Zeus51

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Birmingham, AL
FrankenCub said:
I used to work in a marine upholstery shop and recovered a lot of seats, anything and everything from bass boats to show quality cars. With trucks the biggest problem is the foam breaking down after the cover rips, but can be easily fixed with some spray tack adhesive and 1" thick foam. Some were really bad and took thicker blocks of foam glued in and reshaped with 40 grit paper disk on a grinder. This will save you good money over buying new foam. Some covers we custom made, either because the off the shelf replacements were garbage or not available. For common vehicles like trucks we had a source that made very good quality covers that fit great, and were very reasonably priced. When the shop owner jumped ship and moved to Florida unannounced I grabbed a bunch of the paperwork. I'll look through it and see if I can find who the source was and post it here. It's been 14 years or so, hopefully I can find it.
Seats are really easy to repair yourself if you take your time with even a decent quality cover.
Click to expand...
I’d definitely be interested in some of that paperwork if you find it!
 
Sharecropper

Sharecropper

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Yeah I bought a kit from LMC when I was restoring my M1028. I was not happy with anything about the stuff. After suffering with it a while, I decided to ditch the whole bench seat and install high back HMMWV seats. Now I am looking for somebody to sew custom canvas seat covers with seat and back pockets to hold heated seat elements.
 
porkysplace

porkysplace

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milradioman said:
Do they have that cool military canvas smell, like the original ones do?
I noticed the oil/chemical smell will stay with you for days after sitting on a NOS seat cover.
I don't mind how they smell, but if you wore nice clothes, I wonder if it would ever clean out.
Click to expand...
I don't know about the smell, didn't end up buying them , the truck I thought about putting them in ended up getting scrapped , frame started to rust through in front of the rear springs.
 
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