Trust me… If I can do it with nothing other than a bunch of pictures of foam in boxes then anyone can.. especially a guy who has rebuilt an Rh32 transmission… 
TJ seat foam
- Thread starter Kevo1966
- Start date
Trust me… If I can do it with nothing other than a bunch of pictures of foam in boxes then anyone can.. especially a guy who has rebuilt multiple Rh32 transmission…
dang. The gauntlet done been dropped.
Does anyone know what size the hog rings are? I would like to make sure I have some on hand before I start
JKP
TJ Addict
Mine shipped separately, foam arrived Saturday, rings yesterday.
From my Amazon special It was easier to use 1/2in rings on the back of the foam and the 3/8 in the front.
Great writeup! Thanks. I think I'll order them. I assume the procedure is similar on the passenger side?
It's been mentioned here by several people that the new foam is firmer and you will probably sit one or two inches higher. I have new bushings under the seat frames that are 11/2 inch taller than stock to allow me sit higher. Should I remove them while installing the foams or do you think it'll be fine with firmer/possibly higher foam. I don't want to have my bald head to catch all the bugs from outside with top down! 
I'm 5'7".
I'm 5'7".
It's been mentioned here by several people that the new foam is firmer and you will probably sit one or two inches higher. I have new bushings under the seat frames that are 11/2 inch taller than stock to allow me sit higher. Should I remove them while installing the foams or do you think it'll be fine with firmer/possibly higher foam. I don't want to have my bald head to catch all the bugs from outside with top down!
I think it depends on how worn out your foam is. I just finished replacing my drivers side. I had recently refreshed my seats and used the old steam cleaner trick to plump the foam back up. It was in decent shape but had the typical tear on the outside lower edge. I had glued and reinforced it but figured new foam would be a better long term solution. The new seat foam is a firmer but I don't feel like I sit that much higher. I did notice that the 97-02 foam design looks a lot thicker than the 03-06. Perhaps it is more noticeable on the earlier years. It actually has me wondering if the foam was part of what Jeep changed to lower the seating position in the later years.
I don't think my foams were that deterioted either other than outside lower edge. I like sitting high in my cars. I think I'll do one side and test it. I can always swap the bushings later easily. I'll do the passenger side first since my wife is shorter.
A picture is worth a thousand words… or something like that.
Here’s a breakdown with some photographs on removing it:
Quick Tip: you might have to slide the seat forward or back to have a better angle to reach some of the plastic inserts.
Tools used to remove the seat:
13mm socket
T50 bit socket
Ratchet
13mm ratcheting wrench
The sockets and ratchet were used to remove the two bolts behind the seat while the ratcheting wrench was used to remove the two bolts to the front seat.
*Might need to use penetrating fluid pending how difficult the bolts are.
Tools used to remove the cover/foam seat:
Cutting Pliers
90* Pick
Once the seat is off you’ll remove the plastic insert at the front of the seat. I grabbed a handful of the material to the base of the seat and pulled towards the plastic insert and using the 90* pick pulled the plastic insert off.
Using the same method, locate the plastic inserts on each side of the seat inbetween the seat base and foam seat:
At this point you can pull the cover starting at the front up and cut the hog rings 2 at a time as you move your way to the back. You’ll find 3 hog rings on each side 6 total all marked in red arrows. You’ll notice the hog rings are wrapped around a long wire that’s attached to the seat cover giving the cover a tight fit to the foam seat, keep this in mind when it comes time for the installation of the new hog rings with foam seat.
The blue arrow indicated a strip of Velcro that’s attached to the seat base. Carefully remove the felt from the seat against the Velcro.
While working the seat cover back you’ll have to work around the seat belt and lever. I ended up removing the plastic inserts found at each side towards the back of the seat (only took photos of one side):
Finally there’s the large plastic insert found at the back which likely took me the longest trying to reach it with the 90* pick through the seat base and again pulling the material towards the plastic insert:
At this point the foam seat should be able to be easily removed:
Now you would replace it with the new foam seat and put it back together in reverse order with the following tools:
Hog Ring Tool (or long flat nose pliers)
Hog Rings
The only difference is you would run the hog rings through the seat foam and wire attached to the cover and pinch the hog ring using a hog ring tool (or long flat nose pliers).
I would give directions of the installation if it wasn’t for the fact that I thought the large package summit sent contained the seat foam, but instead was the hog ring tool…
Here’s a breakdown with some photographs on removing it:
Quick Tip: you might have to slide the seat forward or back to have a better angle to reach some of the plastic inserts.
Tools used to remove the seat:
13mm socket
T50 bit socket
Ratchet
13mm ratcheting wrench
The sockets and ratchet were used to remove the two bolts behind the seat while the ratcheting wrench was used to remove the two bolts to the front seat.
*Might need to use penetrating fluid pending how difficult the bolts are.
Tools used to remove the cover/foam seat:
Cutting Pliers
90* Pick
Once the seat is off you’ll remove the plastic insert at the front of the seat. I grabbed a handful of the material to the base of the seat and pulled towards the plastic insert and using the 90* pick pulled the plastic insert off.
Using the same method, locate the plastic inserts on each side of the seat inbetween the seat base and foam seat:
At this point you can pull the cover starting at the front up and cut the hog rings 2 at a time as you move your way to the back. You’ll find 3 hog rings on each side 6 total all marked in red arrows. You’ll notice the hog rings are wrapped around a long wire that’s attached to the seat cover giving the cover a tight fit to the foam seat, keep this in mind when it comes time for the installation of the new hog rings with foam seat.
The blue arrow indicated a strip of Velcro that’s attached to the seat base. Carefully remove the felt from the seat against the Velcro.
While working the seat cover back you’ll have to work around the seat belt and lever. I ended up removing the plastic inserts found at each side towards the back of the seat (only took photos of one side):
Finally there’s the large plastic insert found at the back which likely took me the longest trying to reach it with the 90* pick through the seat base and again pulling the material towards the plastic insert:
At this point the foam seat should be able to be easily removed:
Now you would replace it with the new foam seat and put it back together in reverse order with the following tools:
Hog Ring Tool (or long flat nose pliers)
Hog Rings
The only difference is you would run the hog rings through the seat foam and wire attached to the cover and pinch the hog ring using a hog ring tool (or long flat nose pliers).
I would give directions of the installation if it wasn’t for the fact that I thought the large package summit sent contained the seat foam, but instead was the hog ring tool…
Last edited:
A picture is worth a thousand words… or something like that.
Here’s a breakdown with some photographs on removing it:
Quick Tip: you might have to slide the seat forward or back to have a better angle to reach some of the plastic clips.
Tools used to remove the seat:
13mm socket
T50 bit socket
Ratchet
13mm ratcheting wrench
The sockets and ratchet were used to remove the two bolts behind the seat while the ratcheting wrench was used to remove the two bolts to the front seat.
*Might need to use penetrating fluid pending how difficult the bolts are.
Tools used to remove the cover/seat foam:
Cutting Pliers
90* Pick
Once the seat is off you’ll remove the plastic insert at the front of the seat. I grabbed a handful of the material to the base of the seat and pulled towards the plastic insert and using the 90* pick pulled the plastic insert off.
View attachment 513561
View attachment 513562
View attachment 513563
Using the same method, locate the plastic inserts on each side of the seat inbetween the seat base and foam seat:
View attachment 513571
View attachment 513573
View attachment 513574
View attachment 513575
At this point you can pull the cover starting at the front up and cut the hog rings 2 at a time as you move your way to the back. You’ll find 3 hog rings on each side 6 total all marked in red arrows. You’ll notice the hog rings are wrapped around a long wire that’s attached to the seat cover giving the cover a tight fit to the foam seat, keep this in mind when it comes time for the installation of the new hog rings with foam seat.
The blue arrow indicated a strip of Velcro that’s attached to the seat base. Carefully remove the felt from the seat against the Velcro.
View attachment 513576
View attachment 513577
View attachment 513578
While working the seat cover back you’ll have to work around the seat belt and lever. I ended up removing the plastic inserts found at each towards the back of the seat (only took photos of one side):
View attachment 513579
View attachment 513580
Finally there’s the large plastic insert found at the back which likely took me the longest trying to reach it with the 90* pick through the seat base and again pulling the material towards the insert:
View attachment 513581
View attachment 513582
At this point the foam seat should be able to be easily removed:
View attachment 513583
Now you would replace it with the new foam seat and put it back together in reverse order with the following tools:
Hog Ring Tool (or long flat nose pliers)
Hog Rings
The only difference is you would run the hog rings through the seat foam and wire attached to the cover and pinch the hog ring using a hog ring tool (or long flat nose pliers).
I would give directions of the installation if it wasn’t for the fact that I thought the large package summit sent contained the seat foam, but instead was the hog ring tool…
View attachment 513572
When you get done you should finish this and post(submit?) it for the how to section. Apparently its confusing for some people
I’ll update it and move everything over to the how to section once the seat gets here hopefully by Monday.
In case anyone is interested, I weighed the Summit late model (2003-2006) seat base foam with my refrigerant scale (pretty accurate scale). Results:
SUM-RP20034-LH (Driver) - 2.88 lb
SUM-RP20034-RH (Passenger) - 2.68 lb
I don't plan to replace mine immediately, so I don't have the OEM weight to compare, yet.
SUM-RP20034-LH (Driver) - 2.88 lb
SUM-RP20034-RH (Passenger) - 2.68 lb
I don't plan to replace mine immediately, so I don't have the OEM weight to compare, yet.
I just did this today. 2002 Shara. I used a cheap pair of hog ring pliers I had and the big hog rings supplied. I did notice while clipping that several places had a couple of hog rings. I forgot to double up. The old foam has a glued fabric backer. I didn’t peel it off and reuse it. I didn’t see it until I picked up the trash.
The new foam is a bit firmer but it feels fine and gave my left bolster better shape.
I completed mine driver side seat today in about 45min. I found it easiest to remove the back from the bottom and then separate the cushion pan. Once the cushion pan is removed it is easy to removed the plastic retainers, cut the original hog ties and pull the seat cover off. With the fabric removed, lay the seat cover over the new foam, re-hog tie it, stretch the seat cover over the foam, lay it on the pan and reinstall all the c-channel retainers. reassemble the bottom track pan to seat bottom pan and lastly reattach the back.
Haven take my seats out numerous times and replacing a broken cable a year ago I wasn’t afraid to separate the bottom two pans and the back.
To seperate everything there are a total of (8) 13mm bolts. (3) on each side and (2) in the back of the pan.
By doing it this way it allowed me to have full access to everything without any incumbents.
Once completed I will say it is much firmer and I do sit a bit higher. I’m short so it was an added bonus.
@Sgt. Jarhead did a fantastic write up with easy to follow along directions for those that don’t want to dismantle the whole seat.
I wish I had taken photos to show what bolts to remove and how I completed the project. Since I hadn’t done that, the least I could do was explain it and encourage everyone to tackle it as it is not a difficult project.
Haven take my seats out numerous times and replacing a broken cable a year ago I wasn’t afraid to separate the bottom two pans and the back.
To seperate everything there are a total of (8) 13mm bolts. (3) on each side and (2) in the back of the pan.
By doing it this way it allowed me to have full access to everything without any incumbents.
Once completed I will say it is much firmer and I do sit a bit higher. I’m short so it was an added bonus.
@Sgt. Jarhead did a fantastic write up with easy to follow along directions for those that don’t want to dismantle the whole seat.
I wish I had taken photos to show what bolts to remove and how I completed the project. Since I hadn’t done that, the least I could do was explain it and encourage everyone to tackle it as it is not a difficult project.
A picture is worth a thousand words… or something like that.
Here’s a breakdown with some photographs on removing it:
Quick Tip: you might have to slide the seat forward or back to have a better angle to reach some of the plastic inserts.
Tools used to remove the seat:
13mm socket
T50 bit socket
Ratchet
13mm ratcheting wrench
The sockets and ratchet were used to remove the two bolts behind the seat while the ratcheting wrench was used to remove the two bolts to the front seat.
*Might need to use penetrating fluid pending how difficult the bolts are.
Tools used to remove the cover/foam seat:
Cutting Pliers
90* Pick
Once the seat is off you’ll remove the plastic insert at the front of the seat. I grabbed a handful of the material to the base of the seat and pulled towards the plastic insert and using the 90* pick pulled the plastic insert off.
View attachment 513561
View attachment 513562
View attachment 513563
Using the same method, locate the plastic inserts on each side of the seat inbetween the seat base and foam seat:
View attachment 513571
View attachment 513573
View attachment 513574
View attachment 513575
At this point you can pull the cover starting at the front up and cut the hog rings 2 at a time as you move your way to the back. You’ll find 3 hog rings on each side 6 total all marked in red arrows. You’ll notice the hog rings are wrapped around a long wire that’s attached to the seat cover giving the cover a tight fit to the foam seat, keep this in mind when it comes time for the installation of the new hog rings with foam seat.
The blue arrow indicated a strip of Velcro that’s attached to the seat base. Carefully remove the felt from the seat against the Velcro.
View attachment 513576
View attachment 513577
View attachment 513578
While working the seat cover back you’ll have to work around the seat belt and lever. I ended up removing the plastic inserts found at each side towards the back of the seat (only took photos of one side):
View attachment 513579
View attachment 513580
Finally there’s the large plastic insert found at the back which likely took me the longest trying to reach it with the 90* pick through the seat base and again pulling the material towards the plastic insert:
View attachment 513581
View attachment 513582
At this point the foam seat should be able to be easily removed:
View attachment 513583
Now you would replace it with the new foam seat and put it back together in reverse order with the following tools:
Hog Ring Tool (or long flat nose pliers)
Hog Rings
The only difference is you would run the hog rings through the seat foam and wire attached to the cover and pinch the hog ring using a hog ring tool (or long flat nose pliers).
I would give directions of the installation if it wasn’t for the fact that I thought the large package summit sent contained the seat foam, but instead was the hog ring tool…
View attachment 513572
Thanks for the great writeup and photos. I would recommend removing the 4 bolts that hold the seat's spring frame to the seat riser base so you can work on just the seat without the base. An extra step but I found it much easier to work that way.
I’ve thrown in a how-to pertaining to the removal/installation of the front seat cushion here.
For those that have mentioned the additional steps I’ve briefly added it into the installation portion but for anyone that has photos don’t hesitate to add onto it!
For those that have mentioned the additional steps I’ve briefly added it into the installation portion but for anyone that has photos don’t hesitate to add onto it!
Just a quick update to Sgt Jarhead's excellent instructions:
There are also a couple of hog rings at the back of the seat foam that need to be removed (at least on my 01 tj). Please note from the pictures that only the two on the most right hand and left hand side of the foam need to be removed. I'm currently doing the passenger side. Not sure if driver side has them as well. Once I complete both sides I'll update the sticky with pics.
There are also a couple of hog rings at the back of the seat foam that need to be removed (at least on my 01 tj). Please note from the pictures that only the two on the most right hand and left hand side of the foam need to be removed. I'm currently doing the passenger side. Not sure if driver side has them as well. Once I complete both sides I'll update the sticky with pics.
Just a couple of thoughts for those doing this work.
1 - Perfect time to install seat heaters, you are doing the work anyway.
2 - Perfect time to clean your seat covers, I ran mine through the washer, and they came out great.
1 - Perfect time to install seat heaters, you are doing the work anyway.
2 - Perfect time to clean your seat covers, I ran mine through the washer, and they came out great.