Anyone change out only the cover on their seats?

[Blakers]

I'm buying a rust-free 05 2500 to replace my wrecked 03 that I bought new. The seats on the 05 have a couple holes, but the seats in my 03 are spotless with no holes. Is it difficult to change the covers on the seats? The 05 has a power drivers seat, the 03 does not. Unfortunately, colors are different, so they'll all need changed.

 

[Jim W]

I had my 2008, third gen truck recovered with leather seats covers that were OEM from Dodge. I also had new seat cushions put in the driver's seat and my wife want Lumber support for her seat (passenger). I had a shop that specializes in restoration of hot rods recover my seats for $850 back in 2017 which included the electric lumber support.
I went with leather since my cloth seats wore out for the front. The gray matches the trim of the cab.

 

[bigceltic]

I'm buying a rust-free 05 2500 to replace my wrecked 03 that I bought new. The seats on the 05 have a couple holes, but the seats in my 03 are spotless with no holes. Is it difficult to change the covers on the seats? The 05 has a power drivers seat, the 03 does not. Unfortunately, colors are different, so they'll all need changed.

I have not changed the covers but I did remove the seat bottom cover to replace the seat foam/cushion with a better one from Genos and I have the power seats and it was easy - I found it easier to remove the seat from the truck to work on it inside. I have not tried removing the seat back covers but I wouldn't think it any more difficult. I would consider getting Katskinz (sp?) if the current covers need replacement - I priced them and they are not too bad - I want to do that to mine but my seats are still in perfect cond so I can't justify it at the present time.

 

[Blakers]

Thank you!

 

[Ozymandias]

The covers aren't the same between the electric/heated seats and the manuals from what I know.

 

[Blakers]

The covers aren't the same between the electric/heated seats and the manuals from what I know.

Thanks! Probably not worth the effort to switch them. The 05’s aren’t too bad for now. May put some cheap covers on them.

 

[User113]

You might be able to unbolt the seats from the '03 and bolt them right onto the '05 tracks. If you're lucky, the bracket that holds the seat switches from the '05 seats' frames might screw right onto the '03 frames. Then you can just cut the '03 seat cover and pop the switch in. If it were me, that's what I would try first.

However, once the seats are out, it's really not that hard to replace the covers. But the covers have to be an exact match, and that might not happen going from an '03 to an '05. If you want to try this, you also might want to invest in some hog-ring pliers and hog rings.

When I recently redid the interior of my truck (had to replace the blend doors, so while everything was out...) I bought new leather seat covers from u.s.autoseatcover on ebay back in February of 2022. They only had the bottoms I needed on ebay, but I called and was able to order the seat backs directly. The leather color is really close to the original and the texture is smooth; the factory leather had a "pebble" surface to it.

I must say, I was very impressed with the customer service from u.s.autoseatcover. Getting the covers made right was more of a saga than the install, hence my comments on customer service. I also changed out the driver side foam with the one from Geno's.

In my case, the seat backs I received were ordered with "suede inserts" (Laramie truck) and embroidered sheep's head. They came with cheesy cloth inserts. Also, since the order for the bottoms (ebay) and the order for the backs (telephone) were separate, they were originally cut from different bolts, so the color did not exactly match. I called them back and told them I did not like the texture of the cloth "suede;" they said they didn't have any real suede leather, but offered to re-do them with regular leather if I wanted, so I took them up on that and had them put in a black insert since I was putting in a new radio and the new center panel bezel was black, too. But they would have done the panel in the same color as the rest of the cover if I wanted. They also offered to re-embroider the sheep's head, which was very well done on the first set, but I passed. They also asked me to send one of the replacement bottoms back so they could match the bolt to the one used for the bottoms. The only minor issue remaining with the backs is that the foam padding on the top where the headrests attach isn't as thick as stock, so the plastic clips stand a little proud as you can see in the attached photo. If I cared I could add a 1/2 inch of foam up there and nobody would ever know, but it just wasn't that big a deal for me.

As to the seat bottoms, the clips (service manual calls them "j-straps") were not the right sizes, nor in the right places, they were clearly meant for a different frame. So I called and sent photos; they asked me to send the bottoms back, along with my factory seat covers. They re-made them matching the bolt and reusing some of the plastic clips from the factory covers. They fit perfectly.

In all the back and forth, the people at u.s.autoseatcover were very approachable and made it right. I would be comfortable doing business with them again. And with the new radio, new carpet and redone front seats, my truck is like new on the inside. Now I just need to get it repainted so it will look as good on the outside.

Tired driver's seat

Cheesy cloth "suede" insert with logo

Re-covered front seats

 

[Blakers]

Thank you! Yours look very nice! Wonderful job!

 

[Ozymandias]

Instead of (not around) hog rings I just used small zipties, works perfect.