DIY rehab worn driver's seat foam tips

[Danno1985]

My 2011 is starting to exhibit the typical sagging in the driver's side bottom cushion of the 60/40 bench, and it's gotten to a point where I need to address it. It's affecting my posture in ways that are exacerbating all kinds of issues on any kind of longer drive.

At this point, with the newest of the "classic" Rangers being 12 years old already, I'm not particularly optimistic that a junkyard seat is going to be a viable option - my hunch is that unless I luck out and find something with 30K, anything in yards around here is going to be similarly jacked up or worse. Searched car-part.com and A-grade seats are asking close to 1 grand. For a Ranger front seat? No way.

I read a few threads about folks adding foam from fabric/craft stores to the bottom of the seat. For those who have done this, is it possible to do so without removing and dismantling the seat? Did you bother shaping the foam, or did you just cut out a rectangle roughly the side of the seat bottom and stuff it in? Does it feel lumpy and janky? How does it hold up?

I also found a few videos of folks using a steamer to bring some loft back to the foam. Anyone try this, and if so, do you think it'd work without removing the cover? I'm always just wary about taking interior stuff apart and then never having it go back together quite right.

Other options I've considered are getting an estimate from an upholstery shop, or just buying the NOS OEM replacement foam from Tasca.

 

[rubydist]

The bucket seats seem to hold up better, and the Explorer/Mountaineer seats are pretty nice. I have seen some of those in good condition fairly recently. You might expand your search to include those.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I don't believe there is any chance of just "stuffing" some foam in there with good results. It's going to require removing the seat and pulling the cover off.

Perhaps try calling a couple upholstery shops in your area and get a price to fix it.

Passenger seats tend to take less abuse. I've seen on here where a nice passenger seat is put on the driver side. Now you buckets... driver recline lever is now in the center.

Not optimal... but it works...

 

[Danno1985]

I don't believe there is any chance of just "stuffing" some foam in there with good results. It's going to require removing the seat and pulling the cover off.

Perhaps try calling a couple upholstery shops in your area and get a price to fix it.

Passenger seats tend to take less abuse. I've seen on here where a nice passenger seat is put on the driver side. Now you buckets... driver recline lever is now in the center.

Not optimal... but it works...

Thanks for the suggestion! That would work, but I have seat-mounted side airbags in my 2011, so assuming I don't want to lose those (I don't, drivers be crazy here and this little truck is already disadvantaged in a crash compared to anything modern), I'm stuck either replacing the entire driver's side of the bench or refurbing the seat I have, which is probably my only real option. It's not as jacked up as some I've seen - the seatback doesn't seem to be broken, but the foam bottom is worn in a really annoyingly lopsided way that causes hip pain on long drives. It's almost like the previous owner was sitting in between the driver's seat and the middle part of the bench rather than centered in the driver's seat.

 

[dvdswan]

Bucket Seat Rebuild | The Ranger Station

 

[Manscout]

I did stuff some new 3" foam and kept the original as well. You can check out more of it here:

 

[scotts90ranger]

I've gone to Home Depot and picked up like 3' or 6' of carpet padding and cut that up to put in my worn out vehicle seats, I made the mistake of only doing the bottom cushion, I think I also added a couple tension springs and fixed some broken wires... if I remember right I used two thicknesses on the F350 and one on the '97 Ranger... doing the same to the seat backs is on the list...

 

[Danno1985]

Thanks for the helpful tips and advice, everyone. For some reasons, I had this idea that it might be possible to unclip one side of the upholstery on the back of the seat bottom and just add a piece of foam without removing or dismantling the seat, but after reading this thread and examining the underside of the seat, it doesn't seem like this will be practical or possible. Still haven't had a chance to get an estimate from an upholstery shop or two, so that's my next move. Tasca has the foam 60/40 cushion in stock for $132, which isn't really that bad, assuming I can actually get the seat back together right (I hate interior stuff, lol). My thinking is that perhaps a good upholsterer can rebuild it better than stock. I've had three of these trucks and been around several more over the years, and IME the stock seat cushion seems like it's good for about 100K tops before developing the sinkhole at the back of the cushion.

 

[scotts90ranger]

They're not hard to get apart or back together, it's just plastic clips that clip onto the metal seat frame... on my F350 the seat had moved up and down enough times for one of the springs to pull through the frame and I think on the Ranger seat a piece of stiff wire holding the grid together under the foam had broken at a spring, there's room for more springs too, and the springs break as well...

There is no chance to add foam without pulling the seats, the tracks cover some of the material...

 

[aniBlue]

Ok I am going to chime in, as someone that has restored old classic Ford trucks, from 1965 Ford F-100’s to the 1970’s Ford F-100 Ranger and is currently restoring a 2001 Ford Ranger Edge. I have also apprenticed in an Uphostery shop, that did both automotive seats and house hold furniture. Yes you can rebuild a car seat using foam, unfortunately you will have to remove the old seat cover which can be used as a pattern in most cases to make a new seat cover. However, your best bet will be to use an automotive grade foam, which is a high density foam which is not the same as craft grade foam you might by at Walmart or Hobby Lobby. The good news is, that you can buy a new premade OEM seat cover through Amazon. Now for the bad news on that, so far I have only located the bottom drivers side OEM seat cover on Amazon and it’s about half what you will pay for an entire seat from a junk yard for just the bottom cover. But to rehab the seat, you can layer it with a layer of foam, roll cotton and horse hair just like an old bench seat and still get a fairly comfortable seat.

another option is to find a preformed bucket seat cushion pad, and cut the bad foam off of your old seat and glue the center part of it to the new passenger side premolded foam to rebuild the drivers side seat on a 60/40 split if you cannot find the OEM seat cushion pad for the drivers side as that was discontinued by Ford. Just use an electric knife to make your cuts to sculpt a new seat cushion pad out of automotive grade foam.

 

[Danno1985]

Ok I am going to chime in, as someone that has restored old classic Ford trucks, from 1965 Ford F-100’s to the 1970’s Ford F-100 Ranger and is currently restoring a 2001 Ford Ranger Edge. I have also apprenticed in an Uphostery shop, that did both automotive seats and house hold furniture. Yes you can rebuild a car seat using foam, unfortunately you will have to remove the old seat cover which can be used as a pattern in most cases to make a new seat cover. However, your best bet will be to use an automotive grade foam, which is a high density foam which is not the same as craft grade foam you might by at Walmart or Hobby Lobby. The good news is, that you can buy a new premade OEM seat cover through Amazon. Now for the bad news on that, so far I have only located the bottom drivers side OEM seat cover on Amazon and it’s about half what you will pay for an entire seat from a junk yard for just the bottom cover. But to rehab the seat, you can layer it with a layer of foam, roll cotton and horse hair just like an old bench seat and still get a fairly comfortable seat.

another option is to find a preformed bucket seat cushion pad, and cut the bad foam off of your old seat and glue the center part of it to the new passenger side premolded foam to rebuild the drivers side seat on a 60/40 split if you cannot find the OEM seat cushion pad for the drivers side as that was discontinued by Ford. Just use an electric knife to make your cuts to sculpt a new seat cushion pad out of automotive grade foam.

Good tips. Last I saw, the seat bottom cushion for the drivers side 60/40 was still available on RockAuto. Passenger side seat is great, no need to mess with it.

Honestly though, I may just suck it up and take it into an upholstery shop, because the lumbar/lower back area on the driver's side is pretty deformed and flat too.

Absolutely love the truck. The body and frame really are in incredible shape for something with 134k, it's been incredibly, doggedly-reliable, and it's otherwise very comfortable, but the worn-out seat makes even an hour drive painful. Time to get this done.

 

[aniBlue]

Well here is another little tip for you. You can mod the 60/40 split into a 40/20/20 and use the bottom cushion from the passenger side on the modified drivers side seat. As the seat cushions are basically the same, just the driver's side has a piece added to it. So you might be able to just use a passenger side cushion and clue the center piece to it after removing it from the drivers side. Depending on which seats you have. As for the adhesive to glue the foam repaires in on the original piece, use the 3M Multi Purpose 27, or their 74 as it works about the best.