Arrrrgh! Help with my new bench seat cover please!

[Rakort]

Seat Pictures

Well I bit the bullet a bought a new bench seat foam cushion and seat cover. The cover is from www.pui.cc and I forget who the foam is from.

The seat cover is too small!!

I paid a trim shop to put the seat cover on, but he said something wasn't right. It went on way too hard..see the pictures. The thing is stretched like a drum. Look at the top front edge closely and see how it is all crunched down and the front top corner / edge of the foam is about 2 inches from the front top seam of the cover.

After the fact I measured the distance from edge to edge on the new cover and on the installed cover. The old cover was ~ 36.5 to 37" and the new cover was ~34.5". The edges I measured from were the edges that get hogged to the bottom of the seat.

What went wrong?? Was my new cover made incorrectly, did I not have an original 67-72 seat?

The cover for the seat back fit perfectly just like the original.

In the pictures there is a shot of the old cover. Has anyone ever seen that style cover before and know forsure what it comes off of?

Thanks for your help
Brian

[jef5150]

you said you put new foam in the seat, im thinking the thickness of the foam may be your problem.Did the installer remove the old foam or just "add" it to the seat and then try to stretch the cover over it?You also my want to find out factory foam thickness and compare it to the thickness of what you replaced it with..... just a few thoughts jeff

[hottweelz67]

We used a PUI cover for our '70 we're building with new foam and had no problem. Gabe's Upholstery in Bloomington did the install and the seat is perfect.

[Rakort]

I didn't compare the foam side by side or measure (I took the seat apart by the way not the installer), but everything appeard to be in the same. The foam was one of the preformed varieties that are suppose to fit our trucks.

I think the key to my problem is the 2.5" difference in the cover from front to back, but I don't know if my cover was made wrong or if possibly I have a later model seat or something that took a little different cover.

[breeh]

P.U.I. is one of the best upholstery manufacturers out there right now. I have used their products several times and have never been dissatisfied. You might try contacting them and asking them about it.

[69 Short Fleet]

That sounds weird, I know that you should lay the new upholstry in the sun or make sure its nice and warm before you install it but 3" sounds like a lot to me. I recently purchased new seat upholstry from Chevy Duty exellent quality (they sell 2 vinyl types a cheap one which I heard is crapola, and a more exspensive one which is the one I purchased) and the bench cover (bottom) fits really nice but I'm goning to have to add foam (about a 1" strip) along the top of the backrest as it fits too slopy in that area (???)Getting back to your problem Id be concern about a really tight fit as it sounds like it would be hard on the seam area, later Doug

[Rakort]

The installer used some heat to help stretch the cover when it was intalled.

Might someone have a seat cover they could measure for me either new, old, installed or uninstalled ? I measured the new one after it was installed by wrapping a tape measure around the seat from the front under side around the top to the back underside.

I really think that either the seat frame is wrong or the seat cover was made wrong.

How about a picture of the underside of a bench seat?

Thanks
Brian

[GMCPaul]

PUI has been known to let a few incorrectly sewn covers get out there door as has the other quality truck upholstery shops. I would contact them direct or have your upolstrey man contact them. In posting this I am assuming that when you bought your seat bottom foam for the bench seat that your seat had the full foam cushion and not the 1/2 spring 1/2 foam seat cushion as the only replacement made for the bench seat bottom foam is the full foam variety and it will not work or the 1/2 spring 1/2 foam seats.
You made a wise decision having a upholstery shop install the upholstery & foam I can always spot the owner installed upholstrey in these trucks.
The $100 bucks or so to a upholstrey shop to install it is well worth it for a perfect fit & finish.
GMCPaul

[Rakort]

Paul, yes my seat was the full foam variety not the 1/2 foam variety. I undersand that the 1/2 or thinner foam variety came from the earlier trucks and were also the seats that tilted forward. My seat doesn't tilt forward.

[Rakort]

TTT, anyone have a seat cover they can measure for me?

Thanks
Brian

[PICKMUP]

That old seat cover looks like a 71-2. Your new cover looks like a 69-70. If that is true, there is about a 3" difference. They are not the same. You have to buy the correct year cover for the seat you are using.
Here's a PUI cover I just put on one of my trucks. Fits great and no I didn't go to an upholstery shop. They fit so well, I think anyone can install them.

[69 Short Fleet]

Hey Brian: I just measured my new seat uhpolstery (the bench cover) It is brand new and not installed yet and if I'm understanding you correctly I'm getting approx. 33" in the same area you described. I tried to streatch it out best I could when I measured it. It also appears we have the identical cover (with the scrolls) and I already checked it for fittment a couple months ago and its OK. I am using the original foam and I'm sure my seat was the stock one as it had the correct vinly on it when I took it apart to redo it. My truck is a 69, I don't know sounds like the foam might be the problem, hope this helps Doug

[Rakort]

Well 33" that is good to know. that is also close to the dimension on my replacemnt cover. My original cover was in the 36 to 37" range.

PICKMUP you mentioned that there is a different cover (and length) for different years yet in the catalogs they claim that even though a cover has a correct pattern for certain years that it can be used on any bench bench seat from 67-72.

You also mentioned 3" difference and that is just about what I'm struggling with here.

Does anyone else recognize the pattern / year from my original cover?

[PICKMUP]

I think you are trying to put a 69-70 cover on a 71-2 seat, and they wont stretch. I don't know who's catalog you are reading, but you can't mix them up. 67-8 are even different again, and so are the cheap seats with the thin foam, etc...but that is not your problem here.