Who has installed a seat cover themselves???

[r00st]

I have a new seat cover to put on. I was going to install it myself up until I realized on the bottom of the seat pan where the vinyl is stapled, it is not flush. The staples go down in a small 1/2 to 3/4 inch valley in some sections (not all flat like I figured it would be). I have a regular old staple gun, but obviously those only work on a flat surface.

So...those of you who isntalled a seat cover, how did you do it? I dont want to buy a pneumatic staple gun (well maybe a dirt cheap crap brand one). But the idea of putting like 50 staples into a seat with a hammer one at a time while trying to keep the vinyl snug does not sound like much fun to me!

Any help is greatly appreciated! I have checked a few local shops but so far nobody will install this kind of stuff. Even if there is a place that will (I know a few car upholstery places) I would rather save the 20-30 bucks. If anything use that money to buy the staple gun!

Thanks
mike

[Out Back Welding]

i have a seat cover on the way too. i would like to hear some details on this, sure would be nice to be prepared when it showed up.

sorry no help

[r00st]

Way to ruin my thread man....jeez...

Jk...lol. I posted on another forum and people were saying a regular old stapler will bit in enough to hold it, then tap the staples in the rest of the way with a hammer. Should make this easier than I thought

[FoundArealQuad]

I've tried it once and it sucked. I took it into a shop and they did it for $15. I recommend having a pro do it.

[Krandall]

Way to ruin my thread man....jeez...

Jk...lol. I posted on another forum and people were saying a regular old stapler will bit in enough to hold it, then tap the staples in the rest of the way with a hammer. Should make this easier than I thought

I've done that.... And I would not recommend it honestly.

When I tried using a hammer, I foudn that 99% of the staples just bent over rather than going into the plastic more.  my 2cents.

[preddy08]

I did mine and it turned out great. It was the first one I've done, and I did it in a hurry. Took about a half an hour. Surely someone near you has as staple gun. As far as the "valley" Just pull it over it and staple it to the flat.

[r00st]

O I have a staple gun (A couple of them at that...lol) I just didnt have a pneumatic one, or one that was capable of stapling into that valley.

I never thought about just pulling the material over the valley and stapling to the flat...might just go that route!

[preddy08]

O I have a staple gun (A couple of them at that...lol) I just didnt have a pneumatic one, or one that was capable of stapling into that valley.

I never thought about just pulling the material over the valley and stapling to the flat...might just go that route!

i just used a plain old hand opperated staple gun, and what ever staples I had laying around. So far its holding up great!

[Krandall]

I forgot to ask, Which seat cover did you end up with?

[r00st]

Alright so here is the scoop:
I was going to have an embroidery shop do a 3D Iron Cross in orange stitching...but they both wanted 35-70 bucks for digitizing fees and other non sense!

I then found some foam I wanted to use (good bye memory foam mattress pad!) It is an inch thick. I went to two local automotive upholestery shops...both wanted 50 bucks to install!

SO... I whipped out the staple gun (standard sized...5/8 inch staples). I was worried they would be too long but it didnt pose a problem. I bought some spray adhesive (4.50 at Lowe's) and mounted/trimmed the memory foam to the stock foam. Once that was dry I started putting the cover on. I did use a bit of heat to try and get it to stretch to keep it tight. Hindsight I would have got it even tighter. It is pretty darn tight but I got to thinking about sliding my butt around on the seat and dont want it to wrinkle/pull. Worst case scenario I can always re-do it but im 99% sure it will be A-OK.

Since I dont have a pneumatic staple gun, and cannot get into the valleys I mounted the cover onto the flat areas under the seat.

NOTE TO ALL WHO TRY THIS! - Dont mount the vinyl there! I went out to try installing the seat cover and the latch did not hit! After a little finaggling and re-stapling It latches into place but does take a good bit of force. There is a ridge in the plastic where the seat goes (into that valley...lol).

But overall I am glad I did not spend the 50 to have it installed. It took a couple hours of my time but if I had to do it all over I think i could do it start to finish in under an hour (mounting/trimming foam and all).

The extra inch of memory foam is awesome

Here are a few pics:




I will get pics of it on the quad once I am 100% done with the beast Should be pretty sweet looking all said and done. At least thats what my girlfriend says every time she finds out I bought more "crap" for the raptor  :grin_nod:

PS...the cover is from BT-ATV covers on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamaha-Raptor-700-Seat-Cover-12-Colors-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ43974QQihZ001QQitemZ110367765428QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
SERIOUSLY the best 25 bucks I have spent on my raptor! I was going to buy a Jet Trim but decided to save the extra 90 bucks for other mods. I am very happy I did! This guy has tons of vinyl available (most of it the exact same as what Jet trim/cascade uses) and is very easy to work with.

[Krandall]

dang man. that turned out really good! 

[r00st]

Thanks im dying to get everything back together so I can snap some pics with the seat cover on.

[dabigbratj]

looks good man and i cant wait to have mine back together again :'(