96 Ram Seat Cushion Swap

My 96 Ram had developed about a 6" tear on the bottom drivers seat cushion. The foam below it had also split all the way down to the frame, and the foam was starting to deteriorate, so fixing the lower cushion wasn't an option. I have access to a 99 (I believe) parts truck that had the same color/pattern seats, but the drivers seat was also torn. Well, the passenger seat lower cushion was in great shape, so I pulled the pass seat out and tore into it, separating the base/tracks and the seat back from the bottom. At that point removing the lower cushion/fabric from the frame is easy - there are no hog rings, just plastic strips that lock over the seat frame. Pulled my drivers seat out and did the same. Upon looking at the two cushions side by side, I could see there were some differences, but the pass cushion would work. I had to trim some foam to make room for the seat back angle adjuster, cut a small hole for the recline handle spline, and slice open some material along the rear flap - this doesn't show once the seat back is on. All in all, I was able to attach the pass lower cushion over the drivers base fairly easily. There are a few main differences in the covers. First, the shapes of the front corners are slightly different; one is slightly rounder than the other if you a nit-picking. The detail welt lines for the panels are off, so the lines running down the seat back don't align with the lower cushion - again, a minor cosmetic flaw that you kind of have to look for. Biggest issue I see to this swap is that due to a difference in the padding and shape in the side of the cushion at the rear, the seat back adjuster handle doesn't fit well, so I used the pass side one, and due to the indexed spline in the handle, it gets installed facing the rear, and you end up having to push down on it to recline the seat. Not an issue to me, since I set it to be comfortable and rarely touch it.

The job probably took me about 3 hours to pull the donor pass seat, my divers seat, do the cushion swap, and install my drivers seat. I had zero funds into this, due to the donor truck. Due to the slight cosmetic differences I mentioned, while this probably wouldn't work in a pampered show truck, I would defiantly call this a worthwhile upgrade project for a daily driver truck. The minor cosmetic differences look a lot better than the torn seat that was starting to shed orange debris onto the carpet. Sorry I can't post before/after pics - I don't use the I-net picture hosts.

I did my 01 Ram a few years ago, wires supporting the foam has rusted thru and snapped.
I replaced the foam and made new wires, replaced the cover.. not too terrible, good results.

Gino's garage has new foam for these for the next time.

I checked Gino's site out - seems to be geared towards the diesel crowd, but some nice stuff there.