seat reupholstering

[Joe Sull]

Any body have pics or tips on doing a seat reupholstering. I'm going to do mine. Naugahydes pretty cheap. I was looking at the underneath of my seat and it doesn't look that hard. The seat cover is stapled to the plastic. I guess I'll just stretch it over and maybe find a suitable staple gun. If somebody that has done this, they would know. I think the padding is fine but the cover is shot, plus I want it red anyway.  Can't buy a new seat now.
I searched with no results. A few people talking about doing it but no actual hands on.
Thanks Joe

[roverfj1200]

I have seen on the net somewhere seat covers that a already made up and you just pull it over and staple it on. May have been on Evilbay but not sure.....

[Joe Sull]

I need to pinch pennies right now. I've seen them on ebay and there a great price but there $60 and they don't come in red.  Thanks for your reply though

[motohorseman]

I need to pinch pennies right now. I've seen them on ebay and there a great price but there $60 and they don't come in red.  Thanks for your reply though

I sold mine, sorry!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-1989-FJ1200-Stock-Seat-Recovered-Black-Red-Very-Nice-Must-See-/221276843304

Generally, the old one can be used as a template, and you can buy good quality marine grade materials from most upholstery shops.

We had a electric stapler at the shop, the hand held ones never seemed to have enough power.

Back in the day, decent old school upholstery shops would recover a seat for less than many of the replacement covers cost, check around and good luck.

[movenon]

Hi Joe. I recovered (removed the old cover) and installed a pre-sewn cover on my 1990. It is not to hard but to do a decent job you will need an upholstery heat gun (not a hair drier) and for me I found that I couldn't drive staples from a heavy commercial duty hand stapler into the plastic pan in such a manner that it would hold in tight. I had an upholstery air stapler on hand and found that to do the job just fine. Also something you don't readily see is that you have to use short staples and set some of them at an angle in areas of the seat pan other wise the staples will come through the top side of the seat cover (and dig into you).

Its not hard you just need a heat gun and an air powered stapler with short staples 1/2" max. For a cheap heat gun go to the old stand by for cheap tools, Harbor Freight. I think my cover cost around 60 or 70 dollars.

This is a picture of mine. You can enlarge the photo.  http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=4882

That's my experience anyhow.
George

[Joe Sull]

Jeez! nothing ever, easy. I didn't think about how hard that abs plastic is. I might be able to borrow a heat gun but I'll have to figure out something to get away from the stapler. Anything with a head on it, like a screw would probably hit the frame paint. I was kinda thinking of small self tapping screws.
There is a woman on the island that does upholstery, I'll talk to her. I saw the nice piece Naugahyde on eBay for $5. I thought this was going to be easy as shooting squirrels on the bird feeder. WRONG.
Thank for the replies.

[Arnie]

Joe,

You can do it with a hand stapler.  The air stapler would make it easier, but I used an Arrow T50 staple gun and it worked fine.  I did have to pull and re-do some of the staples that bent, but it was fine.
As George mentions, you need to be careful with the length of the staples.  I used 3/8" mostly and 1/4" where necessary, mainly around the nose of the seat.
If you're not adding much additional padding, its pretty easy to get it all smooth.

Arnie

Besides, what do else "motorcycling" can you do for the next 4 months? :-)
   Oops!  Just saw your post about polishing wheels.  You've got winter sorted.

[Joe Sull]

Thanks Arnie, That encouraging. No, I'm not adding padding. I don't think it needs any.

Winter in Maine. Actually, I have 5 months. May 1st is like somebody turned on a light switch. It could snow the night before and be 70 the next day. We get a lot of snotty weather in the spring though. Not very good for a bike. 45 deg. f and drizzle. It's your summer now, isn't it?

[Arnie]

Yeah, its summer at least according to the calendar.  Our weather has been extremely variable, lately.  Some really nice days, but a lot of dull rainy days too.  Pretty soon we'll be complaining about the heat.
With weather, nobody is ever happy.

Arnie

[aviationfred]

For hand staplers, I used this type and found that it worked great. As previously stated, use 1/4"-3/8" staples.



Here is a photos of the before and after.





Fred

[FJscott]

That seat looks awesome Fred. who made the cover for you? did you replace foam? what material is it?
that's the nicest FJ seat Ive seen IMHO....I want one

Scott

[aviationfred]

Scott,

The cover is not cheap, but it does look awesome. No, I did not replace, or modify any of the OEM foam.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-FJ-1200-SEAT-COVER-/141128280232?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item20dbe6a8a8&vxp=mtr

Fred

[FJscott]

Thanks Fred. I just ordered one. 

I really liked that seat. To me the corbin and the daylong look too much like a horse saddle. 

Scott

[rktmanfj]

To me the corbin and the daylong look too much like a horse saddle. 

In this case, form follows function.   

[Joe Sull]

Holy sweet seat batman!