V70 - separate rear seat bottom cushion from plastic frame

[Winnebago]

Has anybody successfully separated and re-attached the rear (2nd row) cushions from the plastic frame? If so, how?


background:
- I have 98 v70 with V70R interior. The 2nd row seat bottoms have "legs" in the front. The legs have a pivot bar hidden behind them. When you flip the seat bottom up to fold the seat back, the seat bottom pivots on that bar. Well... my bigger seat bottom's legs are broken so the pivot bar is not there. So the seat bottom kinda flops around when you flip it up.
- I found a set of 2000 xc70 seats at the junk yard. It has the built-in boosters. leather is rough and cracked and yucky.
- I want to keep the V70R cushion but have a good plastic frame. So I thought about removing cushions from both frames and putting the v70r cushion onto the xc70 frame.
- I started on the junkyard seat bottom and removed all the bolts and screws. oops. they were for the built-in booster and did not affect the cushion and frame.
- I pried with flatblade screw driver between cushion and plastic frame and not much progress. maybe it's glued on? I don't see any hog rings like with front seats.

here is a pic of the seat from the back... I have no red pieces nor bar that the red piece pivots on. (pic from pelicanparts.com):


here is a pic of the seat from the front/top. from a for sale thread on swedespeed:

[E Showell]

My brother has done it, with the single seat bottom behind the driver's on my V70 for a seat bottom replacement, so I know it is possible to do. I just don't remember how he did it, but I recall it didn't take him more then 10 min. to do the removal and another 10 for the replacement.

[Winnebago]

sounds like magic!

i sat there prying pretty hard with a flatblade screw driver and it felt glued with some good stuff.


I will take a crowbar to the smaller cushion and see how it goes. wonder if the built-in boosters make a difference.

[E Showell]

The one my brother did did not have the built-in booster.

[Winnebago]

ok. thank you. I will try to see if i can find one without booster at the junk yard next week.

thanks!

[Winnebago]

Just to close the loop on this:

Please note I have done this with the NORMAL V70 rear seat. NOT THE ONES WITH BUILT-IN BOOSTER. (My 98 V70 has V70R seats. So no booster. And I finally found a set of V70 seats with the built-in booster in oak/charcoal and I have not had to take that apart).

1) unscrew the 2 T-25 screws from the plastic L piece holding the pull strap.
2) flip over the seat and there is a little channel all along the bottom of the frame. The leather from the cover goes in there.
3) there are about 5 to 7 "U" shaped clips throughout the channel. They wedge the leather into that channel.
4) Use a flat blade screwdriver and remove the clips. I just push the screwdriver in and pry parallel to the channel. you can try to work side to side a bit too. save the clips
5) push down on the cushion from the top side. close to the edges of the seat. The leather in the channel will "lift" from the channel. there is a flexible plastic strips lining the leather and you can easily pop the whole leather piece+strip out of the channel
6) work your way down the entire channel and lift up the leather cover
7) the cushion may be glued to the hard plastic frame. push/pull on it some and the cushion will separate from the frame and cover.
do the same for the donor seat.
9) swap the frame or cushion or clean the plastic frame.
10) put the foam inside the cover and try to line the foam and cover up as best as you can. would make it easier when slipping the cover over the frame.
11) put the foam+cover over the frame. line it up. should be pretty easy as the foam bottom is molded to the shape of the frame top.
12) flip the seat over so you are looking at the bottom of the seat.
13) basically the reverse of steps 5 and 6. press down on the frame and the foam with compress and the cover will come up and extend over the channel. slide the plastic strips at the ends of the leather into the channel. make sure there is no kinks. work your way around the seat until all of the flexible plastic strips are in the channel. pressing down on the frame or foam will make it easier to work.
14) take a look at the seat cover and make sure everything looks right. eg: corner looks like a corner and no weird bulges. if so, go back to step 5 and 6 and fix that section/area.
15) once you are happy with the shape, reinstall the clips. place them where they came or center them on a plastic strip section. do one clip at a time. put the clip into the channel. put flatblade screw driver into clip. and pop the top of the handle to drive the clips into the channel.

I will post some pics later. moving pics around in photobucket and currently my whole library is private.