Good day.
By some fg reason wreck yards stopped carrying older Discos in my area. And upholsterers are not easy to find. Only one at my location, and picky.

Did it before in other vehicle and trying to repeat: To buy a passenger seat in good condition and transplant the upholstery with or without the sponge cushion to the worn out driver seat in need. Today, had difficulty to peel-off the original tan seat upholstery, almost got into butcher mode to remove the damaged one. Next is visiting the wreck yard -dimensions on hand- to find a candidate for replacing it.

Looking for donors, seems there is several transplant options that may fit properly. Audi ? Volvo ? I do not care for built-in heater. Just a decent used seat surface for the butt to slide in and out. Rear seats and third row are different. Covers in the market are crap.
Any clues for donors ? Am not after fashion or perfection and aware few people would agree to my option of transplanting just the piece of cow skin. Even different color is acceptable to me, except black.

Extra question... Is there any 'special tool' to dislodge the sewn plastic U channels that hold the upholstery taut to the seat frame ?

 

Contact one of the breakers for LR seats - Will Tillerey, others on Facebook.

As far as the tool, on the D2 I find it easiest to start by raising the seat as much as possible, then lean the seat back as far back as needed to get some slack in the fabric and roll the retainer out. Then do the back of the bottom cushion then the outer edges and finally the front. Some people find it easier to do it with the seat out of the truck upside down on a workbench.

 

I recovered my seats myself with new covers. They fit and look great. I second taking the seat out of the truck. I don't know how I would have done it with the seat still in the vehicle.

 

Tough task , I had my drivers seat reupholstered . $500 . And it looks and feels great .

 

Visited the boneyard today. As good news; found an unknown BMW seat is nearly the same. Bad news... It was out of the vehicle, mangled and muddy, and found no other BMW at the yard to look for a donor of the same.

 

There is no special tool to remove those plastic j-channels (which is what that is called btw) . Just a plastic trim interior tool is what I found works best, slowly pry it out from an end, it’s tricky. If you use a metal screwdriver, it’ll crack the plastic for sure. The correct way is to apply a lot of pressure from the top of the seat, which releases pressure on the J-channel, then you can pry it off much easier. Without the pressure from the top of the seat foam area, you will never pry it off. Hopefully that makes sense.

By now, the plastic is fragile and they all break when removing or re-installing them.

I had an upholstery shop in Portland OR sew new J-Hook trim on a set of front seat covers I bought on ebay a few years back for an old D2 I sold. That’ll cost $50 or so per seat cover. But I was trying to preserve basically new looking seat covers that just had the broken plastic on them. Worked fine to keep the seat bottoms down properly.

I don’t know what you mean by Audi or Volvo or another transplant option -- def can’t transplant a seat foam or cover from any other car. It won’t fit your seat, sorry. Only a D2. What do you need? There are tons of D2s out there. Heck, I have multiple D2 front seats in my attic.

 

Hi. Reporting 'progress'
Canibalized a leather skin + sponge cushion from boneyard, seat had a label under :



As found at the yard, never saw the vehicle. The right one donor was deformed but not torn. Look grey but it is tan, not 'camel' color


Cleaned and installed. Am pleased. Nothing fancy nor extraordinary but works. The good part is the donor BMW seat can be driver or passenger ! ; they appear the same and more likely to find passenger ones in much better condition. Did not remove the whole Disco seat from the vehicle. It would had been a nightmare as supports are rusted.


Perhaps someone will appreciate the option. Enjoy.

 

Well I’ll be damned, it sorta fits. Is it secure on there? Looks like an E34 5 series?

 

Hi.
Was very hard to try to fit the 'J' channels all around with my zero upholstery skills and tools; drilled a few points to the 'J' strips, added helping nylon ties taut to the seat frame. Goes firmly nowhere, no interference with seat motion. No clues on E34 - 5 series but label shows E83 ¿?
Ahh... $30
Other interesting option I saw was an Infinity seat at the yard. Beautiful leather.

 

Oh. E83 - the 1st gen BMW X3. That makes sense!