Today I tackled one of the most common and annoying issues with the early year LR3's.... the ripped base of the drivers side seat cushion. Since I was unable to find any specific thread about this, I figured I would put together some info on how to do it.

Preface:

1. I apologize for the incompleteness of this post, I just wanted to get this up quick while it was fresh. If you don't like it, then quit reading and move on.
2. This has only been my car for like 2000 miles, and I am not responsible for the absolute filthy condition of the seats and carpet. This did present a great opportunity to clean up under the seats though!

The goal here is to swap the drivers side seat cushion cover, with the passenger side seat cushion cover. This will allow you to hide that worn or torn ripped spot. The process is similar with both seats...

1. Get the floor/seat bolts out first
   1. You will want to remove the anchor bolts before disconnecting the battery or wiring harnesses
   2. Pop the plastic covers off all 4 corners of the seats, front and back
   3. pop the plastic cover off of the lower front of the seat
   4. Move the seat all the way back, and remove the front 2 x T50 torx bolts (I struggled using a 1/2" socket, a breaker bar would be better)
   5. Move the seat all the forward, and remove the rear 3 x T50 torx bolts.
   6. Once the seats are completely unbolted, disconnect the battery. ( no need to have the seat airbags pop off for no good reason)
2. Disconnect the wiring harnesses
   1. Locate the wiring harness, it will be obvious if you have properly removed the large plastic cover from the front lower part of the seat).
   2. Use a 7mm socket to unseat the wiring harness receptacle. Once completely loose, it should pull straight outward towards the engine.
3. Get both seats on their backs
   1. Put the middle row seats on their full down position, so that you will be able to rest the front seats on them.
   2. With the middle row seats in the full down position, gently and carefully lean the front seats on their backs, resting on the middle row seats.
4. Disconnect the attached wiring from the underside of the seat cushion
   1. Drivers side is simple, and only involves disconnecting the heating element wires. You will want/need to remove the plug which connects to the seat back, and also remove the portion that is part of the wiring harness. This is a little tricky, but if you follow the wire it will become obvious
   2. Passenger side is a little trickier because this seat has the airbag occupancy sensor, as well as another lateral / accelerometer or something. But its still pretty easy to simply follow the wires and disconnect them all
5. Detach the seat cushions from the seat frames
   1. There are only 4 x T40 torx bolts holding the cushion to the frame. Remove them all. You will find that the cushions will just pop right out once these are removed.
6. Remove the seat covers from the seat cushion
   1. There are a bunch of black clips holding he cushion to the seat cover. Delicately extract them from the metal base
   2. Detach the seat cover molding strip from the metal base
   3. The seat cover will now peel off easily
7. Swap the covers
   1. Once you have both seat cushion covers off, they can easily be swapped and placed back on the seat cushion
   2. Re-attach the black retainer clips
   3. Reattach the molding strip
8. Reconnect everything
   1. Don't forget the additional wiring under the passenger seat
   2. Don't pinch any wires under the seat 'feet'
   3. I would reconnect the battery before bolting down the seats, just so you can easily pull the seats back up if you forgot to connect a wire.

 

Great write up

 

 

 

Did this last night - a few words of caution to those about to attempt this:

1) Geo is right, you can just remove the seat pans without unbolting the whole seat, but it takes some doing
2) There are four Torx T40 screws holding the seat pan on, and they are on TIGHT. I could only get a 3/8" ratchet in there to do the job, I'm sure it would be much easier if you could fit in a 1/2".
3) The front screws do not screw straight up into the pan, they are at an angle and hard to get eyes on. Be careful when you go to break them loose as it's very easy to strip one (like I did) which will turn this project from a simple job into a cuss-fest. I ended up having to unbolt the seat I stripped the screw on and do the old chisel/hammer trick to loosen it, because as I said earlier, those screws are torqued down beyond belief.
4) The driver's side seat cushion has a little.... "nipple" underneath that doesn't fit into the passenger seat pan, and will feel like a lump in the cushion if you don't trim it off before fitting it.

 

For anyone else attempting this, I'd definitely recommend unbolting the seats and tipping them back, for all of the reasons above. Sorry, I should have mentioned this stuff in the OP

 

Went to Lucky8 site and they show nothing for OEM seat covers. Where did you get yours?

 

I found my components on LR Merriam's great part site. For some reason the seat components are listed under Body. Replacement OEM leather is $500 - 1,000 per piece (e.g. driver's seat bottom). I'm going to see what an upholsterer can do with the rip I am trying to fix (would rather not just swap side to side.)

https://www.landrovermerriamparts.co...eat-components

 

I did find a seat bottom from a local guy. He has mostly 2005 parts but much of the LR parts are the same although there are some differences year to year.
Mine is 07 and the mirror does not have a heating element but have not noticed a problem without it. The difference in price from the guy and LR dealer makes it not much of an issue. Dealer $700+ and my parts guy $140. Also got a seat bottom as my driver side is ripping. No heating element but all I want is the leather cover so again with the great condition of the leather it isn't going to be a problem. Just replace the cover and I'm good.
He has several LRs at his house and at least 5 more in a storage yard close by so lots of parts available. They all seem to be in fairly decent condition.

 

Great guide and very helpful. Stuggling to see how to get the wire for the heating element separated from the back of the wiring harness attached to the seat base (the rectangular one with the multi-colored "channels" for the different wires? Any tips appreciate for how if can come loose. I haven't unfastened the seat frame itself as all I want to do it put a new heating base in.