The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Replacing set springs with foam

My 51-3100 seat springs are broken and rusty. Has anyone replaced the complete bottom spring assembly with foam?

Not me but a friend has done it and loves it. Not sure the type he used other than "the type they use in new cars".

When I was researching for my seat project last summer I stumbled across someone's project AD truck that did the plywood/foam seat. It was an excellent and long blog type project history post, plenty of photos and information. HOWEVER...just how I'm unable to find it.

If memory serves, the project was from a few years ago. Hopefully someone can provide a link cause it is a great project how-to piece.

Good Luck,
Ron

That sounds like just what I am looking for...I hope someone can point me in the right direction...thanks

I've been considering this too,the webbing dampers in my springs dissolved long ago,sometimes it's like being in a kids bouncy castle when i'm driving!

Apparently the different foam colours denotes the density,there was a fella on the HAMB A.D. Truckers social group did this,he replicated the factory seat to the point he could still use an aftermarket stock replacement upholstery kit from I think it was LMC.
When finished it looked pretty stock but without the drawback of tired,broken springs.

I'll see if I can find the link.
Edit: Here you go,it's not as comprehensive as I first thought but go to page 6 and you'll get some idea,it seems fairly straight forward but you might want to invest in an electric carving knife as it seems to be the weapon of choice for carving the basic shape,then switch to rol-loc discs on a die grinder for final shaping
I hope this helps.
It's actually an awesome build,worth the long read.....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-53-chevy-truck-project.629357/

CRL3100, guess I'm slow on the trigger, Jockbolter beat me to the punch. His find is the tread I referenced above, a tease paragraph paragraph follows;

"Well after playing around with the seat frame and springs, I officially gave up on reusing this seat. I will build my own bench seat from scratch. I will use a plywood base and high density 2445 foam. From the outside, the seat will look like a factory stock bench seat. I will use the original wire frame and copy the size and shape using solid foam."

The seat details are on page 6 and 8.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-53-chevy-truck-project.629357/page-6

It's an awesome build that certainly makes me feel unworthy!

Good Luck, Ron

Well Ron,i'd imagine by your handle you'd be all over this build,it is indeed awesome.
That Hemi,talk about a quart in a pint pot.

The guys attention to detail (and skills) are off the chart!

I am sitting here wondering why someone hasn't mass produced these foam seat bases. It could probably be done for less than what we pay an upholstery shop to make our original junk work.

Old retired guy backyard business opportunity!

Sell replacement seat bottoms/backs with new foam (sans springs) and stock covers of choice already assembled and ready to install. Customers would be required to supply stock hardware from their old seats if they wanted to not do anything but install the new cab furniture.

Wait, I'm a retired guy with a shop....hmmm, nope don't think so.

I did that in my 59 Suburban almost 20 years ago and then again recently in my 58 2-ton. YES, an electric carving knife is the way to cut the foam (goodwill, Ebay, or CL). I used 4" of HRF-2953-C with an inch of HRF-2528-C on the seat bottom. I did no treplace springs on the back since they were fine and don't get your full weight on them. I used an old thermarest type camping pad (2" thick I think) to put over the seat back on my 58 instead of spending the 50$ for a roll of the cotton batting just for the one back.