The driver seat of my 2002 blazer has gotten very uncomfortable. The cushions are all collapsed and flat. Has anybody come up with some good options for building the seat back up particularly for an old guy like me with a bad back. I have a 2003 Toyota RAV4 with 300,000 miles on it and the seat is just as comfortable and perfect as it was the day we bought it. I sure would like to figure out how to get something along those lines.

George

 

You should be able to find the replacement foam somewhere on the innerweb. Same with the back foam and seat covers. Or you could go the aftermarket route and get new seats all together. Or pull some lightly used seats from the local yard.

 

If you find a good source for new cushions, please share. My Sonoma is in need of the same repair.

I seem to remember someone on here replacing their driver seat foam with the foam from a lightly used Blazer passenger seat. They chose the passenger seat because it typically sees less use than the driver seat. I did a quick search, but I haven't been able to find the thread again to see if it was a direct fit or if it needed modification.

 

My Jimmy had the same problem when I bought it, as the previous owner was hard on the seat and the vehicle had 265,000 km. The seat was very uncomfortable and no way could a person make a long drive, so this was nearly the first thing I fixed.

I pulled a passenger seat from the auto-wreckers because it sees less wear. The seat comes out quite easy. First the trim pops off, then there are four bolts. At least two of the bolts are Torx, T-50 maybe, and these were a little sticky. In fact I wrecked a bit. So if possible these should be soaked with penetrating oil and maybe rapped with a hammer. There is an electrical connector to remove and the the seat comes out. The wrecker charged $50.

I separated the base from the back, then removed the cover, then removed the foam. If I recall there are a couple of nuts towards the base holding them together. The seat cover is attached with velcro. An upholstry shop fixed the passenger cover so it would fit the drivers side. A hole needs to be cut for the power controls and seatbelt, and the former seatbelt hole needs to be sewn shut. The charge was $40.

Reassembly is cumbersome, it is a little difficult getting everything to fit just right. It involves pushing and pulling the foam and cover. Also, for me there was a power cable that needed to fit into a slot in the cushion. I don't think I got it 100%, and this could be due to the sewing, but it could also be that I borrowed an Envoy seat instead of a Jimmy.

Either way, I'm satisfied with the installation, and the vehicle is no longer undriveable.

 

The aftermarket option seems interesting to me. I never found the seats to be particularly comfortable from day one. As I mentioned, I love the seat in my Toyota RAV4. When you say aftermarket, do you mean a completely different brand that can make a custom seat that’s more comfortable?


George

 

I haven't looked online myself trying to find the foam, or aftermarket seats. If you find a seat that is basically the same-ish side, and you can do a bit of fabrication and welding, you could swap the seat tracks. The scary part doing this is you had better be very good at welding so that the seat doesn't come apart when a front or rear collision happens. I'm sure years ago you could find aftermarket seats no problem, but probably not so much today as the newest model of our vehicles is almost 20 years old now. Probably some hardcore off-road seats might be available. If one could find other seats that the track is close and the mounting of the track to the seat itself is close, a bit of drilling and welding should be feasible. I haven't tried any of this myself. If new seat foam isn't available, a real good upholstery shop can cut new foam using the worn out foam to go from. Again, I haven't tried this and I imagine that cost may be a bit prohibitive. My first choice would be to pull a good set of seats out of another Blazer or Jimmy, though the pickings are pretty slim these days.

Sorry, I know this isn't good news for anyone, but it is what it is. This is all possible as long as $$$ isn't a hurdle. I bought a couple of seats a few year back that have been sitting in the garage for when the time comes when I need to swap seats. Thankfully that time hasn't come as of yet. I'm always looking for people parting out Blazers and Jimmys and a bit of collection of parts, primarily interior parts, to try to keep my Blazer going as long as possible.