Heated seats installed

The New Frontier said:

I think this is those heaters: Universal Carbon Fiber Dual Temp Seat Heater Kit

If it is, then $90 isn't a bad price.

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Those are exactly the ones I ordered, and there are much cheaper ones available. The benefit to these are that they are made of a mesh or a web of carbon fiber (look at the picture of the bottom of the pad) which can be cut to length and not affect the operation. This is absolutely necessary for 2nd gen trucks.

As for the switches, they look good, but if anyone else tries this location, they need to be moved back as much as possible (away from the shifter 1/8" - 1/4"). I tried to center the switches, for visual appropriateness, but I wound up without enough clearance and had to bend all of the wire terminals.

I also got to try them out for a couple of hours last night and they get hot quick. I had to put it on low after about 15 minutes and it still felt hot. I was really disappointed after seeing how much had to be cut off during the install, but have no fear, they toasted my Levis with plenty of heat.

I don't know if I'll have time really soon for a detailed write up, but if anyone wants any information, please don't hesitate to let me know and we'll set up a time to talk. There are a few things to know before hand that will help make it easier.

The stitch detail running through the center of the seat is held down with a wire imbedded in the seat foam and a plastic tube in the upholstery and held down with hog rings. This is why the pads need to be cut in length. They can't be cut width wise, but we have just enough room for them to fit.

mm7759 said:

Just wondering how much of a pain it is to get the seat covers on/off for the install? Do you have to disassemble the entire seat?

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You don't have to disassemble the seat, but it is a lot easier if you take them out and work on a table. There are 2 plugs to disconnect and a harness clamp to pull out, and the seat will be ready to unbolt. After the seat is out, the seat bottom upholstery is stretched over 2 metal tabs underneath, which is easy to pull back and remove. You have to leave the upholstery on or it will involve removing and replacing hog rings in the center of the seat pad and that seemed to be problematic to me. If you pull the seat cover to the top side, after you unhook it, you can measure and cut the heat pad and slide it between the seat pad and the seat cover. The tough part is pealing the backing off of the adhesive tape while its in place and getting it not to move or wrinkle. It's a pain, but not impossible. The seat bottoms aren't that different, almost the same. The seat backs are definitely not the same. The passenger seat has a plastic back panel that has to be removed. At the bottom there are 2 plastic push plugs that have to be pried out. The middle has moulded hooks that pop off fairly easy and the top has 2 tabs to hold it in place. After the plugs and hooks are unhooked the panel will slide down and out.

The passenger seat has a back panel and then a bunch of plastic clips holding the upholstery in place, and the drivers seat has zippers and plastic clips. Not too difficult.

I left the plugs and the relay under the seat so there would be enough slack for the seat to move all the way forward and backward without interference. I then ran the switch plug and black and red power wires into the console under the cup holders. I did both seats so there are 2 blacks and 2 reds. I twisted both blacks together and both reds together, by putting them in the end of my cordless drill and twisted them until they were like one braided wire. This just makes it easier to run them to the dash. You can see the blacks screwed to metal under the dash and the only part I got help with was the reds. They are connected to the ignition power that also operates my remote start. I can't help much with that one, I'm color blind so all the wires with dashes or stripes and different colors are off limits for me.