Seat Springs And How To Tighten Them Up!

[JIPJOBXX]

I was wondering if anyone here here has tighten up there old seat springs?  Befor i take oft my seat covers I would like to know how  to get a firmer seat cushion underneath my rear end.  Any picuters here? Or information on how other people have tackeled this problem. Jon

[larryconnors]

I just reupholstered my seats and I found a number of springs that were no longer attached to the frame. I reattached them with hog rings. You may find the same situation when you look at your springs.

[Niel Hoback]

I stuffed the coils with foam rubber.

[JIPJOBXX]

Like both idea's!!!!!

[Desotodav]

I've heard of people stuffing foam in there like Niel said. I found that my springs in the 52 truck were 'well used' in the driver's area, so I unclipped them and rotated their position for springs from other parts of the seat that were not as well used. I suppose it makes sense when you consider the spring sag caused by constant pressure in the driver's position.

[Niel Hoback]

Thats called "The butt-print rotation" method.

[Merle Coggins]

Mine was a bit too soft too. I took it to an upholstery shop and he added an inch or two of foam over the top and reinstalled the cover. The seat has much better support now. I wish I had done that a long time ago.

 

Merle

[Niel Hoback]

  Do you think it would work like yours if I were to use a foam mattress pad under the cover?

[Scruffy49]

I put a chunk of quilted moving blanket over the springs. Pulled the blanket as tight as I could and stitched it to the upper frame. Then each coil spring was stitched to the moving blanket. Use chalk line twine, it won't wear through as readily as carpet thread or upholstery thread. Layer of batting (craft aisle at Walmart) carpet taped to the blanket, layer of 3/8" Ensolite (camping pad, army surplus store), then add padding of choice and cover of choice.

 

Sounds goofy, works great.

[JIPJOBXX]

Thanks and I will give it a shot.  I took oft my new old seat covers yesterday by that I mean I put a set on the original seat covers 10 years ago and thought i would just check out the set that I covered.  They are in good shape and I might just go back to using them.  I'm going to try and save the old seat covers when I do the spring work. Just a little oft topic but this winter I'm going to change the outside trim to Royal Blue and then I don't think as many people will think its an Army car.  The original seat covers are blue in color also. 

[desoto1939]

When I have been is several restoration shops and in their upholstery section and have looked at their seats that are being redone I have noticed that they run new heavy twine  to pull up the tops of the springs to get them to be tighter and then put on a layer of underbatting material some even use the old jute burlap material to cover the tops of the springs and then build up the  under laying material to get a firm seat.

 

Rich HArtung

desoto1939@aol.com

[47Mopey63]

You'll find burlap or jute fabric was widely used to isolate the foam from the springs. In a coil spring setup you need to tie all of the coil springs to each other so that they wont bend over one way or the other. I would recommend using a denser foam than you think you need as a soft foam will simply bottom out in the areas where you need it the most.

With flat springs you can still get replacements although your local hometown upholstery supply jobber is probably long gone. Haven't looked but I'm guessing they can be found on the 'net'.

47Mopey63

[YukonJack]

I read somewhere that someone used the Great Stuff foam and filled the coils.

[Chester Brzostowski]

This is what I did.

See link. Check out rear seat bottom.

http://www.chetscoins.com/1948p15/2006/Upholstery2006.htm

Chet...