Randall K. Wilson
Junior Member
There has been some chatter on the forum about winter HD projects...especially for us folk who live where it snows and we have to revert to the cage for motoring.
I'm embarking on something I have never done. I like the seat on my '09 Deluxe, but am not crazy about it. In some respects it is probably one of the most ornate and detailed HD seats as for as present models goes. Non-the-less I desire to change mine.
So here is what I did. I removed the seat from the machine. Rmoved chrome grab ring. Pulled the staples out and skinned the cover back from the foam. Then I took a small sharp exacto knife and carefully started cutting the threaded seams. When I was finished I had a total of ten different pieces of material laying in a stack.
NOW I HAVE A PATTERN!
My next step is to trace the pattern onto the material that will be replacing the stock cover. Now the stock cover had vinyl, real leather, a rubber bonded to real leather made to look like "tooled" leather, and real leather lacing around the bottom skirting.
STOCK SEAT BELOW
Here is my agenda...All new details for the seat will be real leather. I will used a Chromed process tanned black, imitation croccadile (on cowhide), and off white leather fringe. For accenting I'm making some custom pipping. The pipping will be made from a Marine vinyl which is tourquoise in color. In the spirit of nostalgia, I may add some chrome dots and a concho or two.
I really didn't want to "dismantle", the original cover but my mentor told me that was the best way to do this project. As the new details will be eactly the right size and it should fit on the foamed portion perfectly. When I was an apprentice years ago my Dad advised me that..."if you want to learn, do what you're told and keep your mouth shut..." His advice has never dimmed from my memory.
I will post more pics as this project comes to fruition.
rkw
This is a sneak peak of the croc portion. This material will cover some of the surfaces...but not all.
I'm embarking on something I have never done. I like the seat on my '09 Deluxe, but am not crazy about it. In some respects it is probably one of the most ornate and detailed HD seats as for as present models goes. Non-the-less I desire to change mine.
So here is what I did. I removed the seat from the machine. Rmoved chrome grab ring. Pulled the staples out and skinned the cover back from the foam. Then I took a small sharp exacto knife and carefully started cutting the threaded seams. When I was finished I had a total of ten different pieces of material laying in a stack.
NOW I HAVE A PATTERN!
My next step is to trace the pattern onto the material that will be replacing the stock cover. Now the stock cover had vinyl, real leather, a rubber bonded to real leather made to look like "tooled" leather, and real leather lacing around the bottom skirting.
STOCK SEAT BELOW
Here is my agenda...All new details for the seat will be real leather. I will used a Chromed process tanned black, imitation croccadile (on cowhide), and off white leather fringe. For accenting I'm making some custom pipping. The pipping will be made from a Marine vinyl which is tourquoise in color. In the spirit of nostalgia, I may add some chrome dots and a concho or two.
I really didn't want to "dismantle", the original cover but my mentor told me that was the best way to do this project. As the new details will be eactly the right size and it should fit on the foamed portion perfectly. When I was an apprentice years ago my Dad advised me that..."if you want to learn, do what you're told and keep your mouth shut..." His advice has never dimmed from my memory.
I will post more pics as this project comes to fruition.
rkw
This is a sneak peak of the croc portion. This material will cover some of the surfaces...but not all.
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