Most youtube videos seem to be describing leather seat installation but I just want a new bottom seat cover. I found a set of used ones on ebay and I see where I can order just that one piece from toyota dealers for around $250.

My question is do the cloth seats also use hog rings? Will I need to buy a hog ring tool & kit? Will I need to remove the seat or can I replace it in the vehicle? How much work is involved for a newbie.

FYI i'm not afraid to get my hands dirty; i have built decks, swapped fixtures and dishwashers and repaired my washer & dryer several times so I'm not completely incapable of doing things myself.

edited:

1. i've searched on youtube for details of the process but can't find what i'm looking for so if anyone knows of a good video link, please share!

2. is there a particular parts place/dealer people on this site use? i would love to give business to whoever supports this site instead of [random google toyota online parts search]

Thank you!

Yes, they use hogrings. You'll want a set of the pliers and hogrings. It's not difficult, but a lot of small stuff to disconnect and remove. You have to remove the seat from the vehicle, but that's probably the easiest part. Seat disassembly is covered in the FSM.

Don't mess with hog ring and special tools. Use zip ties instead. Much much easier to handle..

PS: funny, my second post today about the same crap

so on that topic..do you have any pics? the hog tie youtube video i watched showed it going over the 'hog ring material' but it didn't pierce it. how would the zip ties work? do you have to punch a hole through the material for each one? i'm confused how that works; a pic or video would be VERY helpful since the hog ring seat cover videos i've watched dont go through the material itself but hook over the metal plus material and squeezed.

Disclaimer: I do not own a 4Runner yet, but

Have replaced a cloth seat cover on a Miata that had Hog Rings and used zip ties in place of the Hog Rings and it worked great.

Holes are already there, no need to pierce anything.

The process is like this:

2016 Tacoma Seat Heater Installation - YouTube

PS: is there a way to embed video to a post ?!

This is so true. I've upholstered a few seats using zip ties. Including my 4Runner after I installed heated seats. The nice thing about the zip ties is you can loop them around and actually pull them tight. A lot easier on your hands than the pulling/squeezing with hog ring pliers. Not to mention how many hog rings you'll drop, have to cut back out because they didn't anchor right, etc.

I replaced the cloth seat cushions on my 2008...the process - I imagine - is pretty much the same.

I started out wanting to do the hog ties. I bought the ties and the pliers and set forth one afternoon to get it done. There were quite a few tight/difficult angles for the hog pliers so I reached into some shop stock and grabbed some zip ties to do the vast majority of the replacement.

They were - by far - easier to work with. A couple of lessons learned though. 1) zip them as tight as you can possibly get them and, 2) clip/trim them as tight as you can.

I experienced a phenomenon where the subsequent ass/spring action/movement allowed a few of the clipped/bulky ends to rotate around the inner spring (where you zip them down) between the top of the cushion and the bottom of the cover. What was left of the tightly clipped ends began poking up through the cover and poking my leg/ass. I'm pretty sure something like that wouldn't have happened if I managed to get the hog rings in there.

If I had to do it again using zip ties, I'd probably get some of the smallest ones I felt could do the job and find some way to prevent them from rotating around the spring.

Good luck!