Pulled the upholstery...

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Since I got my Explorer, my drivers seat around the sides of the back and shoulder area has been rather uncomfortable. No matter what way I sat, I would feel metal bars and no padding. I also had no lumbar -- spin the wheel, no results. I got fed up today and pulled up the upholstery on the seat back and was laughing when I saw this....

EX3_zpse4e62ce5.jpg

No, that is not blood on the foam, lol....

The foam was ripped on both sides of the frame and was sliding behind the bar when I would sit. That is why all I felt was metal.

EX2_zpse4da111b.jpg

This is the cheap lumbar support. Plastic snapped off the frame on both sides. It has a wire tensioner that tightens to bring the support toward your back. It was dangling behind the foam.

EX1_zpse72ccb4a.jpg
Needed a quick, temporary fix until I can figure something else out, so I used zip ties, lol. I zip tied both ends of the plastic to the seat frame. So far, works excellent.

I realize that this isn't perfect, but it's doing the job for now. The lumbar is working again, and with that lumbar support, it's actually tightening the upholstery which in turn is helping hold the foam together a little. What I really need to do is figure out what kind of adhesive or anything else that I could bond the splits in the foam. This would eliminate the foam sliding back or ripping more.
 
It may be time to shop for an aftermarket seat all together. Call around and get some quotes from folks who do these things.

Upulstry is kind of a specialty thing. Your guess on how to go is as good as mine.

On another Note. I did the beaded seats for a decade while I didn't have a/c in the 90's cause my seat was desentegrating on me.
 
See if you junkyard has any clean replacement (driver's?) seats available. I got one on the cheap when I replaced my old Mazda Protege seat.
I know a used seat (especially if, from a wrecked auto) was not the best choice, but its safer than my Protege's wobbly original seat back with the broken lock mechanism.
 
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