The seat on my ATV is in really bad shape from years of sitting in the sun. Nothing happened for the longest time then it started cracking and after awhile the cracks turned into rips. I was planning on getting it re-upholstered but don't know where to get it done locally or where to send it. I can't do it myself because my staple gun doesn't have enough power to drive the staples flush into the plastic on the bottom of the seat.

I kept putting off looking into re-upholstering it and one day decided to just stick it together with duct tape. I bought some 3M duct tape because I used some other tape they made that seemed to work better than the cheap stuff. I got black heavy duty tape. I think it was 60 yards long and I used all of it except little pieces I had to throw away.

I'll see how well it works this weekend. I forgot to wash the seat off before I stuck the tape on so it might peel off from being stuck to dirt. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best but I have a question for the forum. If it doesn't work out what can I do to get it fixed? Buying another seat isn't an option.

 

Is the foam still in good shape?

For what it would cost to have it done, you could probably buy a harbor freight priced staple gun and a new seat cover on ebay and do it yourself.

Just a guess, and going by what they wanted to do my motorcycle seat with the original foam. That was $100 4 years ago.

 

If you go to eBay and search for "seat cover for your model" I have recovered several ATV's. The staple on replacement ones are the best, but the slip on that I put on my 2002 AC 400 has held up well. It has faded a bit, but it stays outside year round. Two draw cords run around it and you just cinch em up and tie tightly. I probably should retighten, but it's been of for 2 or 3 years. I like it because I can tie around rear speed racks so no worries the seat will ever blow off towing behind my truck. If you do a staple on cover, might want to get someone to help hold1 side. The hardest one that I did was for a Polaris Sportsman, has a lot of banana shape, was a challenge!

 

The foam has a few grooves that aren't very deep right where the cracks in the cover started. It may have been from the sun shining on the foam. My old staple gun was like this -> https://www.arrowfastener.com/tool/t50/. My new one is from Ace Hardware and uses staples a little bit wider but seems to have about the same power. That's still not enough power to drive the staples deep enough into hard plastic.

I thought about getting one of those slip on seat covers but didn't think they would work very well. I never actually saw one in use.

 

That Arrow gun is fine. 8 mm/5/16" staples and be prepared to pull out a few and retighten. Like I said, did a Sportsman 500 and a 400. They were 10X harder to do than the Arctic Cats. I really would try a slip on for a Polaris. It's a beotch getting the middle down. If I had to do another, might try starting in the middle and work out.

 

Thanks. The slip on seat cover sounds like a better idea, but after I get home next week I'll have to see if I have any staples that short. My Arrow stapler went missing when my ex moved out so I got the other one from Ace. It uses wide crown staples and may not have the same variety of sizes available as the Arrow. I bought it mainly to hang targets at the gun range and it doesn't even come close to driving longer staples all the way into wood. The Arrow didn't either.

 

I didn't get much of a chance to see how the duct tape will hold up. I only got 19 miles in on Saturday and Sunday and didn't ride any actual trails. It rained most of the time from Monday morning until Wednesday morning so I didn't ride at all those days. The sun finally came out when I was packed up and headed for home. The rain beaded up on the duct tape, unlike the actual seat cover, and it appears to be waterproof so far. I may not be able to ride anymore this year but will keep you guys posted if anything changes. I may try stapling the duct tape if the ends come loose.

 

I've seen some of the slip covers and they looked pretty good. People that put them on said it was a fairly easy process, just don't hurry it.

Not even sure where I got it from, but I have an electric staple gun that uses the same staples as my manual arrow stapler. That may be an option if you can find one for a decent price.

 

If you get a "slip on" spray it with Scotchguard or a silicone waterproofing. Water will bead right off. Actually, I've used Rain X spray.

 

I was thinking about an electric staple gun too but have no other use for it. If I use the shortest staples I can get the stapler I have now might drive them in all the way. For now I'll just wait and see what happens.