I just picked up a 2001 Jeep Cherokee and the previous owner was a little messy. I removed the seats and cleaned the carpet. Since the seats were already out I decided to clean those. I've seen people remove the upholstery from the seats and throw them in the washer. So, I went to it.

I washed them using just regular "all" detergent. And they were a lot better. But there were still some stains. I was explaining to my wife what I was doing and that I wished I could get the stains out (all the while reassuring her that I wasn't "wrecking" her washing machine). She suggested Oxy Clean. I thought, What the heck... why not.

Holy eff... they seats are like new. The worst was the drivers seat. The previous owner was a chef. I felt the need to share.

Before:



After:



Now I know why Billy Mays was so excited about Oxy Clean. RIP Billy Mays... RIP.

 

looks good!

 

You just know Billy's up there smiling.

And I'll lay even money he's in charge of cleaning the angles robes.

 

Wow, they came out great. Was it difficult to remove the upholstery?

I was planning on going crazy with an upholstery cleaning machine but just throwing them in the wash sounds a lot easier.

 

Nice, and good timing. I need to do this -- did you just hang them outside to dry?

 

It's not to bad. I would say that with the amount of elbow grease you have to put into cleaning them with a brush and solution you could spend just as much time taking them off.

These instructions are for 97+ Cherokee

To remove them, (assuming the seat is already removed) start by removing the plastic cover that is on the "door side" of the seat. Three screws and it comes right off.

Separate the seat back from the seat
There are two 13mm screws under that plastic cover. Remove those. On the opposite side of the seat (tranny tunnel side / inside of seat) there is a T45 (IIRC) torx. Remove that... don't lose the large plastic washer. The seat back should now separate from the seat.

Remove the "seat" upholstery
Start with "unhooking" the plastic off the metal bars on the underside of the seat. You will unhook the front and inside part of the seat (when I say inside I mean the part of the seat that is next to the tranny tunnel). Then there are two plastic tabs you need to push out on the door side of the seat. Once all the plastic pieces are unhooked you can roll up the upholstery to start removing it from the cushion. This is where the real run begins.

There are three bars that are in sleeves that are attached to the upholstery which attach to the seat with hog clips. Each bar has two hog clips. I used two needle nose pliers to separate the hog clips and get the bars to come out. You will first have to rotate the hog clip to find the ends. Then just grab with the needle nose pliers and pull apart. I left the hog clips in the seat, I didn't take them out ALL the way.

After you get the six that are on the main seat part where you park your rear there are three in the back on the underside of the seat. Total of 9 hog clips on the seat.

Remove "seat back" upholstery
At the bottom of the seat is the same u-shaped plastic. Unhook that and then start rolling the upholstery up. When you get to the neck of the seat there will be another bar with two hog clips. Same thing as before... rotate, grab with pliers, spread apart.

After you have the upholstery off remove the bars and set aside where your kid won't find them and "help you." I lost one of the bars. I think I'm going to replace it with a single wire from a piece of 12 gauge romex. Should work. The makeshift part is going in the passenger seat. :-)

Anyways... I washed them one piece at a time with the Oxy Clean. You could probably do the top and bottom at once. But since I was "testing" out the Oxy Clean, I did one at a time.

 

I used greased lightning and got the same difference with elbow grease.

 

One set I hung them in the garage with a fan blowing on them overnight. That works "ok". The other set I put out in the sun. The washing machine removed a lot of the water in the spin cycle. I let them sit in the sun for a few hours then turn them inside out and let them sit a few more hours. Once they were relatively dry (mainly the inside) I put them back on.

My wife stitched up some of the torn vinyl with a needle and upholstery thread. I'll take some pics when I get come tonight of her handy work and fully assembled seats.

I actually had put the passenger seat back together before I Oxy Cleaned the driver seat. Ended up taking the passenger seat apart again so I could run it through the washer with the Oxy Clean. Doh.

 

Put my first set in clothes washer came out great. Even had time for a couple a beers while waiting.