How Can I Separate Seat Back from Seat in 1998 Tacoma?

See images below.

The piping has worked its way half out of the driver seat cover and now only reaches about halfway across the back of the seat back.

I've removed the seat and the left seat panel. In order to try to feed the plastic "thread" (about 1/8 inch diameter) back into the piping I'm going to have to separate the seat back from the seat.

1. How does one separate the back from the seat?

2. Assuming I can get it apart, how can I shove the plastic piping back into the edge of the upholstery?

 

you might be better off to get some seat covers. I don't think you'll be able to get that piping back i, since I believe it's sewed in from the factory (i.e. they place the plastic down, ofld the fabric over and sew it in. I don't think you'll be able to shove it all the way back in.

 

UPDATE:

Yes! It CAN be done!!

After a long, healthy sit-down on the throne, I went back into the garage and fiddled with the seat back. I was able to remove the seat back cover without too much hassle and here's how I did it:

With the seat assembly out of the truck, I felt around the bottom of the seat back and found that the cover is pulled down over the top of the seat back like a pillow case and is held in place by a long plastic interlocking clip running the length of the open edges of the cover.

After unclipping the open end, I could work the bottom of the cover out from the front side of the seat, and the other end of the cover up from behind the bottom rear. I then worked the cover upwards until it reached an adjustment lever on the side.

That lever is held on its shaft with one of the old door-handle-type C-clips. I simply popped one end of the clip off and the little plastic lever came right off. And yes, whek it popped out it did so with much gusto, winding up about 6 feet away from the seat.

Looking at the back of the seat with its cover about halfway up I saw that the front of the cover is clipped to the springs in two places using upholstery hooks, really nothing more than what looks like a nail bent into a circular shape. After releasing the two hooks I was able to work the cover all the way off to the top.

Had to stop there because I didn't know how to remove the head rest mounts. No problem really, I was able to work with the top of the cover still attached to the seat.

About 16 inches of the plastic piping had worked itself out of the cover. It took me about 1.5 hours in 3 sessions to work the piping back into the cover. I did so by using smooth-jawed pliers to grip the cover at the piping and then pulling, 1/2 at a time or so, the upholstery up and over the end of the piping that was stuck in the cover. I would bunch it up against the pliers, then move the pliers to the other end of the bunching and slide the bunching down toward the end that the piping was protruding from.

Sounds more complicated than it really is. Guess I've lost my touch at tech writing .

I was able to get all but about 4 inches of the plastic worked back into the cover, so I cut that 4 inches off. Then I worked some hot glue in between the fabric and the plastic piping on both ends and let it harden. Could have had the wife sew up the ends but she had other stuff to do at the time.

As they say, "Reassembly is the reverse of the disassembly". And so it was. I think that if the job doesn't hold, by the time I'll have to redo it I will be long gone in my grave.

Hope this helps someone else with loose piping.