Storage in any 4-wheel drive is at a premium. Show me an off-road rig with enough storage, and I'll show you a truck that's just too damn big. But, even the biggest
4-wheel drive trucks - Suburban's, Excursion's, full size pickups, etc. - can still take advantage of well placed, well organized storage. Heck, it's a universal truth.
At the 2007 SEMA show, we spied hundreds, thousands maybe, of new off-road products. But, when we walked past the Smittybilt booth, something caught our eye. It wasn't
their flashy booth, their pretty displays, or even a big-haired, bubbly blonde model - it was their
universal-fit G.E.A.R. seat cover system that will solve the storage
problem that plagues off-roaders the world over. Instantly, the GEAR seat cover system fell into our "Why the hell didn't we think of that?!?" category.
The GEAR seat covers from Smittybilt really is a departure from every other storage system that we've seen. Drawers, boxes, military ammo cans and so on take up large
amounts of space, causing the vehicle owner to have to redesign the interior around these bulky items. Very few, if any, storage systems on today's market provide so much
packing space, in so small an area. The Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat covers will have all your gear stored safely in a well balanced form and functional design.
The GEAR seat covers are manufactured from 600 Denier Polyester with a PVC liner, which makes them water resistant (see photo). So, when you are enjoying your open-air
off-road adventure and the heaven's open up, rest assured your tools, maps, food and everything else that you stuff into the pouches will remain safe and dry.
The G.E.A.R. seat covers are also completely adjustable, to fit nearly every bucket and bench seat on the market (except for full-size truck front-bench seats). Every
Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat cover comes with seven different pouches, which fasten very securely using the military-standard Molle/Pals restraint system. This also means
that if you find yourself at a local Army Surplus store, you can pick up all sorts of cool Molle pouches, bags and the likes. You'll have plenty of room to store your
field radio, handcuffs, M16 mags, frag grenades, smoke grenades and flash bangs. They are offered in three different colors: Black, Coyote Tan, and Olive Drab Green -
and they are completely UV Stable too.
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Installation - Smittybilt G.E.A.R. Seat Covers
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| Time: |
1.5 Hours |
| Tools Needed: |
None, zip, nada, zilch |
| Difficulty: |
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Installation
We started our installation by noting how threadbare our seats had become. These poor junkyard seats have served us faithfully for more than 10 years, but the
stains and holes were becoming too much to deal with. The GEAR seat covers were the perfect solution - lots of storage in an already-to-cramped interior, and
protection and styling to boot.
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The installation of the GEAR seat covers is very straightforward. We started by laying out the upper and lower seat covers on our seats. We then adjusted the
upper and lower portions to fit the height of our seat. Double-check your layout of the seat covers as everything else builds off of this later. Once you have the layout
correct, the next step is to start fastening the seat covers to the seats with the heavy-duty velcro straps. You will have to readjust a few times to get the seat
cover perfectly aligned.
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With the seat covers now attached to your seat, it's now time to attach the lower skirts to your seat. The Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat covers come with several
stretch cords and hooks sewn into the lower skirts. Simply find a suitable place to snuggly attach the cords and hooks to the underside of your seat.
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With the seat covers now fully installed in your rig, it's now time to start the best part - picking out and placing the Molle gear pouches on your seats. Each
seat cover comes with 7 pouches with sizes ranging from small to extra large. Below are a some samples of how we attached our Molle gear pouches to the Smittybilt
G.E.A.R. seat covers.
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The Verdict
The Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat covers are designed to fit just about any bucket and small rear bench seat. These seat covers will fit some seats
better than others, but should fit just about any bucket seat pretty well.
Installation of the G.E.A.R. seat covers is pretty straightforward, although it will take a bit of tweaking to get it to fit just right. You'll have a
heckuva good time trying to decide where to put all of those nifty
Molle storage pouches, and the seae cover's near-infinite adjustability makes it a
snap - literally.
The seat covers do cover the essential areas, and more importantly, they cover and protect the "wear" areas quite well. As mentioned earlier, they're
made from top-notch materials (600 Denier Polyester with a PVC liner), which makes them water resistant (see photo), and they should last the life of your vehicle.
The Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat covers look great and function perfectly. Above is a picture of our rig with and without the Smittybilt G.E.A.R. seat covers. We think they'll
give your rig plenty of extra storage capacity and will also give it a cool military look as well.
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Smittybilt
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1600 Walnut Parkway
Compton, CA 90220
Toll Free: 888-717-5797
Phone: 310-762-9944
Fax: 310-762-2297
Web: www.smittybilt.com
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