I know what you mean about leather when its cold out. Luckily I have seat heaters in mine. They take a long time to warm up when its good and cold out tho.

 

I bought a new 2007.5 SLT with cloth seats. I had the dealer install the Katzkin leather and seat heaters. The seat heaters, installed at the same time as the new leather, were $600. And the switches installed in the dash in the same location where the factory seat heater switches go.

 

Rostra seat heaters from Geno's work really well. I have them for the wife and myself. I place the supplied switches in the cig lighter for mine and drilled a hole on the opposite side for the wifes switch.

 

I plan on putting in the ALI leather one day, maybe next year, does anyone know where I can buy the factory heaters, switches etc?
I'll check out EBAY...

 

Ok guys this is what I have found out. First off I installed the seat heaters, they came with switches and relays but I wanted a factory appearance, so I ordered factory switches. If you have ever been on the Rostra website, I bought the W.E.T. heaters that they show. I installed the switches tonight and basically got rid of the relays that came with the seat heaters. I spliced on the heaters at the switch because I have an SLT and the wires are at the switch but not at seat base. I had previously ran the heater wires up to the switch connector. I turned the truck on and the seat heaters came on but took forever to heat up. I measured the voltage at the switch and had only 3 volts on the load side going to the heaters on high and 1 volt on low. I know there are resistors in the switch that allow it to have a high and low heat setting without using a control module like the 05 and older models. So basically I have concluded that the factory seat heaters run at a lower voltage than 12 volts. This is bad for me because the heaters that I bought run on 12 volts, thus the long warm up period. Another problem I ran into is that the switches do not just snap in. I think I need to get a smaller cubby with 2 bezels that the switches will snap into.

 

We're spoiled in So Cal, but now that summer is gone the mornings are getting colder and colder. I have SLT cloth and it would be cool to be able to install the factory seat heaters, switches, etc. in them. Could care less about switching to leather. Is this possible with the cloth? Has anydone this. Would be a cool option. The wife takes our gas guzzler suburban 2 miles to work in the morning just for its seat heaters (and leather), rather than our 4 cyl. Camry!

 

I have the heated seats but I still use sheepskin covers on them,the heater takes a bit to warm up and I don't trust it enough to leave the truck alone while there running,be my luck they would start a fire.

Leather seating is not all that great,least to me,but my wife wanted the heated seats,if not for her I could care less.

Pav

 

well if you live in a climate that has long and cold winters (and by cold I mean -32*F or C and NOT +32*F or 0*C ) then you have no idea what you're missing if you've never had heated leather. These seats are the "coolest" and most practical option I have on my fully loaded truck (along with heated mirrors and rear window defrost ... finally!).
And my leather warms up pretty quickly considering everything is frozen through to the bone in the morning. These diesels take sooooo long to warm up when it's this cold out and it takes nearly a 1/2 hr til the heater begins blowing even slightly warmer air, so the only way to avoid frost-bite was to wear a snowmobile suit. The heated leather helps ease the pain and I wouldn't give 'em up for nuttin'! You may not be able to see out the windshield but your backside is warm.

 

does plugging it in help the warm up? if by a long shot we hit freezing, if i had mine plugged in, it will blow luke warm air...i know your alot colder but didnt know if it makes that much of a difference?

brett

 

not sure about after market ones, but the factory ones are kinda annoying because you cannot turn em on while warming up your truck. It seems there is a safety switch built in so you have to sit on the seat to make it work. By the time its warm I have already warmed up the seat. Although I would not like to be without them anyway.

 

hey rusty, I plug 'er in when I can at those temps and the cummins says thanks for sure but still takes forever to warm up to operating temp where it'll blow air hot enuf to thaw anything. After she idles for a minute on her own I tap up the high-speed idle for another couple minutes and that helps too but it will NOT warm up until you start driving it. I only idle long enough basically to clean the snow and ice ... 3 or 4 mins ... then gently drive off. Any more idling is a waste of time and fuel as it will NEVER warm up idling. An exhaust brake would be the ultimate for quicker warm-up... Dodge finally agrees apparently. I luv it!

rramctd, that is not true ... they begin to heat up as soon as the truck is started then turned on. If the light on the switch is illuminated they are heating no matter where your butt is. One thing I learned ... when you first turn the key you have to wait for the grid heater light to go out before you start the truck ... so while waiting I turned on the seat heater to get a head start ... but then when you start the truck the heaters turn off and they don't come back on by themselves. You have to start the truck then turn them on. Is that maybe what you did ... I did it more than once before I figured it out ... doh

 

a jake does help it warm up for sure! but with a 5" tb exhaust it sounds terrible!!!

brett

 

Well I guess I will have to try again. I may not have had it running long enough to really test it. The do take a while to get warm on my truck. I really hope I am wrong and your right. Thanks for saying it cause I let myself believe it was true and never gave it another try.

 

Well I am sad but my seats do not heat unless i am sitting on them. the lights are on the switch but that is all. I did seem to take less time to feel them if I let the sit on for 10min. but not totally sure as it was not really cold out.

 

I know the padding under the seat cover is thick, maybe you need to sit on the seat to make contact with the seat heater in order to feel the heat through the padding. When I wired up my aftermarket heaters they took a long time to heat up, but the seat I was not sitting in I could not feel the heat through the seat cover unless I sat on it.