I'm considering an interior facelift for my D. It's an '03 with the third row option, all cloth seats. Over the years they've gotten worn from kids & general abuse. I'd love to find a leather interior (dark grey or black) to swap out. Would any of the Gen 1 seats fit? How about others? (Gen 2, RAM's, etc.)

The other option is to go with good quality covers. Anybody have experience with them? As long as I'm asking questions, how about a replacement carpet manufacturer suggestion?

Thanks!
Bob

 

for dashboard you will have to use 01+ durango or dakota with the same body style, the 04+ durangos are wider than ours, and the same for 05+ dakotas

seats should be same bolt points across the entire 1st gen run, but the seats also changed with the rest of the interior (01 getting the newer, IMO, better seats)

ram parts will not fit as they are also a wider chassis/body.

honestly i dont get why people want leather, cold as sh*t in the winter (unless you have heated seats) and hot and sticky as h*ll in the summer, no thanks, id trade UP to cloth if i had the $$ for it.

 

sharps right,leather is nice to have and look at,and it usually lasts longer than cloth,but it's yucky in the summer....the last heated leather I had just made me sweaty when it warmed up so it kinda felt gross then also....I put hours of work into changing the interior and still wound up buying seatcovers for the cloth....Although,if it got messy from say a coffee spill,the leather cleans up real easy and the covers go in the machine....

 

Yep, seat covers fix the leather issues for us that don't like leather.

 

Just a quick lowdown on what's easily interchangeable inside a Durango across the years...

Seats, all 98-03 Durango seats are the same. As far as I know, they never changed anything with their design other than some different locations of the lower lumbar support. Some were power, some were manual, those that were manual were either lever style or **** style. They ALL share the same bolt patterns. Even if you have a manual passenger front seat, you can swap in a power passenger front seat; just have to tap into wiring for the drivers side seat. Bench seats even use the same bolt pattern.

Dash, you need to stick with 01-03. Try to find an upper dash cap from an 01+ SLT+. They have a foam under the vinyl material that the lower base model 01+ trucks didn't get. Less cheap feeling.

Doorpanels, 01-03 only. SLT+ doorpanels are the way to go. Also have the same foam backed vinyl covering as the dash. Much nicer than the lower model trucks.

Center console, 01-03 only. They changed the shape of the transmission tunnel on the 01-03's.

Carpet, 01-03 only. Also due to the shape of the transmission tunnel.

Seatbelts are not interchangeable. They changed the connectors for the seatbelt warning light plug. You may be able to swap the connector, but honestly it's not worth the trouble.

Headliners... Somewhat interchangeable. Biggest unnoticeable difference between the years is the sunvisor mounting holes. I found this out the hard way.

Third row side panel plastics are also somewhat interchangeable. If you have rear AC, you can only use a passenger side panel from an 01+ with rear AC. That upper light gray interior panel (the piece that covers the seatbelt adjustment slider) is also only interchangeable with one with rear AC. Little bit further, the last side window on the passenger side is also different for 01-03 rear AC Durangos, so if you swap in the rear AC you will also want a new side window.

Upper interior trim panels are hit or miss. Some swap, some don't. Not sure what the reasoning is behind the differences. Obviously you can only use the 01-03 A-pillar panels because of the shape difference in the dashes.

Be warned as well, the 01+ trucks have a slightly different shade of "agate". It's slightly darker than the 98-00 "agate". Hardly noticeable, but it's there.

I think that's all there is... Not really the info I'm sure you were looking for, but for future reference it may be helpful to others. I've had the interior in my truck completely removed 3-4 times.

Also I notice you aren't too far away.. If you're interested and have bucket front seats, I have a complete set of factory 01+ leather seat covers, including the third row. They have the Ram head embroidered into the headrest area on the front two seats. They really aren't too hard to swap, either.

 

Good info there.I'm not sure how it is inland but around here we have a lot of places that do canvas work,they'll stitch anything from cloths to leather and vinyl.....I had a local shop repair the seats in a couple of my cars,they did a really good job and it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought...that's based on saving the interior though...

 

Yep, I'm right up the road from you in Alden. We visit a pizza shop in Batavia often where the kids get to make their own pizza's, don't recall the name of it though.

Anyways, I'm going to hunt around a bit for some seating options. My fronts are split bench with the foldown console which really comes in handy if there's an extra kid that has to squeeze in somewhere, so front buckets aren't really do-able for me. Shoot me a pm with a price on the covers anyways so I can keep it in my options though.

Regarding leather vs. cloth, I agree with the sticky-in-summer feeling, but the ease of cleanup & durability is a great benefit. Heated seats would just be a big bonus!

Thanks for all of the info so far! Anything on carpet replacement manufacturers? Or should I be looking at dealer molded carpet for this?

Bob