Dinette and Couch Foam
 

I got 2 words for the Foam in the newer trailers--Crap and it Sucks.
Our 2209 the foam crushes down to practically nothing in about 2 days with a hole where your main body is and it stays like that. We spent 2 months sleeping on this stuff, after a few days it was so uncomfortable that we put a pillow in the hole and then put a heavy comforter over it. I sleep on the couch and my wife sleeps on the dinette bed. I just got new foam from Ebay , (Firmness 36 med/firm) to replace the foam in the 2 larger dinette cushions, just put it in a couple days ago. We will test this before replacing all the foam. But a test at home in the house, it didn't crush and it came right back up. The original foam had 5x23x37 written on it, when I pulled it out it was only 4 inches thick, only the corners were 5".
The foam in our 95T was 100% better.
Also I was just looking at the Hi-Lo s on Ebay and clicked on a 2007 model and they said that they just spent $900.00 to replace the foam for better comfort, which I fully understand.
The purpose of this rant is to say that anyone can replace the foam in the dinette cushions, if they are having discomfort. There are no buttons in the newer cushions,
Just unzip remove and replace. The couch will be much more difficult.
We still love our Hi-Lo and if you bought a different brand with everyone going cheap and buying China made, you still might get the same crappy foam. The cushions and couch were not made by Hi-LO, they purchased them from another company.

The foam in all the cushions was one of the first things we replaced. We bought ours at a "Foam and Fabric" shop in town and they even cut it to size for me. All I had to do was stuff it into the covers. As I recall, the entire job was in the neighborhood of $300. It's far superior to the original foam that was in the trailer.

- Jack

Pop,
Yes the foam that was used in the newer Hi-Lo trailers is CRAP!! The Hi-Lo on E-Bay with the 900.00 replacement foam is my best friends Hi-Lo. They had the same issues as you did. It just bottomed out felt like there was nothing there where they sat and slept. Big holes and impossible to sleep on. They replaced all the foam in their camper and it is really nice now. The reason they're selling is because they need something bigger so they can take grandchildren with sometimes and they also wanted a bed that stayed up so they didn't have to set it up every time. She has back problems, etc. In our 1996 & 2004 Hi-Lo we don't have that problem and couldn't figure out what was wrong with the foam in their Hi-Lo. According to the old J&R Repair when Greg was there it is a memory foam which he said tends to do that after just a couple years use.

Years, ours collapsed in less than a week.

Jack,

Do you remember what kind of replacement foam that was?

Jim

Jim, I don't. As I said, we got it at as store in Tucson called "Foam and Fabric". I was told this was the most popular foam for cushions. They had a grade that was even firmer, but after sitting on both (in the store), I decided it would have been too firm. The new foam is an "off-white" color and the other grades they had were different colors, according to firmness. I don't know if there is a color/firmness standard.

The new foam is 5" thick, and I think maybe the OEM foam was 4"? I seem to remember discussing this with the people in the store and being assured it would compress properly inside the covers. I had a bit of a struggle getting it into the largest cushion, but once in, it worked beautifully. There's been no "sagging" or depressions in any of the cushions. The way the sleeping platform slides out from the couch, there's about a 1/2" lip (drop) on that side. With the seat cushion over it, I don't even feel it.

Having them cut it was a BIG plus, though! They have a special tool that makes the cuts precisely and quickly. I was not looking forward to trying to do that at home with a knife or saw.

Our old foam was "size marked" too, but I measured each one myself. In general, the markings were close, but I had the foam cut to match the "real" size. One nice thing too about this place, it had foam in different widths, so I did not have to put multiple pieces in any cushion. And, they were very good about minimizing any wasted foam. We actually had very little excess left over after cutting.

- Jack

The foam that I got on Ebay was 24 inches wide and long enough for 2 wide cushions. They said to cut it with an electric knife, we have a couple around but couldn't find, I cut it with a bread knife, cut very easy.

Everyone probably already knows this, but if you cover the foam with plastic sheeting like the cheap drop cloths before slipping it into the cover it makes for a much easier job. The factories wrap the foam with plastic and then vacuum the air out to compact the foam.

I certainly didn't know that! :o But, it went in anyway.

- Jack

I'm feeling blessed that I bought an old one.

Replacing foam in HiLo cushions
 

I just had my home Ethan Allen couch reapolistered,had to wait three months for our apt. I bet you could look in your locaLphone book for an upholstery shop. bring in your cushions and I would be willing to bet they would measure order the foam and even put them in,may have a special machine for this. Our new couch cushions are firm and I'm sure they are better than the original. No wonder HiLo went out of business,cheap components.