Too tall for your XJ?... Try this mod!

Im 6'2 and have always wished I could sit a bit lower in my '98 XJ...so I decided it was finally time to try out an idea I had. I pulled the drivers seat out, pulled the brackets off it and did some measuring. I cut 1 5/8" out of the brackets, which was pretty much the maximum I could cut out to allow the seat to go back in and bolt down without bottoming out. I had to cut the carpet off the tranny hump to give enough breathing room to slide it back and forth. The project worked out and definitely made a difference!

Here's a few pics:

Front bracket section cutout



Rear bracket being cut, you can see the line where I cut the section out



Front bracket welded and bolted in (I'm no pro welder, but made sure I had a good bead to hold it all together)



Rear bracket welded and bolted in



And the final product. Both seats are tilted all the way forward in this pic...you can definitely see the difference!




Overall it wasn't too bad to do. Was a bit of a pain in the ass making sure I had it all lined up nice when welding the brackets, making sure the bolt holes would line up nice.
I hope this helps some of you 6' + tall guys!

Cool you lowered your center of gravity. my seat got lower, over time, the foam got old an now i wish i could sit higher

I did something similar but to allow the seat to sit upright more. The only thing is that I welded mine. I don't know what you call what you did. :gee:

old_man said:

I did something similar but to allow the seat to sit upright more. The only thing is that I welded mine. I don't know what you call what you did. :gee:

Click to expand...

Those look my welds. I call them molten metal glue.

I might have to try somthing like that. I'm not 6' but I can't wear my Stetson when wheelin.:laugh:

FNF

Ive often thought about doing something like this..My 96 isn't so bad, I'm 6'6".. Riding in my dad's 99 is a different story..

Not knocking your modification, but i hope you're careful when doing stuff like this. If you get rear-ended hard and your weld breaks, the seat will buckle backwards and it will be like you're not wearing a seatbelt.

You might be able to lower it more if you shift the seat to the left.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=985789

Hmmm, to each his own. I'm 6 2 and never had a problem with the seated height in my 2000.

XJEEPER said:

Hmmm, to each his own. I'm 6 2 and never had a problem with the seated height in my 2000.

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I'm 6'2" and hate riding in newer XJs. I have to slouch like crazy to not hit my head on the roof.

Older XJs had the seats down lower (at least on manual bases), and I loved that.

old_man said:

I did something similar but to allow the seat to sit upright more. The only thing is that I welded mine. I don't know what you call what you did. :gee:

Click to expand...

Haha...yea, Im an amateur welder at best and I didnt bother cleaning them up at all either...

Zuul99 said:

Cool you lowered your center of gravity. my seat got lower, over time, the foam got old an now i wish i could sit higher

Click to expand...

Nice, I wish that was my case!

FearNoFish said:

Those look my welds. I call them molten metal glue.

I might have to try somthing like that. I'm not 6' but I can't wear my Stetson when wheelin.:laugh:

FNF

Click to expand...

Haha, I like that...molten metal glue goo...

MoparManiac said:

I'm 6'2" and hate riding in newer XJs. I have to slouch like crazy to not hit my head on the roof.

Older XJs had the seats down lower (at least on manual bases), and I loved that.

Click to expand...

Yea I found I had to duck alot to look up the trail etc, or to dodge my rearview mirror that was right in my face. I also flipped the mirror mount over and that moved it up a bit. It didnt bother me as much in my old '91 XJ but yea, definitely must sit a bit higher in my '98.

I plan on doing the same or very similar on my 96.

I am only 5' 9", but have a long torso and short legs, and with me sitting in it, there is less than 1" or room to the headliner.

Bumps can be painful

I'm 6'2" and I didn't like how close my head was to the roof (1"- 3/4") I also I did this mod a while ago and love it.

I had a power driver's seat and one of the motors was going out. I heard that the manual brackets sit lower. That is false. But i modified a manual bracket since there is more room to play with.

I'm not sure about the newer manual seat brackets, but the manual seat brackets in my '92 were DEFINITELY lower by a substantial amount than my friends '91 limited power seats.

6'4" and my hair hits the roof in the 98 even if I'm slouching a bit...

might do this after I finish everything else on the list.

I am definitely going to do this. I just put in some ZJ seats and they are quite a bit higher than my stock seats were and I don't feel like hitting my head on the trails. Thanks for the tip