'99 XJ seat sucks, ideas for lowering?

Help. I love my Cherokee, but I'm too tall to fit in the thing. Its my only real complaint (at the moment), especially since I now have a back injury and need to be able to sit properly in the seat. Does anyone have any ideas on adjusting the mounting brackets to bring it down? If I could get 1.5" I think it would be about right. I'm 6'1" with a long torso, and I just cant sit without slouching or having my head smashed into the headliner.

What about an aftermarket seat? Is there something that would sit lower? I'd like it to keep te recline functionality and a decent headrest, maybe some side bolster support for a thin guy like me. If I could get something for about $300 I think I could make it work. Plus I could sell my old one (nice grey, really good condition w/100K). My parents had an old '88 XJ, and my freind has a '93, and I can sit fine in those. Just the late model redesign that smacks my head against the ceiling.

Help me if you can!

--Brian

Try searching. I believe there's a couple of posts about aftermarket brackets that will lower the seat if I remember correctly. They were called 'big boy' brackets or something?

Just recently I had my seats appart and the bracket could easily be cut and rewelded to sit lower. Take out the seat and look at it .

If you have the power seats they might be higher than the non power seats, I'm 6'5" and long torso. I have about about 4 fingers above my head in my 98.

I'm only 6'0" and I also feel like the seats are too high, especially compared to my 88. Why did they raise the seats so darn high? To help the ladies feel taller?

Wow, quick replys around here.

I'll check for the "big boy" brackets. My seat is not pwr, just standard, but I have noticed that the newer model seats seem higher than the old '88 of my parents. I wondered if thats to make the Jeep feel bigger, but thats really off topic.

I had the passenger seat off a while ago when I installed a subwoofer amp, and the bracketry looked like it wouldn't have clearance over the mounting hump on the floor if I cut them shorter (although its been a while). I checked my factory shop manual, and the diagrams there seemed to confirm my thoughts. I was hoping someone else has delt with this before I yank the seat out, as I need it as a daily driver and don't see the point in modifying the passenger seat.

I'm surprised that Rich P has so much headroom. 6'5" is way taller than me, and my head touches even when the seat is reclined so far that I can barely reach the steering wheel. Guess I picked the Cherokee with the wrong interior (its just a Cherokee Sport if that helps anyone).

Kejtar, your XJ's a 97 right? I know they redesigned the seat mounting somewhere around there (I think '97 was the redesign, anyone know for sure?). I was reading that the old way had the seats bolted straight to the floor, and the newer way has these, well, humps that they bolt to. Where did you have in mind to cut on the mounts?

Thanks all, I really appreciate the input.

the power seats move up and down. maybe you could find one in a junkyard and get it to work.

smac999 said:

the power seats move up and down. maybe you could find one in a junkyard and get it to work.

Click to expand...

The power seats in the newer XJ sit about 1"- 1 1/2" higher than manual seats, even with the height adjusted all the way down. It was the first thing I noticed when I did my leather/power seat swap.

I'm 6'5'' and my head touches the roof. I need a lift so that I dont have too look around the rear view mirror.

I like that idea... I've been thinking about it all wrong. I should lift the Jeep and just recline the seat more. At least that way I'll see whether the stoplight is green or not without craning my head like a flamingo.

Thanks JeepZZ about the electric seats, guess I'll rule that out.

Checked on the "big boy" brackets, but they only add length, not height. And here I thought this would be an easy post to answer. I'll take the seat out this weekend and see what I can come up with. Maybe I can take some pics for better description.

Does anyone have any experience with aftermarket seats allowing for increased headroom? Maybe I should just trade someone for a ZJ (assuming they have more clearance).

I've got a 93 Sport, and the manually-operated seats in that are really low - I was surprised when I put my old seat onto a powered base (I'm swapping over soon) how much higher I sat. It might be worth your while checking the bracketry holding your seat to the base against an earlier model, since there's only 4x13mm nuts holding it on at the body and the seat respectively. That way, if an early model seat base marries up to your existing seats, you could gain the height you need. Talk nicely to your local scrapyard and see if he wouldn't lend you the passenger side one to check over, and then you can muck about and see for yourself. It's a piece of cake to get the things out, as long as you've got a box wrench.