Dang broken seat frame!!!

I discovered this evening that my drivers seat frame is broken in two places. First, in the front, where the bolt goes through the welded on boss...this area is almost completely broken off...just hanging on by a little bit. There's also a bar that goes between the two sides of the frame in the back...this is broken on one side.

I don't know if the Jeep was wrecked before I bought it, but I'm not sure. Is this breakage common? Would it be easier for me to buy a new seat frame and install it, buy a new seat all-together, get aftermarket seats, or check eBay or the local boneyard for a used seat?

Anyone else have this problem?

sounds to me like a quick weld would fix all your troubles... make sure you dont burn through it tho... stick welder would give you some trouble there...

yep, not that uncommon. mine's broke too

Funny wife used to have a full sized Jeep, her seat back broke twice, then when she got the XJ, broke it twice more (manual seats, not electric). Taking the seat out is a pain, taking the seat cushion off, is pretty easy, the seat back a little more involved, just have to take half of it loose, then slide it up some. to have the room to weld.
The last time I welded a gusset (an extra piece of metal at the angle), to the weak area, never broke again.
Thought about getting another seat, then decided to try and fix what I had. A replacement, would probably just break agáin anyway.
Wife has a wheel chair and uses the seat back, to get in and out of the XJ. Finally installed a serious hand grip, above the door for her to use, probably should have done that sooner and saved some welding.

broke mine wheeling just a few zaps with the welder. i put a nut under the cushion bolts gave me a lil more support under my knees

Had my 98's break, took it to a custom auto upholstery shop and they stripped the seat, rewelded the frame, reinforced the frame where he thought the welds were poor or weak then restuffed the seat with new foam, that was about 2 or 3 years ago. Best $50 I ever spent....

Since I just bought it this weekend, should I try and get the dealer to fix it, or do you guys think I would be better off having an upholstery place do it or fix it myself?

I have a 2001 with manual seats. How do I get the seat cover and foam padding off the bottom seat half?

nosajwp said:

Since I just bought it this weekend, should I try and get the dealer to fix it, or do you guys think I would be better off having an upholstery place do it or fix it myself?

I have a 2001 with manual seats. How do I get the seat cover and foam padding off the bottom seat half?

Click to expand...

I never wanted to get that intimate with my seats save for the very occasional 'pulling them out of my butt' so I let a shop do it, they did a super nice job, did it fast and I didn't need any KY like you do at a dealer...

Like Rich said,take it to an auto upholstry shop.They know how to strip the cushions and make it ready to weld.
Had my 96 done several months ago,they fixed it faster than it took me to reinstal it.
Wayne

I posted a wanted thread for a seat bottom if anyone has one.