WJ Front Seat Install

I recently installed WJ front seats in my '98 XJ. As this swap was so easy even I didn't screw it up a write up probably isn't needed but pictures can't hurt. This works off the fact that the WJ and XJ seats attach to the sliders in the same way. So basically all you are doing is swapping XJ sliders onto the WJ seat.

First remove the XJ seat. I found it easiest to start by sliding the seat completely foward and remove the rear fastners (18mm nut, 13mm bolt)



Next slide the seat all the way back and remove the front fastners (2 13mm bolts).



Now get the seat somewhere you can work on the bottom. I found that sitting it in the rear cargo area places it about the perfect height. It should look something like this.



The slider (which is actually 3 pieces, two rails and an adjustment handle) is attached to 4 tabs on the seat. This should give you an idea.



Remove all four nuts (13mm) attaching the slider to the seat. Here it is with one rail removed.



After you have the slider removed from the XJ seat, remove the slider from the corresponding WJ seat. Now install the XJ slider onto the WJ seat. I found it easiest to attach one rail first. Start by putting the rear stud in place (star in pic below). This will align the front stud such that it only fits the correct way. Make sure the sliding mechanism (gold in pic below) faces the inside. Now set the other slider into place but don't tighten. This gives you wiggle room to attach the adjustment handle. It mounts over two tabs (triangle in pic below) on the sliding mechanism of each rail. Then tighten all four nuts.



Now install the seat in the jeep. Set the seat in place using the rear stud as a guide. Start with the front bolts. This will align the seat properly. Now tighten the rear nut/bolt.





I've had the seats in for about 2 weeks now and love them. They do sit a bit higher than the XJ seats. But even at 6'4 I am fine with the seat just slightly reclined. The are considerably more comfortable and the head rest is now tall enough to be useful!

add this, and youve got a perfect write up, even for us 2 door guys!:
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=992058&highlight=seat+swap

maybe ive missed something, but id still like to ask... does this swap work for all grand cherokees (ZJ and WJ) excluding the newer models?

ZJ and WJ seats both work (according to GoJeep, the Aussie XJs past a certain year got ZJ seats instead of the crappy buckets we got). Instead of tearing both my stock seats and the ZJ buckets apart, I just hooked up the positive and ground wires, and used the power recline and lumbar, on the XJ slider. No need to even remove the seat bases if you have a flex-head ratchet. It's very straight forward.

I want to know more about that rear seat swap.

that makes two of us, but i have yet to see one.

So if I understand this correctly, all you need to do is take ZJ seats and put them on stock XJ bases. You'll then have manual front to back adjustment, but after running 12 volts to the motors, you'll have power recline and lumbar support? Is this the same for WJ seats as well?

I fabbed in some XJ leathers out of a 90 to my 99 last summer and while they're comfy, the ZJ's are much more comfy and plus the fab work on my current set up isn't very aesthetically pleasing (very structurally sound though).

I have the rear in but have not loaded the pictures or written anything up yet. Lets just say it was a bit more work but in the end not that difficult.

As for power, I don't know as I swapped in manual seats and did not attempt to hook up the butt warmers.

if you have power XJ bases its plug and play.

even my manuel bases have a wire going to them, i beleive its solely for the seatbelt light in the dash. but... plug a voltmeter and see what kind of power is going to it. it might simply be a matter of soldering.

sleestack said:

I want to know more about that rear seat swap.

Click to expand...

search:woohoo:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=996662

Do the WJ seats fit in a pre 97?

Looks good BTW!

They should....all the way down to when the seat bases changed. That was in the early 90's.

Ok for the rear seats I basically followed this thread http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=986536&highlight=seat&page=2

First I measured the width of the seat area in jeep from inner lip of trim where cross member is. I then sat the two benchs together and measured width at same point. I used this to determine how far in the first mount should be. For me it was 7 1/4" but I strongly suggest determining for each install. Using that point to align brackets, I drilled 1/2 hole through vertical portion of cross member and intstalled both bench using 1/2 x 1.5" grade 8 hardware.

Passenger

Driver

I then wanted to make sure the bench fit before installing the seat backs. I started with the fender "massage" as suggested in the thread above. However, the seats hit on the trim when attempting to sit them back. So out came a jigsaw to remove a bit of the plastic base from each seat.

The driver side did not require a great deal of trimming. Basically all I removed was a square that pretty much outlines itself right at the rear corner of the frame. That will make a lot more sense when you pull back the cover and look at the plastic frame.


The passenger side required a bit more trimming. I started with the small corner piece noted above but it still caught on the trim and did not want to fully sit down. So I trimmed, test fit slowly until I was satisfied with it. In the end I actually took off very little material and was able to ready tuck the cover tabs fully back under leaving visible changes to the seat.




When I sat the seat backs in to get an idea where they should mount, they fit pretty much directly over the bolt that mounts the shoulder belt to the floor. Luckly I had not replaced these from the interior swap so I decided to mount the seat backs using this hole. As these bolts extend under the jeep unprotected the threads will mostly likely be filled with crud. I took a wire brush to the exposed threads and then hit them with power washer to make sure it was all out of threads before I was able to remove them. While I had them out I also decided to replace the factory torx with grade 8 bolts from the local Ace. A 7/16" x 1 1/2" fine thread is a perfect fit.

I forgot to take a picture of this so I borrowed one from the thread above to show what I mean. In this pick you can see that the lower hole on the seat back has been placed just inboard and above the seat belt mount.

xj-grin said:

Click to expand...

I put the seat back in place and gave the mount a couple whacks with hammer to clearance the fender just enough to allow me to use this hole (its a very tight fit). The seat belt actually has an L shape metal clip that fits perfectly against the bracket from the seat. Once you have these in place simply use the bracket itself as a guide to drill 1/2 hole for the upper bolt and install.

Oh yeah don't forget to put the bracket that goes in between the seat backs in before you bolt them in (they install quicker the second time though). Once everything else is tight you can drill holes and bolt in.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

that looks really good. Just need to find some seats

Can someone please verify that FRONT ZJ (93-98) or WJ (99-04) will bolt directly to 99 XJ brackets/sliders without modification? I saw it mentioned on another forum that the ZJ seats require some kind of modification. Thanks!

Found the answer in yet another WJ/ZJ seat thread: any 93-2004 GRAND cherokee front seat should bolt right onto the rails of the 99 xj.

what about into a 96 xj??

Just bought a set of power WJ seats.

I currently have all manual xj seats.

If I'm reading this correct I swap my manual xj seat base onto the WJ and ill have manual
Sliding and power recline and lumbar (assuming I hook up the wires). Correct?

Kingkong0192 said:

Just bought a set of power WJ seats.

I currently have all manual xj seats.

If I'm reading this correct I swap my manual xj seat base onto the WJ and ill have manual
Sliding and power recline and lumbar (assuming I hook up the wires). Correct?

Click to expand...

The power slide function is built into the WJ base, so you lose that function. You use the manual slide function on your stock XJ bases.

Not sure how to deal with the recline and lumbar part, as I used WJ Laredo package seats, which had a manual recline function. I specifically looked for that feature as I didn't want to deal with the power recline / lumbar electrics.

One cool feature I was able to capture from the power switches on the side of the WJ Driver's seat, was that I connected my garage door opener to one of the toggle switches, and stashed the door opener under the seat....out of sight, out of mind. Nice hidden switch too!

I may use the other switches for other functions, like maybe an anti-theft, power kill switch.

Kingkong0192 said:

Just bought a set of power WJ seats.

I currently have all manual xj seats.

If I'm reading this correct I swap my manual xj seat base onto the WJ and ill have manual
Sliding and power recline and lumbar (assuming I hook up the wires). Correct?

Click to expand...

I did it on my 98 and that's correct; that's how I had it set up.

I ran the wires to a fuse tap into an empty slot in the panel on the passenger side.

I'm looking at these and there's no way in hell they're working.

The lumbar/recline/slide back and forth is ALL incorporated into the WJ base. If I were to swap my manual xj frames on I'd have a seat that would go back and forth but not recline.

Looks like I need to find manual WJ seats or power xj frames. Someone needs to clear one of these write ups up. It's way too confusing.