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Seat Question

Kittrell

Kittrell

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
Thornton, CO
Here is the thing, 2 door seats tilt forward where as 4 door seats do not. So here is my question. As far as I know, what makes the seat tilt forward is the inner brackets, where as a 4 door has a one way bracket, i.e. it only reclines. Is there any reason you couldn't strip two seats down and swap the brackets over to make it tilt forward. More specifically, newer body style 2 doors, didn't come with leather. I will be swapping in leather, but I still need the seat to tilt forward, does this sound doable??
 
Not sure about the XJ but our TJ's and YJ all tilt forward by the bases. I've not seen any 2door xj's up close...
 
I've just done pretty much that - swapped leather covers from a '94 4-door onto my '93 2-door seat frames. The actual frames are slightly different and the bracketry, cable stops and spring catch holding the back in place are all welded in.

It's not too much hassle to remove the covers and padding, and just plonk it onto your old frames. The only thing I had to do was cut a nick in the side for the tip catch handle and at the base of the backrest for the catch itself. The chromed escutcheon plates for the catches go into holes already drilled in the seat frame, so it's just a metter of making sure your covers are sitting squarely and then pushing a couple of screws through the leather.

If you end up having 2 sets of seats to play with, this has the advantage that you can swap in the 2 passenger seat pad sets, thereby ending up with effectively a rejuvenated pair of seats with the better padding (and then sell on the crappy driver-side padded ones). PM me if you want to discuss it more.
 
I figured it was something to that extent. When I bought my '99 it had no rear bench and the driver's seat was all torn up. So I figured since I had to replace the stuff, might as well upgrade at the same time. If I run into any problems I'll shoot ya a pm, thanks.............. :bunny:
 
Are post '97 XJ seats and first generation XJ seat even the same? I know the ones in my '97 are alot different from my '96. So I imagine that the internal frame of the seat is different too. Thus, making it hard to swap the latch and hinge from the later seat to the earlier seat.


FWIW,

Brian
 
I have the same situation. I have a 94 2door. I picked up nice seats from a 88 4door. The ones that are 3 way adjustable and have the extended oversized bolsters. Only probably with them is its really hard to get stuff into the back seat...let alone have someone crawl back there. Im in the process of trying to make the mechanism that allows the seat to tilt forward. Or if I cant use the same style latch, maybe I can make something different. Let us know if you come up with anything good...

Justin
 
ghettocruiser said:
I have the same situation. I have a 94 2door. I picked up nice seats from a 88 4door. The ones that are 3 way adjustable and have the extended oversized bolsters. Only probably with them is its really hard to get stuff into the back seat...let alone have someone crawl back there. Im in the process of trying to make the mechanism that allows the seat to tilt forward. Or if I cant use the same style latch, maybe I can make something different. Let us know if you come up with anything good...

Justin
Click to expand...

Why not go to a boneyard and pickup a yj/tj base and try that ?
 
Im not familiar with the differences between XJ bases and YJ/TJ bases. I have two good sets of seats now that I can take apart and experiment with. Im actually thinking about ditching my back seat and building a lockable tool box back there. That would pretty much eliminate the need for the seats to move that far forward anyways. I dunno... Its one of of my many projects right now. We'll see.

Justin
 
Ghetto -
Post some pics when you get it finished. I've got crappy vinyl seats and I'm looking to change. A decent cover helps a little but it's still not great.

RichP -
On the 2-doors the base slides forward and the seatback flips forward, too. I always end up honking the horn when I just fip the seatback ahead. I have seen pics of the YJ/TJ bases used with a rigid seat (Mastercraft, etc.). A smaller steering wheel might make that combo a little better (seat can go farther forward).

Anyone have pics of Bestop seats fit in a 2-door, or of the Corbeau GTS(I think that's what I'm thinking of)?
 
92AKXJ said:
Ghetto -
Post some pics when you get it finished. I've got crappy vinyl seats and I'm looking to change. A decent cover helps a little but it's still not great.

RichP -
On the 2-doors the base slides forward and the seatback flips forward, too. I always end up honking the horn when I just fip the seatback ahead. I have seen pics of the YJ/TJ bases used with a rigid seat (Mastercraft, etc.). A smaller steering wheel might make that combo a little better (seat can go farther forward).

Anyone have pics of Bestop seats fit in a 2-door, or of the Corbeau GTS(I think that's what I'm thinking of)?
Click to expand...

I have not looked at our tj's too close but on the YJ the whole seat base rotates forward, I assume the TJ works the same. There is a 4x4 jeep speciality recycler off rt 61 that has a mountain of YJ seat bases. No idea how much they cost but I'd guess maybe $5 or $10 at most...
 
ghettocruiser said:
I have the same situation. I have a 94 2door. I picked up nice seats from a 88 4door. The ones that are 3 way adjustable and have the extended oversized bolsters.

Im in the process of trying to make the mechanism that allows the seat to tilt forward. Or if I cant use the same style latch, maybe I can make something different. Let us know if you come up with anything good...
Click to expand...

If you're not worried about the 3 way base, then you can just swap the padding and covers over onto your 94 frame - the bolsters are only made of foam, and fit onto the tipping seat frame fine. I think it would probably be easier than fabbing up a tipping mechanism. It should take an evening or two to swap it all over.

If you then want to add the electric base, IIRC it's a wire to ground and one to a 30A feed - I'll dig out the details if you need it.

I measured the seat to see where the frame bolts onto the base, and where the base bolts into the floor, so feel free to PM me with your email - I can forward you the document to compare it to the bolt patterns for TJs and YJs.

Also, am I missing something? The seat slides forward too? Mine never has - maybe I should get the WD40 out... :confused:
 
Chancer: Thanks for the ideas. I like the 3-way base...but Im not in love with it. Im gonna give fabbing up a release a go, but if it doesnt work out or if it seems like too much trouble, Ill probably do what you said and just swap the cushions. Ill be comfortable one way or another. Thanks!

Justin
 
I will be swapping '96 leather on a 99' setup. I know the bases are the same, but I am hoping the rest of it is similar enough that I can make it work. I have always thought that the pre 97' leather seats were miles more comfortable than the newer ones. So I sprung for a set of black leather out of a '96 country............ :bunny:
 
Hello again. Today a buddy of mine stopped by work with his 04ish TJ. I got to take a look at his passenger seat. I have to say...thats pretty darn cool how it flips and tucks. The hinge/track system is really neat. If I could find a set of those, I would definetly give them a try. Only thing I saw was that the mounting locations were way off. BUT...since my passenger side floor board is all rotted away anyway...I guess I can put the mount holes whereever I want. Ill post pics and a write up if i do it.

Justin
 
91 Jeep Project said:
I will be swapping '96 leather on a 99' setup. I know the bases are the same, but I am hoping the rest of it is similar enough that I can make it work. I have always thought that the pre 97' leather seats were miles more comfortable than the newer ones. So I sprung for a set of black leather out of a '96 country............ :bunny:
Click to expand...
Lucky dog! I too like the 95-96 leather seats better than the 97+ leather.
If I hadn't stumbled across a set of heated leather from a 99, I would definitely went with 96 leather. Too bad they didn't have the heated option in 95-96. :)
 
Ok here is the deal. They changed the brakets in 95 and stayed with that design until the end of 01 when DC did away w/ the XJ line. So basically anything 95 and newer is interchangable. Now here is the catch. The brackets for the 95 and 96 if used in a newer say 97+ then the seats will actually sit about an inch or so higher. So if you do not have a tilt colum then now would be the perfect time to install one (I have personal experience in this this is how I know). As far as the ZJ seats those will not fit. And yes I belive that if you take the spring off of the 2 dr seats and bolt it to the 4 dr seats then it should work. Aslo there are plenty of aftermarket seats out there you could check out as well. But that is another thread all together.

Ray
 
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