Removing seats

Well, the driver's seat in my currently running 90 XJ has been broken for at least 6 months. I'm tired of leaning on my passengers shoulder all the time so I was going to swap my front seats with the more comfortable leather ones out of my 88 Wagoneer Limited.

I was just going to pull the seat and base out of the 88 and take it home to work on in the garage, (snow is up past the doors). Well, I could only get two of the bolts out so I decided to just take the seat and leave the frame. After about andhour in the freezing snow, I gave up.

Can anyone tell me how many screws there are holding it on and where they are? Is it possible to remove the seat from the electric base while it is still in the Jeep? Thanks.

BTW, both Jeeps have driver's and passenger's power seats

I think there are 4 bolts holding the base to the floor (one on each corner).

ya it should be 4.

OK, what I'm asking is how many are there holding the seat to the base?

Again, there's 4. two in the front, and two in the back, both are towards the middle of the seat. This will take the bottom of the seat off. After you get those 4 out, there's 4 more that hold the seat back onto the frame

I've swapped seats on bases several times, and I couldn't imagine doing it without removing it. Just makes it soooo much easier....


*edit* Plus, it's a great time to clean out all the french fries that the rugrats might have thrown to the floor....

RaccoonJoe said:

Again, there's 4. two in the front, and two in the back, both are towards the middle of the seat. This will take the bottom of the seat off. After you get those 4 out, there's 4 more that hold the seat back onto the frame

I've swapped seats on bases several times, and I couldn't imagine doing it without removing it. Just makes it soooo much easier....


*edit* Plus, it's a great time to clean out all the french fries that the rugrats might have thrown to the floor....

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Thanks. That lst part is a good point. One of the nuts on the front is so badly rusted, I couldn't get a socket to fit it. And a bolt in the rear just spins. Is there a welded nut under the floor that the rear bolts screw into or what? I can't get under the jeep since it has sunk into the ground about 6 inches over the years, plus there was still 6-10 inches of snow last time I was out there.

Tommy4949 said:

Thanks. That lst part is a good point. One of the nuts on the front is so badly rusted, I couldn't get a socket to fit it. And a bolt in the rear just spins. Is there a welded nut under the floor that the rear bolts screw into or what? I can't get under the jeep since it has sunk into the ground about 6 inches over the years, plus there was still 6-10 inches of snow last time I was out there.

Click to expand...

All 4 are fixed posts in the floor, with a welded nut/washer combo that screws down. I've got my seat out now so I can get a pic for you in a few minutes.

Here's a pic. Not the best in the world but should give you the idea.

(This is for the 4 door version seats, 2 door folding seats may be different)

I just took my seats out this week and can attest to the fact the 4 bolts holding it to the floor is the way to get it out. The frame that holds the foam and fabric is NOT removable from the base that mounts to the floor. Well ok short of a cutoff wheel they arent.

Once the seat is out you will find that the seat bottom is held to the frame by 4 bolts. The back of the seat is fabric wrapped foam that is put over a steel tube framework.

92xjsp said:

Here's a pic. Not the best in the world but should give you the idea.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that pic. Mine is a 88 and the front two nuts are probably like your pic, but the back two are actually bolts that go through the floor. I got one bolt backed out about 1/2 an inch then started on the other one. It just spun and didn't back out. I was wondering if there is a welded nut that broke loose or a nutsert or what. Do you have a pic on the two that hold the back part of the seat base?

Also, this is a 4dr.

Yes, the 88 has nuts under the floor. I don't know if you can reach them from underneath, but I'll check on my 88 later.

The seats cushions themselves have 8 bolts. Four hold the lower cushion on the seat bracket, Then there's a "large loop" frame for the backrest that also bolts to the seat bracket with 4 more.

I had to weld a broken driver seat bracket so I had to take it all apart. Mine has the power seat option. I don't think I could've reached all the bolts without removing the entire seat first.

You could try a sawzall or hacksaw to cut the head off.

OK, I checked under mine. There are 2 nut plates. One is between the rocker and the frame rail. You may be able to reach this if it's not buried to the rocker. The other is between the frame rail and the tunnel. Hearing how far your sunk, this may be a problem getting to. Sounds like some "excavating" is in order. Even if you get the old ones out from above, you'll need to replace the plates below.

The ground is still completely frozen where I'm at. Also, it looked like it has nutserts for the two rear bolts.

I was abole to pound a 12 point 12mm socket onto the nut on the front to get it off. Then I just bent the seat so I could get under the tab in the back with a chizel to break the bolt in the back. It's OK though, I'm junking the 88 aftr I strip all the usable parts off it anyway. The passenger's side was a lot easier, took me about 5 minutes to get it out. Thanks for your help guys.