USMCGunrock
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- NJ/NY
Hello everyone,
Mods: I don't know if this is the right section, so if it's in the wrong spot, please move to the correct place.
Anywho, I would just like to make a review on this seat that I just purchased because looking into a replacement for my sagging OE seat I couldn't find anything other than two reviews from Amazon on it.
A little history why I decided to purchase this. The past few weeks I've been traveling to different work sites and spending between 2-3 hours each way on traffic was doing a number on my back. My 2001 XJ's seat wasn't cutting it so I needed a replacement. I looked into a few brands: Corbeau, Smittybilt, MasterCraft and Rugged Ridge. Wanting to get a reclining seat that would be comfortable and affordable, I decided on the RR.
The RR seat looks just like the MasterCraft and Smittybilt but about 20-50% less in cost. It also doesn't need to have a separate adapter to fit it into the XJ. It also has an adjustable lumbar support! Seeing that I took the plunge even tho there isn't much talk about it.
After receiving it today, in the process of installing it, I thought to myself..."Self...lets do a little write-up so that when the next person decides to check these seats out, they have something to read about".
So here it goes!
One thing I notice first is that this seat is heavier than the OE. It is also bigger than the OE. While installing the mounting brackets, I noticed that the base is beefy and the way it's put together was actually good.
BTW, this whole removal and installation took about 30-40 minutes. Most of the time was spent trying to figure out how to mount the year specific mounting brackets that came with this. This seat comes with mounting brackets/adapters for 03-06 TJ/LJ and 84-01 XJ.
Here are pix out of the box it came in:
Here are samples of the hardware that came with it. It comes with 13mm nut strips, 8 13mm bolts (4 long and 4 shorts..the shorts are the ones for the XJ) and a bunch of little washers. As you can see, the nut strip is just welded on one side..so it's not flushed on the metal strip...slags everywhere too....
I don't like the washers that came with this. They are thin and too wide..and as you can see, the stamping isn't all that great either.
I did sat on the seat out of the box but didn't really notice much until I already had it in the jeep. Maybe because I was just too anxious to have it installed and it was getting dark. In the jeep it felt firm and didn't move. What I did finally notice was that it felt small. I'm only 5'9", 32 waist (good thing I went on a diet a few months ago and came down from a 36). So I took the tape measure out and did some measuring.
The seating area from bolster to bolster is only 13" wide. I know this is a "race/off-road" seat so I expected a seat that hugs. I'm familiar with these type of seats..I used to have Sparco and Ricaro seats before, but this felt too tight on me or just that I've been used to my saggy OE seat.
My OE seats ends almost to the back of my knee and this seems to end a bit midway down the back of my thighs. Measuring it, the seat is about 17" deep.
The backrest was fine tho. It actually felt firm and hugs my back/sides the right way. The backrest is a bit taller than the OE at about 30.5". It does come with an adjustable lumbar support that's adjusted via hand pump. It has an air bladder on the backrest that you pump. The pump is similar to what they use to pump the air bladder on a blood pressure cuff...so you pump to inflate and then there is a knob you twist open to deflate. No pic of that right now.
Installed, it actually looks good in it.
So, getting comfy and adjusting the seat, I noticed that it's hard to use the recliner nob on it because, one, the mechanism is tight, two, there isn't much room to work with since it is so close to the b-pillar.
I didn't install the adjustment knob by the center console because..well..it won't fit!
Another is that the whole seat is so wide with the bolsters that it's a pain to get to the seat belt lock
My jeep is only lifted 3" with 31" tires..getting off this will need some getting used to because the left side bolster catches your (_!_) and that's kinda uncomfortable. I can see that bolster wearing out pretty quickly. Hopefully by then I've saved up enough $ for a replacement and I will just switch this over to the passenger side.
Would I recommend this seat? Maybe, but only if you are small enough to be comfortable in it or looking for more inexpensive alternatives. Well, if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.
-Ed
Mods: I don't know if this is the right section, so if it's in the wrong spot, please move to the correct place.
Anywho, I would just like to make a review on this seat that I just purchased because looking into a replacement for my sagging OE seat I couldn't find anything other than two reviews from Amazon on it.
A little history why I decided to purchase this. The past few weeks I've been traveling to different work sites and spending between 2-3 hours each way on traffic was doing a number on my back. My 2001 XJ's seat wasn't cutting it so I needed a replacement. I looked into a few brands: Corbeau, Smittybilt, MasterCraft and Rugged Ridge. Wanting to get a reclining seat that would be comfortable and affordable, I decided on the RR.
The RR seat looks just like the MasterCraft and Smittybilt but about 20-50% less in cost. It also doesn't need to have a separate adapter to fit it into the XJ. It also has an adjustable lumbar support! Seeing that I took the plunge even tho there isn't much talk about it.
After receiving it today, in the process of installing it, I thought to myself..."Self...lets do a little write-up so that when the next person decides to check these seats out, they have something to read about".
So here it goes!
One thing I notice first is that this seat is heavier than the OE. It is also bigger than the OE. While installing the mounting brackets, I noticed that the base is beefy and the way it's put together was actually good.
BTW, this whole removal and installation took about 30-40 minutes. Most of the time was spent trying to figure out how to mount the year specific mounting brackets that came with this. This seat comes with mounting brackets/adapters for 03-06 TJ/LJ and 84-01 XJ.
Here are pix out of the box it came in:
Here are samples of the hardware that came with it. It comes with 13mm nut strips, 8 13mm bolts (4 long and 4 shorts..the shorts are the ones for the XJ) and a bunch of little washers. As you can see, the nut strip is just welded on one side..so it's not flushed on the metal strip...slags everywhere too....
I don't like the washers that came with this. They are thin and too wide..and as you can see, the stamping isn't all that great either.
I did sat on the seat out of the box but didn't really notice much until I already had it in the jeep. Maybe because I was just too anxious to have it installed and it was getting dark. In the jeep it felt firm and didn't move. What I did finally notice was that it felt small. I'm only 5'9", 32 waist (good thing I went on a diet a few months ago and came down from a 36). So I took the tape measure out and did some measuring.
The seating area from bolster to bolster is only 13" wide. I know this is a "race/off-road" seat so I expected a seat that hugs. I'm familiar with these type of seats..I used to have Sparco and Ricaro seats before, but this felt too tight on me or just that I've been used to my saggy OE seat.
My OE seats ends almost to the back of my knee and this seems to end a bit midway down the back of my thighs. Measuring it, the seat is about 17" deep.
The backrest was fine tho. It actually felt firm and hugs my back/sides the right way. The backrest is a bit taller than the OE at about 30.5". It does come with an adjustable lumbar support that's adjusted via hand pump. It has an air bladder on the backrest that you pump. The pump is similar to what they use to pump the air bladder on a blood pressure cuff...so you pump to inflate and then there is a knob you twist open to deflate. No pic of that right now.
Installed, it actually looks good in it.
So, getting comfy and adjusting the seat, I noticed that it's hard to use the recliner nob on it because, one, the mechanism is tight, two, there isn't much room to work with since it is so close to the b-pillar.
I didn't install the adjustment knob by the center console because..well..it won't fit!
Another is that the whole seat is so wide with the bolsters that it's a pain to get to the seat belt lock
My jeep is only lifted 3" with 31" tires..getting off this will need some getting used to because the left side bolster catches your (_!_) and that's kinda uncomfortable. I can see that bolster wearing out pretty quickly. Hopefully by then I've saved up enough $ for a replacement and I will just switch this over to the passenger side.
Would I recommend this seat? Maybe, but only if you are small enough to be comfortable in it or looking for more inexpensive alternatives. Well, if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.
-Ed
but it came with a 2 day shipping (Prime). Right now it's $246 with free shipping: 
