XJ Seat Conversion

[im4est]

Hi Everyone! I've been watching this forum off and on for awhile but recently bought an 87 short bed 4x4 with a 4.0 and manual trans. I'm excited to start building it but the first thing I HAVE to do is fix the drivers seat!!! It has been converted to buckets but has the wrong one that sets too hi with the big curved bracket. I found some seats at a pick-n-pull today but think I got the wrong year! They are from a 96. I'd love to use them because they are in such good shape but the brackets are wrong. I've read that it has to be from an 86-94 and the 2 dr are the best option.. Has anyone done any da work to make 96 seats work? If so, pictures please!! Thanks

[cruiser54]

I put ZJ seats in a 94 xJ, which are about a bolt-in 97 and later. Better know how to weld and have steel to use. 

[64 Cheyenne]

Tale of the tape will tell....measure the width of the sliders, go from there.

[Mj4life]

Grind down the rivets of the brackets under the bench seats. Use a hammer and chisel to separate the brackets from the bench seats. There are spot welds that also hold the brackets to the seat frames so get ready to either use a drill to get them off or man handle them which I did. And then use a dolly to straighten them out. Then vise versa for the bucket seats.

[shelbyluvv]

Mj4life, your mod is for pre 95 seats.

[johnj92131]

I put a Grand Cherokee drivers seat in my Comanche about a year ago without doing any welding.  I used the stock MJ bucket seat brackets.  Today I am in the process of mounting the passenger seat.  For me, the key was to start with proper MJ bucket seat brackets.  That way, no welding, or any sheet metal work required.  Seat rails on the 95+ XJ seat and the Grand Cherokee seats are the same width.  So what I have done with the drivers seat will work with the 95+ XJ seat.

 

I also installed the tilt forward mechanism from the 2 door XJ seats on the Grand Cherokee seats per the how to article on the Comanche Club DIY section.

 

Send me a p.m. with your email and I will send you pictures.

[Mj4life]

Mj4life, your mod is for pre 95 seats.

 

Brackets from the bench seats wouldn't fit on the bucket seats of a newer jeeps? Figured they would work unless the mounting holes on the sliders are different.

[shelbyluvv]

They are completely different

[cruiser54]

Tale of the tape will tell....measure the width of the sliders, go from there.

I did the tale of the tape 2 weekends ago. 

[johnj92131]

94 and earlier XJ and MJ bucket seat rails are 5.75 inches a part.  May be of by an eighth of an inch.

 

95+ XJ and Grand Cherokee seat rails are 11 inches a part.  May be of by an eight of an inch.

 

Here is what I did:

 

Cut 2 pieces of flat stock to 22.5 inches long.  Stock is .25 thick and 1.5 inches wide.  Use these pieces to connect front and rear Comanche bucket seat brackets.  At the front bracket, just use a .25 bolt and nut in the same hole where the front MJ seat rail was located.

 

On the rear bracket, get 1" square tube and cut 2 spacers about 3 inches long.  Drill a 1/4 inch hole in each spacer.  Use a 2 inch long 1/4 bolt and the spacer to bolt the 22.5 inch long stock to the rear bucket seat mount.  The 1" square tube spacer brings the 22.5 inch stock up to just about level from the front mount to the rear mount.  On my truck I had a half bubble incline up to the front mount. When I checked with the level from side to side, I was just about perfect.

 

Next, on the Grand Cherokee seats (and the 95+ XJ seats, cut of the "legs" that were used to mount the seats.  Drill out the "old" fastners that kept the "legs" on the seat adjuster rails. This leaves the seat adjusting rails nice and flat. You are going to use the old holes on the seat adjusting rails to mount a piece of flat stock between the left and right seat adjuster rails. 

 

So cut 2 pieces from the 1/4 x 1.5 flat stock about 16 inches long (yes that is too long) but we will trim these pieces later.  Next we are going to drill 2 holes in the 16 inch flat stock so we can connect the 2 slide rails on the new seats.  Center the 16 inch flat stock between the 2 adjusting rails.  Leave about 2.5 inches extra on each side.  Mark and drill .25 inch holes.  Bolt these two pieces on to the adjuster rails.  A word here about the bolts you will need.  The head needs to be thin or it will stop the seat adjuster rails from moving.  I used Hex key bolts with a shallow head, Same .25 inch diameter.

 

Next, I test fitted the seat in the truck.  First I moved the seat full back and placed it just about against the cab.  I used 2 clamps to hold the hold the seat in place while I checked the fit from side to side  (Yes, Had to move it a few times to find the best location.)  Also had to trim the 16 inch flat stock several times to get the seat close enough to the transmission tunnel.

 

When I finally had the seat where I wanted it, I marked the positions where the 4 pieces of flat stock had to be bolted together.  This was checked and rechecked a couple of times before I finally marked where each piece of flat stock met the other flat stock.  The I took the seat out the truck to drill the holes for the 4 bolts to locate the seat.  This time I used a 5/16 drill bit, just so I would have some "wiggle room" when I did my final bolt in with 1/4 bolts.

 

Eventually got the whole thing properly bolted and now, I have 2 matching Grand Cherokee seats.  The old XJ buckets gave me a pain in the left side of my back.  The Grand Cherokee seat is much better on my back.

 

One other thing I noticed with several sets of MJ buckets.  I was never able to get the seat back angle properly adjusted.  The seat backs never seemed to "tightly" lock into position.  There was always quite a bit of "slop" in the MJ seat backs (grab at the top, then pull fore and aft).  With the 95+ XJ seats and the Grand Cherokee seats, the seat back "locks" in to position and stays there.  Tilt it back a little, it stays in the new position with no "slop".

 

As I mentioned earlier, I also modified the seats with shelbyluvv's modification using the 95 and later tilt forward mechanism for the Grand Cherokee seats.  So I am a happy camper, till I can find a set of great condition, light gray, leather seats from a Grand Cherokee Limited.  IF I find those, then we will convert the seats yet again.

 

There it is, no welding.  Just bolt in new seats.

[vw jeep guy]

has anyone tried to cut out the bracket locations (flooring) off their xj and then weld them into the mj?

[Eagle]

3 hours ago, vw jeep guy said:

has anyone tried to cut out the bracket locations (flooring) off their xj and then weld them into the mj?

 

No need to try -- it won't work. The floor pans are different, especially for the rear mount locations. The seats would end up being set too high and at a very odd angle.