1986 bench seat mods

[SLOTMAN]

short person is there a mod to make the bench seat go forward more

[Pete M]

there's a handle under the drivers side.  but there are catches on both sides and it's common for the pass side catch to stick or even the cable between them to break. 

[SLOTMAN]

the seat moves it just won't go forward enough for me to reach the peddles it has been stated that this was a problem from the factory bad design

[SLOTMAN]

It amazes me that there are not more short people on this forum that have run into the same problem with mods to fix it not to mention 5 foot women that it would almost be impossible to drive this truck not to mention being dangerous by not being able to reach the pedals properly

[eaglescout526]

Honestly, I think I’ve seen more posts about owners being taller and squeezing in the MJ vs being short and not able to reach the pedals. 
But the bench seat has got to move forward enough for you to do so. Since yours is an 86, the grease, if any left, that the rails is rising on is about 40 years old. Might have to lubricate all the moving parts of the seat and it should be able to move pretty damn close if not all the way to the center console. 

[SLOTMAN]

Actually if you Google reviews on when this truck came out many will state that short people will have a hard time driving this vehicle and that it is a factory problem it just doesn't go forward enough I was just wondering if in later years new brackets where something was done to address this problem if not are there any mods on this form to fabricate parts to correct to correct this problem I don't want to reinvent the wheel if someone has done it successfully I can just copy it if not I will do a fabrication fix and post it on the form since there may not be any on here

[89 MJ]

To my knowledge, nothing changed between the bench seat brackets. 
 

I also haven’t heard of anyone moving the seat ahead, but I also haven’t really watched for that because I have the opposite problem. 
 

Are you sure you’re getting the full range of motion from the tracks? Sometimes it requires one person on each side of the seat in my truck to get it to move forward or backwards. It might be worth looking into cleaning the old grease out of the tracks and putting new lubricant in them. 

[eaglescout526]

Well the problem wasn’t ever really corrected. The MJ went through a parent exchange in 88 and Chrysler didn’t change a whole lot except added headrests to the bench seat in 90. 
 

There may not be any safe ways to move the seat forward without either relocating the mounting points and hammering the trans tunnel down a little. Oh and if you have carpet, that  could also be holding it back some.

Come to think of it, my wife is 5’1” and I was able to move my bench far enough forward and she was able to reach the pedals just fine when I was teaching her how to drive stick, now that I think back on that moment. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Your bench seat may just be stuck on the track/guide. The adjustment cable on mine snapped and the seat was stuck somewhere midway on the track. I ended up using stainless braided line (garage door cable) that you can find at most hardware stores and a U-type Wire clamp, then tied it to the adjustment lever base and the far corner, as per the original design. A turnbuckle also gives you some more adjustment if you can't get the tension right for the adjustment lever.

 

There are other ways to adjust the pedals. You can upgrade the brake booster to a dual-diaphragm and choose to not use the 1/4in spacer. The brake pedal will sit closer to the driver. You can also use an accelerator cable spacer, which early ford mustang owners used to adjust the pedal height as there was no mechanism to do so. Obviously whatever mods you do, take your own safety into account. It's purely your call.