XJ Front Bench Seat

[JZLAJeep]

Have a guy locally that wants to give us his gray bench out of his Comanche. This has got me thinking about a crazy idea of putting it in our red '96 XJ as a front seat.  I've previously noted that I have a handicapped daughter that can't sit in the front seat (because she grabs stuff) and can't sit too close to anyone in the back seat (because she grabs stuff). A bench seat in the front would mean we can put three in the front and give her more space in the back seat. There are some pros and cons of course, and here are some that I see:

 

Pros:

1. Get three seats across the front (will need to get a middle seatbelt) - makes the XJ a 6-seat vehicle
2. Should bolt right up (except conflict with hand brake)
3. The bench is free!

 

Cons:

1. No head and neck support from the bench
2. Lose the center console and air to the back seat
3. Conflict with hand brake?

[89 MJ]

I'd do it as proof of concept if nothing else. Take the free seat, get it mounted and all of the kinks worked out, then start watching for a bench with headrests (90-92 had headrests). You will need to use XJ seat brackets on the floor. The other thing you're giving up, in my opinion, is a ton of comfort up front. I can't remember if your MJ has a bench or buckets, but in case it has buckets, I think it is worth noting that being 3 wide in an MJ is not exactly my definition of fun. 

[TheNerfsmith]

My only thought for the hand brake is if it could be moved to the Pedal style that the MJ has (Not sure how that would convert). I have no ideas other than that. 

[JZLAJeep]

9 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

The other thing you're giving up, in my opinion, is a ton of comfort up front. I can't remember if your MJ has a bench or buckets, but in case it has buckets, I think it is worth noting that being 3 wide in an MJ is not exactly my definition of fun. 

The MJ has a bench. And you are right, three across is not the most comfortable, but not terrible if the two passengers up front are little (like my 4 and 3 year olds). Only driver air bag so at least some of the concerns about kids in the front goes away...

[JZLAJeep]

6 minutes ago, TheNerfsmith said:

My only thought for the hand brake is if it could be moved to the Pedal style that the MJ has (Not sure how that would convert). I have no ideas other than that. 

Have had that thought too. If this gets too complicated, then not worth it and the bench will become a couch in the garage. 

[89 MJ]

14 minutes ago, TheNerfsmith said:

My only thought for the hand brake is if it could be moved to the Pedal style that the MJ has (Not sure how that would convert). I have no ideas other than that. 

 

6 minutes ago, JZLAJeep said:

Have had that thought too. If this gets too complicated, then not worth it and the bench will become a couch in the garage. 

I really like that pedal idea. I know @Gjeep has gone from pedal to handbrake in at least one of his MJs. Maybe he'd be able to shed some light on going the opposite way too? Who knows, you might be as lucky as being able to swap in the front MJ parking brake cable.

[eaglescout526]

Trans hump is probably too long compared to the MJ if I recall. But XJ seats do sit higher. 

[pizzaman09]

1 hour ago, JZLAJeep said:

Have had that thought too. If this gets too complicated, then not worth it and the bench will become a couch in the garage. 

If you can source a pedal, then it should be a bolt in arrangement.  All you would need is the cable, I think it's the short bed one you need.  The cable has a lot of flexibility and really just runs across the floor under the carpet to the same hole that the center console hand brake lever cable would run.

 

I have seen a video of a guy that drag races an XJ who has swapped in a bench seat and a parking brake pedal.

[eaglescout526]

Hell. Thinking about this and doing an MJ e-brake pedal just has me thinking about the wiring mess that’s right there. 

[Gjeep]

It's been done. Seen it back in late '90's. Guy on NAXJA. He had opted out of parking brake all together. More or less bolted right in with XJ seat tracks. Remember he also swapped MJ AW4 column shift (you have air bag column so need to decide what you want to do with that. Your seats are different than first gen, but could swear I've seen on ebay/web new seat tracks to work with older seats that you can probably use. I'd search for that. Regarding the ebrake, I see you have AX15 so yes, I'd bolt in a later MJ foot brake as earlier ones had self-release issue. MJ cable will be plenty long for XJ even if use SB MJ ebake cable.

[JZLAJeep]

18 minutes ago, Gjeep said:

I'd bolt in a later MJ foot brake as earlier ones had self-release issue. MJ cable will be plenty long for XJ even if use SB MJ ebake cable.

Anyone have one of those laying around?

[Pete M]

later MJ benches have headrests.