Front seat swap.

YosemiteMatt

YosemiteMatt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Colorado Springs
Any recommendations on seats that fit 1989 XJ with minimal modification? I have a $150 bucks burning a hole in my pocket. I'd like to get heated too. I'm willing to consider seats outside of Jeep brand. Any experienced seat swapers on here or anybody recommend a good thread? I have not had much success searching NAXJA.
 
Unfortunately, no one makes a bolt-in seat for the XJ. Most of the issue comes from the floor pan design. Many aftermarket seats are pretty wide at the bottom and are intended for "universal" fit which usually means fabrication required.

$150 ain't gonna buy but maybe one aftermarket seat. You could easily find some decent front buckets outta several kinds of import cars at the junk yard for $50-$80 a pair but again...... gonna require fabrication.

The XJ seat bases/sliders for your year of XJ don't easily lend themselves to being modified to accept a flat base seat. It can be done, but the modifications are pretty much exclusive to the seat you're trying to swap in. The other issue is that the seat bases are pretty tall and have to be in order to get beyond the trans tunnel in the floor. You'll see that your XJ seats have a "bowl" shape to the bottom allowing them to fit in that narrow area. An aftermarket and most import car buckets have wide, flat bottoms and after you build/fab a way to get them mounted to the seat bases..... the seat ends up being higher up than the stock seat and your head is in the headliner.
 
search for ZJ and WJ seat swaps... if you get lucky you can find a set for less than $200, leather and heated, watching craigslist and ebay. I know its fairly simple into a 96+, just swapping the XJ base onto the ZJ/WJ seat, but I'll defer to Yella's expertise on the early model seat bases...
 
I'm not a fan of the ZJ seats at all. The seat backs are shorter - putting the head rest right at the base of your neck/shoulders. Stupid design. Uncomfortable seat.

'95+ seat bases are different than '94 and earlier. ZJ seats won't work for that kind of swap anyway.

Personally, the best seats ever made for the XJ were from the '87-'94 era Laredos. Deep bolsters and adjustable head rests. :thumbup:

2zf6ae8.jpg
 
I'm not sure the ZJ seats were designed for anyone over 5'8" and 150 lbs. I'm not a big guy and I didn't like them either... WJ is much better. ;)
 
I just picked up a full set of seats from a 90 Pioneer for free. Similar to the laredo seats in their bolster and adjustable headrests, but without the vinyl sides/back. :D

I had a 2000 with ZJ leather seats in it and I promptly swapped them out for a set of stock seats. They say way too high for my liking, although they were fairly comfy.
 
ZJ seats will sit an inch taller on a factory, non power, 95+ seat base. If it's a power base, add another inch. As far as I recall, the rear two bolts for the XJ seat base are identical all the way from the beginning to the end of production. What is different in '95 is the cross bar they added. So now the seat base bolts to the front of that piece, instead of directly to the floor. You can see that brace here.

P9160005.jpg

P9160006.jpg


These are a separate piece from the floor pan, which you can purchase. I've highlighted the part numbers. Buy these pieces, weld them in, and presto chango, 95+ seats are now bolt in.

FloorPan.jpg


55174756AB - $25.79
55174759AB - $19.66

http://www.chryslerpartsdirect.com/
 
DJ, you need a friggin hobby! :)
 
I found a pair of kj seats for 30 bucks at the jy. It took a lot of fabrication. But they're pretty nice, leather, heated, and electric.
 
nochance9 said:
I found a pair of kj seats for 30 bucks at the jy. It took a lot of fabrication. But they're pretty nice, leather, heated, and electric.
Click to expand...

Pics and detailed write-up or it didn't happen!:thumbup:
 
I don't like the leather seats in the wife's WJ, but I am a big guy. That thing has less leg room and head room than my Honda.

My 90 2-door Laredo is the most comfortable of any of the jeeps I have.
 
xjboy said:
I just threw a set of those away......
Click to expand...

I turned a set of those into a couch...lol

but as far as seats for the xj i used some honda prelude seats out of a 1991 prelude si, they are a little stiffer than the xj ones and takes only a little fabing to make them work
 
prelude seats are COMFY! A buddy of mine had a set in his pinzgauer.
 
4x4 - some outfit in Telluride bought it from him and put snow-trax on it... Last time I was in Telluride I saw it for sale outside of Ophir.
 
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