Cherokee Seat replacement-War Wagon

[craigp29690]

My original leather pillow top seats are shot.  Foam is gone, leather is shreded and it is more comfortable sitting on a bucket than on these old seats. 
So time for an upgrade.  I saw a almost nutmeg interiored Cherokee at the local pick-n-pull a few weeks ago and went and snatched the front seats and center console.  Started the modification process this weeked.  Of course the seat tracks are nowhere similar.  So some fabrication was necessary.  Two cross members had to be cut and installed so that the orignal power seat tracks could be reused. 
Sorry but I liked the power option and since it works it just made sense to use it as-is.   
After the tracks were mounted the control n the side had to be located and mounted.  Fortuately the Cherokee had an opening in the metal part of the seat frame for its power seat control, unfortunately the opening was bigger so an interior bracket had to be cut in order to have something to screw the original seat controller to.  The plastic side trim piece had to be cut to clear the controller.  Evrything mounted and finished and installed.  Oh yeah, it's much more comfy now.
Next is to work on the passenger side which is going to take a bit of engineering since there is some major offset differences between the left and right tracks.

[mick]

Looks way more comty than the old beat down foam.  Well done!  With both fronts done it will look like AMC themselves put them there.

[83Eagle!]

Very nicely done.  I was looking at a set of Cherokee seats before I bought the seats I have from Shanebo. 

[craigp29690]

Thanks.  Once I get the passenger seat in then I'll work on the center console.  Ran out of daylight yesterday and realized the passenger seat is going to take a bit more work.    I'm used to the seats that have the side bolsters and felt like the original seats leave you sliding around with nothing to hang on to.  The new seats have a lot better feel.  I am planning on going back and snatching the rear seats just for the material if nothing else. 

[eagleman]

Looks like it has been there its whole life.Looks way more comfy also.Way to go guy!

[mudkicker715]

I did that myself to my 84. Feels much better. How did you deal with the uneven floor? I mean how did you space it to bolt it down

[craigp29690]

I did that myself to my 84. Feels much better. How did you deal with the uneven floor? I mean how did you space it to bolt it down

The driver's side was pretty straight forward and didn't need any additional lift or offset.  Biggest issue was center-to-center dimension.  I used the original Eagle seat rails with some flat bar stock in between . 

For the passnger side it will require a 2 1/2" - 2 9/16" lift on the door side rail.  What I'm looking at doing is building an adjustable bracket out of two pieces of angle stock with a slot in the side to provide a vertical adjustment in order to be sure the seat is level.  I'll still have two pieces of flat bar stock running from side to side since the position of the Eagle rails don't line up with the positions of the Cherokeet seat rails.  I need to move the door side rail inward about 1 1/2" in order for the seat to sit adjacent to the door in the same position as stock and also for it to line up center-wise in the position.  The inside rail near the tranny hump will mount flush to the flat stock running between the bottom of the Cherokee seat rails.

[mudkicker715]

I took the easy way out. I just use 2x4's to space the seat. It doesn't move, but since I'm the only one to drive who cares. Just bolted the seat where I wanted and done

[craigp29690]

The passenger seat is now installed.  The only issue is the new seat base puts the seat a little higher than stock. 

Anyway, here are the steps.  Existing base needed a 3" lift added to to the outside rail to match the inside rail.  I added two cross pieces same as I did for the driver's side using some 3" wide x 1/8" flat bar stock.
Here is a pic of the fabricated channel pieces using two pieces of aluminum angle stock bolted together. 

Finished product ready to install using the stock slides.

Now after installing the seat it has become obvious that it needs to drop about an inch and a half to two inches.   I'm a little over 5'-10 and my head just barely brushes the ceiling.  So I can limit my front seat passengers to less than 5'-9 or pull the seat and make the adustments.  We'll see, but fornow it's done.  I realized that I didn't take a final installed pic.  Need to do that tomorrow.  I did go back to the pick-n-pull and pulled the back seat from the same Cherokee.  Haven't looked at what's going to work or not for that part of the conversion but I'd like for the front and rear seats to match.

[GRONK]

I have  found a matched set of 4 buckets that are lower profile than the Cherokee seats.  I'm thinking of making all 4 seats buckets w/ shoulder strap seat belts.

Has ANYONE added buckets to the rear of their Wagon?  I'd like to talk and see some pics.  I haven't bought the seats yet but they have fold down arm rests too.  They are thinner and might even allow for a thin center console up front and in the rear.  Maybe a media rail or something.  We'll see.

Here they are:

[83Eagle!]

Nice work on the brackets.  I bet there will be others on here interested in specifics on that. 

Gronk, I remember someone mentioning looking into putting 4 bucket seats in an Eagle.  IIRC there was a spacing issue in the rear.  I can't find the link or remember who talked about it.

[GRONK]

@ 83Eagle!

Good to know.  I'm getting a pretty good deal on th seats so I think I will pick up 2 sets anyway and if I can't make them work in the rear I'll throw the second set in my Spitfire or something.  They are pretty low profile, I'm just worried about the hump in the middle spacing them too woide apart.

[craigp29690]

@ 83Eagle!

Good to know.  I'm getting a pretty good deal on th seats so I think I will pick up 2 sets anyway and if I can't make them work in the rear I'll throw the second set in my Spitfire or something.  They are pretty low profile, I'm just worried about the hump in the middle spacing them too woide apart.

The original seats are quite a bit wider than newer seats so there will be a space in between the seats.  I had thought about doing buckets front and rear but then decided to stay with the rear bench.

[GRONK]

Dang, I was just getting ready to order the seats when a rearended 98 Cherokee came available for $1000.  That would give me a front axle, lift springs, a 5.2V-8 (for mt 97 TJ), etc......  I hate spending mad $$$ close to X-mas.  Momma will kill me.

So the question is:  seats or a nother donor vehicle?

[eagleman]

Well if momma is going to be mad anyway,Heck go for broke and do both! She can only kill ya once!!