Making ZJ or WJ seats tilt forward

I saw a write-up somewhere on how to make ZJ or WJ seats tilt forward. I thought I would take a crack at it.

First off,

This will only work if you have 97+ XJ seat brackets installed in your rig.

With that out of the way lets get down to business.

You will need these parts,
ZJ or WJ seats
97+ XJ seat sliders
97+ XJ seat skirts
97+ XJ 2 DOOR tilt mechanisms

seats



sliders (drivers on mine is power)



skirts



2 door tilt mechanisms




Start by removing the factory skirts and wiring from the seats



Now remove the factory seat belts. You will reuse your stock ones here.



Unbolt the factory sliders from the seat



It should look like this when it is done.



Bolt your XJ sliders on the new seats. They truely directly bolt on.

My seats had power recline motors. Not all do but it does not matter. This will work with either seat.

Remove the front bolt for the bracket.



The next bolt may be hidden behind the motor.



Don't fear! Just stick a small standard screwdriver in there and turn, turn turn...



Once you turn it far enough you can get the bolt out.



Now that both the bolts are out you need to remove the Torx bolt holding the seat back on the other side.



Once that is done you shold have this.

Gently pull the power lumbar wiring out of the seat bottom.

Stand the seat back up on the head rest and pull the zipper that is tucked in on BOTH sides out of the seat.

Un-zip it all the way.

Reach in the seat and gently pull the velcro seam apart.

Now pull the material down on the side about 10" or so to expose the other 2 bolts.

Once removed install the XJ tilt and bolt it down.

Re-assemble the rest off the seat in reverse order. Once it is done you can put the XJ seat skirts on. They will bolt on in the factory location.

I wanted the power lumbar to work so I cut the wiring out of the factory harness and wired into my XJ harness. It only takes a power and a ground to run the lumbar.

Now I had to find a home for the swtich...

This looks like a good place. Right next to the seat skirt. Hidden from sight.

Here are the seats in the truck.

and tilted forward like factory!

I have to give a BIG thanks to Patrick (phenryiv1) for getting me the elusive 2 door tilts. Thanks again!

Sweet!! Good job.. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

How much taller are those seats then the OEM ones?

:cheers: :popcorn: Nice looking seats.

Now you say that this will only work if you have 97+ Seat brackets installed in your truck. Do they bolt on or is there any modification needed?

You will need to cut the floor brackets out of a XJ and weld them in your truck. It is not a bolt in.

Did you just cut out that section of the floor?

Now onto the seat bracket install.

 

I started by cutting the mounts out of the donor XJ. They are welded and spot welded in a few different places. This will test your patience!

 

This is the passenger side XJ mount in the MJ.

 

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Where the MJ mounts were cut out and the new ones mounted.

 

 

You will have to notch the XJ mount to fit over the center hump in the MJ floor pan. This is the veiw from the front of the notch.

 

 

Here is the rear of the notch looking forward. I was also able to retain 1 factory seat mount on each side to help hold the new brackets in and line everything up.