Replacement Seats??

Ok, I just got a quote to recover and foam my seats. He quoted me a minimum of $750 and that was bringing him the seat frames cleaned and foam stripped. I am going to get another quote but now I am thinking about new ones.

I see that ruged ridge, bestop, and smittybilt makes new low back seats. I am going to use the original seat frames and they all claim they bolt right up. Is that true?

Also, how is the quality on these seats? I am going to go with a tan color so if anyone is using them I sure would like some pics. All I could find were their factory ones.

I'm also going with a matching rear seat. I have an original rear one with the correct slide in locking legs.

 

I bought new seat cushions for my 47 from Beachwood Canvas and they weren't but about half that I believe. It is not that hard to do the work yourself. My cushions came with plywood bottoms with t-nuts if I remember correctly. If you had a trim shop sew the vinyl covers for you the rest is a do-it-yourself project kind of thing.

 

2A seats and late model 5 seats are apples and oranges. 2A seats are one hop from a boat cushion. The seats I am talking about are upholstered like an old hotrod or mustang

 

Got the Smitty's -haven't had time to do anything but look at them. However, they look to be as advertised in terms of "bolt-on" compatability. They are basic foam covered naugy seats of decent quality. In my case, I'm looking for a basic seat - these are not show quality, but appear workmanlike. When I ever get the time to install, I'll let you know more.

 

Try New Life Canvas they were supposed to be working on patterns for the cj-5 check to see if they have them yet.

 

hey sbu22....got any pics??

 

Still no pics. However, have had time to mess with them a bit this weekend. The "bolt-on" works like this: the Smittybuilt seats are furnished with with the lower, horizontal, fore-to-aft steel frame (each side) exposed. There are several pre-drilled and threaded holes in each. haven't measured, bit they look about 3/8 or 7/16 dia. It appears that the idea is to strip the existing seat frame and drill holes in the frame to accommodate new bolts to anchor the new seat to the existing frame. This would involve cutting out the old seat back frame and basically using the bottom of the frame. I suppose that the entire frame could be salvaged, using the original frame, including the back, but that involves placing the seat further forward (about 3/4") than the original - and one of the things I'm trying to do is gain a little more legroom. Is it jeep heresy to cut up these frames? Being fabrication challenged, I suspect that's what I will do, as well as incorporating the Boyink cut for the driver side.

BTW, the Smitty seat will allow the passenger seat to roll forward for toolbox access.