I installed seat heaters and it is a pretty easy mod. You don't have to remove the fabric from the seats. I just unclipped the clips on the bottom of the seat near the front, and at the bottom of the back and worked the fabric back a little bit, but basically just reached my hands in there with the heater pads to get them in place. Then removed the tape strips and secured them in place. The base seats, have some Velcro molded into the foam and fabric cover that you have to pull apart about 6-8 inches back from the front of the base at the first main seam.
I removed the seats from the Jeep and set them on the floor of my garage to put the heater pads in, but removing the seats took about as long as it took to get the pads in place. Each seat took about 15 minutes total time including removing and reinstalling them. Then it took about 1.5 hours for me to install the switches and get them all wired up. The whole job took 2 hours.
I bought Crimestopper brand seat heaters because I read that the pads fit without trimming, and that was true. They work great. Only issue was finding a 13/16 drill bit ( if I remember correctly) for the holes for the switches to mount. I ended up picking up a stepped, cone shaped, drill bit with that size at Harbor Freight.
I totally recommend doing this mod as it's a great bang for your buck. I think the heaters for both seats cost about $64 ($32 each seat including base and back heaters).
Yes. That is the exact kit I used (qty=2). And that's a great price on them. I see my review from Dec 2014 is in there:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The wire harness was nicely put together with cool little switches
By xxxx. on December 11, 2014
Color: Carbon Fiber Seat Heater 1 Seats
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Verified Purchase
I installed 2 of these into the front seats on my 2005 Rubicon Unlimited. The wire harness was nicely put together with cool little switches, the heating pads were easy to install and fit perfectly, with no trimming required. The seats heat up very fast . Hopefully they'll last a long time, and for the sale price of $33.50 per seat kit, this has to be one of the biggest bang for your buck mods you can do to your Jeep Wrangler.
Awesome...Just ordered 2. Thanks for the write up.
One concern I think I'll need to deal with: one review mentioned the heater failed after getting wet. I work in the foothills near Denver, and those spring showers pop up out of nowhere, especially if I have half doors on. More than once I've ridden home with a wet seat. It's a Jeep, so I'm sure I'll do it again and again, but would like to protect the heaters.
One lesson learned from my install is that if I could do it over, I would put the switches in a different location, probably in the tan trim rectangle around the shifter bezel, facing straight up. They would be a lot easier to see in that spot and also easier to get perfectly aligned with each other.
This is where my switches are located, but again, I wouldn't put them here if I could do it over.
This is where I routed the wires for the seat heaters. You can't see the wires when the seats are not tumbled forward and stuffing them under the console at this spot allows full motion of the fold and tumble seat as well as full motion forward and back in the seat track. The little white connectors come apart so you can still easily remove the seats if you ever need to. The kit was very well thought-out and nicely designed.
One lesson learned from my install is that if I could do it over, I would put the switches in a different location, probably in the tan trim rectangle around the shifter bezel, facing straight up. They would be a lot easier to see in that spot and also easier to get perfectly aligned with each other.
This is where my switches are located, but again, I wouldn't put them here if I could do it over.
This is my third TJ/LJ I've done this with and this is my favorite location for the switches. And this time around I got the heating elements in the seats without removing them or the upholstery. As stated above, it's not too difficult.
Glad I seen this thread. The PO installed these seat heaters on my Jeep, but they don't seem to be working.
Dropping into the 20's-30's later this week. I better get these figured out.
I'm not good with electrical, but not useless. How'd you guys wire them in? Would I be able to splice into the cigarette lighter wiring? This way, it would cut power when the ignition is off, so if I forget to switch it off, I don't need to worry about it. Or is there an easier way?
Yes. My 05 LJR has two cigarette lighter sockets, and each one has a dedicated 20 amp fuse. One of the sockets is switched with the ignition, the other is not. I cut the wires to the switched socket and spliced in the wires for the seat heaters. Then I ran a couple of "jumper wires" to that socket from the socket that is hot all the time. This way, my seat heaters are on a switched circuit, so they shut off whenever the Jeep is off. Now both of my lighter sockets are not switched and are hot all the time and they share a single 20 amp fuse and circuit. Since I only run things like a GPS unit and phone charger on the cigarette lighter sockets, I wasn't worried about them sharing a 20 amp circuit. Each seat heater has a 10 amp in line fuse. I expect that in normal operation they only draw about 6 or 7 amps per seat, so I wired both seats off the wires that originally fed the switched cigarette lighter socket. I've been running them this way for 2 years now without ever having a problem or blowing a fuse.
This approach worked great for the Crimestopper seat heaters as the wires were long enough to reach the cigarette lighter sockets without adding additional lengths of wire. And, you definitely want to run them only on a switched circuit. Oh, and I used crimp-on wiring connectors. Soldering is probably preferred, but I went with crimp on connectors anyway.
My seats are wired into an a auxiliary fuse box. If you think you might add more accessories, it might be worth considering. A second fuse/relay box makes things easier and isn't too difficult to install. It's how I learned to do vehicle electrical...which I'm still not very good at. I'm just less afraid of it, for better or worse.
Being from Spirit Lake, NW, Iowa, it get freaking cold here.
? I have the neoprene type seat covers, can I put the pads just between the seat and rage seat covers or does it need to go under the original seat fabric.
? I have the neoprene type seat covers, can I put the pads just between the seat and rage seat covers or does it need to go under the original seat fabric...
Mine are installed this way. The heat pads have double sided tape to keep them in place. If you don't mind sticking them to the original fabric, it will work.
They are nice, even if it's warm out...hard day's work, stiff sore back, a little heat is nice...nice in the winter, too, when you're waiting for the engine to warm up.
The switches for mine are on top of the shifter bezel, behind the shifter.
Did you remove your seats to install the pads?
My seat heater isn't heating, I tried unclipping the seat fabric at the front with the seat in place but my hands were cold and getting numb. I gave up before I busted a knuckle.
There's a video on YouTube of a guy popping them into Sahara seats. The seat back heating pad is a little too long, he just trimmed the heating pad an inch or so.
Has anyone installed the Rostra part #250-1872? It is a two seat kit, and has a dual dial switch for right and left, multiple setting thumb dials for each seat. The reason I ask, is it has 4 wires to hook up. Chassis ground, small gauge wire for an ignition 12V, small gauge wire for headlight 12V for illuminating the switch, and a large gauge red power wire with a pre-installed found ring terminal at the end the says "acc 12V" on it, and it also has an installed fuse in it. I want to verify where this large red one goes. I thought direct to battery because of the pre installed round terminal, but not sure. Thanks for any help you can give.
I will be doing this mod very soon! I have Bartac seat covers and wonder if I should install the pads in the seat or between the seat and the cover? Anyone else with seat covers do this?
I installed the heaters between the seat and my neoprene seat covers. The covers need to be loosened and the pads slid under and secured.
Super easy and they work great.
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