My Driver side seat has broken down over the years on the door side and has become uncomfortable; my passenger seat however, is in great shape. I was thinking of swapping the seats, can I remove the seats from their respective mounting brackets and swap them? Both seats have release handles to move the seat back forward for back seat entry.

I would think if you did that then the seat belt anchors would be on the wrong sides.

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Seat back release lever might interfere. Is your passenger seat fold and tumble, could cause an issue.

For the trouble versus cost, do a junk yard pull or buy new ones.

Thanks for the input, did a closer inspection of the seats I realized that the seat forward release handles would be on the wrong side.

Taz,

I took the seats out of my TJ and pulled the seat covers off and washed them. You will find that 4 bolts hold the seat frame with cushion and cover into the main seat bottom fame. Take these out and you can swap the frame.

Ideally you can swap the foam, but if bad, you can repair what is its pulling apart with contact cement. You can also just flat make a new foam cushion. Here in Houston there are numerous shops that sell foam, you pick out the stiffness you want and then take the electric knife and some sand paper to it.

As to just swapping the seats, the recline lever and the fold and tumble seat release are left and right specific. Both levers are connected to cables. I didn't pay enough attention because I wasn't swapping them, but I am pretty sure the frames are universal and the bolt positions will exist left and right on the seat bottoms.

The seat covers won't swap sides because they are sewn to accommodate the cline levers.

I did not swap my seat bottom cushions (but I did on my dads Dakota), I think there is a molded spot for the recline lever and seatbelt anchor. You would have to recreate those if you swapped cushions.

Here comes the pics, hope they help.

Pic 1 shows how the seat comes off the frame, 2 and 3 how the cushion is held on. Those rods thread through a little pouch in the seat cover and through some hog rings in the cushion. 4 shows it goin back together, 5 is the finished product!

My jeep stunk of cigarettes and old food ( gummy lifesavers and French fries under the console). I removed and washed all the seat covers -twice- and dried on low heat with a bounce sheet. Once all done the jeep looks good and smells nearly new?

Alright, lets try this again!

Pic 1, shows how the seat bottom comes off the seat frame, there are two bolts forward coming in through the sides and two at the back coming from the back. Notice the cable threaded through the seat cover?

Pic 2 shows how the cover is snapped over the frame. Squeeze on the foam to create some slack, then pull the plastic clips off the frame. The front and back clips are the hardest, I had to use a screw driver to help get them over the frame edge.

Pic 3 is the seat bottom, notice the cut out for the seat belt. See the rods left and right and the little Velcro strip (yep Velcro). The rods thread through pouches sewn into the seat cushion and then through the hog rings that are in the seat bottom. TIP: Use a pair of channel lock pliers and squeeze one end down to make it small. Don't crush it just make sure the loop is closed, it will help get through the hog rings.

Pic 4 shows the metal frame from the seat cushion after it has the foam off.

Pic 5 is the re-assembled seat.

It is really not all that hard, I did both front seats and the rear seats in one weekend, and that includes removing carpets for a deep clean.

Now, if I ever figure out how to edit a post, I will start fixing them instead of re-posting!

H

There is only a short period of time to edit a post - I think it's 15 minutes.

Good illustrated write up on seat upholstery removal

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/he...1027993?page=2


Shows all the plastic clips

Nice article, my only addition would be that it is easier to do the bottom cushion if you remove the whole bottom frame. I did my first seat exactly as shown, after I got the cover and foam off I saw the bolts. Went with the frame removal as step 1 on the second seat and that was way easier for me.