Ok, those of you with 2 doors disregard. I know, the headrests pop right out. They don't on the 4 door, and they are in the way when looking through your rear view mirror! I did some research and found out how to take them out, but I do have some adults that occasionally ride back there. I happened upon a post about removing the springs that force them up. This allows them to stay down when the seats are up, AND THEY STILL LOCK IN THE UPRIGHT POSITION IF YOU PUSH THEM UP!! This seemed perfect but nowhere could I find a write up! So here it is, easy spring removal write up!

Cost: $0
Tools: Needle Nose Pliers and a flat head screw driver

To start off with, don't take off the the seat covers, they are a PAIN to put back together!

Ok, look at the back of the headrest, while locked in the upright position you can see the springs.

Left Side Spring

Right Side Spring

Now just use a pair of needle nose pliers and pull the spring over to the inside of the spring. Easy as pie.

This is what it looks like all the way off.

And you are done!

This is a picture of it all the way back so you can see. Still locks upright if you need it to!

I know this is really easy... but if you have never seen the inside of the seat, it sounds complicated. I made this just to show you its not!

Easy free mod, that is very helpful IMHO!

Cheers :beer:! Hope this helped someone out there, because I had no idea what to look for when I started this!

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Great info for those of us with 4 Door and those locked rear headrests.
Will try it soon...

 

How easy is it to undo this, can you still reach the springs to reattach without pulling the seat covers?

 

I imagine it would be very hard to redo. You would nead to take the sear covers off and then put them back on. Major PITA. Not sure why you would need to redo them though.

 

I attached a fish wire to the spring prior to taking it off. Now I can reverse the procedure easy when the time comes to trade in (for the redesigned jk of course)

 

What keeps the headrest locked in an upright position?

 

I haven't looked into it, or removed the seat covers. However they lock up once pushed there. I have tried lifting pulling wiggling them to see if they will go back down without putting the seat down, but they won't. All the spring did was force them upright so they do lock.

 

Good, so they do lock up. Just to confirm: remove the spring, lower the seat, lower headrest, and return seat to upright position with headrests down?

 

Thanks for the write up.

Before I do this, I just want to make sure that once it's upright in the locked position, it stays there until you put the seats down to unlock the headrest.

 

Exactly! They lower when you lower the seats. When you put them back up, they will stay down until you push them up. Then they lock upright when you push them up! They stay upright until you lower the seat which unlocks them.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I need to do this mod.

 

Prelud3

Excellent write up! Short, simple, great pictures and easy to understand. Thank you

 

Did this today! Prelud3 - thanks for sharing this simple mod! :thumb:

 

Did mine today, thanks for the write up. No more need for the bungee strap to hold the headrest out of the way of my son's car seat

 

I believe the bungee is a more practical idea. Easily undone when/if you decide to undo or sell the vehicle. I use a 15-inch black rubber bungee/tarp strap - not too noticeable and very easy to remove. But that's why they make chocolate AND vanilla ice cream!!

 

Great write-up. I've been wanting to rip mine out since I bought it.

 

Note- there is only one spring per headrest. As you're looking at the headrests from the rear of the Jeep the left headrest spring is on the left, the right headrest spring is on the right. That said i was using bungee cords to hold them down before. Poor design,should be like the 2dr where they can be released completely by pushing the buttons. Thanks for the write up-was pretty easy.

 

Note- there is only one spring per headrest. As you're looking at the headrests from the rear of the Jeep the left headrest spring is on the left, the right headrest spring is on the right. That said i was using bungee cords to hold them down before. Poor design,should be like the 2dr where they can be released completely by pushing the buttons. Thanks for the write up-was pretty easy.

Are you sure?? I saw 2 springs on each head rest and removed them both.

 

Doing this tonight, I like the idea of still having them for when the kids are back there, but when I'm working I can see better.

 

Are you sure?? I saw 2 springs on each head rest and removed them both.

Definitely had 2 on mine as well.

 

I believe its the same spring with the hook on each end.


Having done this mod last weekend, I spent some time doing research on how and what makes the seat fold and latch. As you know, when you pull the loop on either seat you can fold it forward and down. The loop is attached to a cable mechanism that unlatches the seat. As you fold the seat down, a second cable pulls on the headrest retainer and releases it.

The sole purpose of the headrest springs is to make the headrest pop back up when the seat is raised. So even if you unhook the springs, the headrest stays upright until you lower the seat. Then it can be folded back. Once the seat is raised and latched, if the headrest is raised to the full upright position, it will latch and stay there.

Perhaps the pic will give you an idea of whats inside the seat.

Item 9 is the right side seat release cable.
Item 10 is the left side seat release cable.
Item 20 is used twice and is the headrest release cable.
Item 11 is the headrest retractor.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks! Very complicated, but not far off from what I thought it was.

 

No problem. Again, Thanks for figuring this out! I remember seeing a thread (maybe on another forum) where the member basically took the seat covers off and was disconnecting stuff. I told myself there has to be an easier way but never got around to figuring out what it was.

 

I don't like the way the headrests block a lot of what little rear view I have, so I'm considering this. Since it seems to be irreversible (at least without major surgery), are there any downsides? Does anyone who's done it have any regrets?

 

No regrets and with a little patience and the right tools I believe the springs could be hooked back up again without tearing the headrest/seat apart.

 

The only downside is that when your seat is folded back up, the headrests don't pop up automatically. I personally don't see it as a downside, but that's the only thing you lose with this. The headrest still folds down wehn you lower the seat as it did before, and it remains down without the use of a bungee strap. I consider it a win-win as the desriable behavior stayed and undesirable behavior went away.

 

Doing this MOD after work today. I have a grandson and his car seat just doesn't fit all the way against the seat with the headrest up. Top of the cart seat rubs against the headrest.

 

So is the consensus that there are 2 springs that need to be removed, or just one?
Perhaps both springs serve the same purpose, but a single spring isn't strong enough to lift the headrest alone.

I am considering attaching a strong zip-tie to one spring before removal. Then perhaps that could be used to reverse the procedure in the future without taking apart the seat/headrest?

 

There are 100% 2 springs. My PO had removed the headrest completely on the driver's side. The removal involves taking the retractor (the bit with the two posts on it) completely out of the seat. I bought a new retractor and installed it yesterday. It took about an hour to take the upholstery off, install the retractor, and replace everything. Bit of a PITA to get the upholstery back on, but not too bad. The mechanism that locks the headrest upright is actuated by a cable linked to the seat recline lever. It has two springs of its own to hold the headrest posts hard up against a cam the prevents them from retracting unless the mechanism is pulled (pretty hard pull too).

I didn't do the spring removal mod because I was a bit concerned about the headrest rattling if I did. Also the lack of rear visibility doesn't bother me too much as I'm roofless most of time so can see past it all pretty well.

Ian

 

those of you who have done this, when you drive around and the headrests are down, do they bounce around when hitting speed bumps/pot holes?

I want to do this but really dont want to have the headrests bouncing around on a rough road or offroad.

 

No bouncing; headrests never move.

 

I just did the rear view mirror flip and I can see perfectly out the back of my jeep

 

^^what he said. Took all of two seconds.

 

What a great mod! Exactly what I needed. My 2011 JKU Rubi had 2 springs on each headrest and I had to disconnect them all to get the headrest to lay back flat.

To make it reversible, I just attached a zip tie around the hook on each spring after pulling the spring back a tad. Then you can use the zip tie to disconnect it or reconnect if desired. Tucking the zip tie down into the seat makes it all invisible but easily grabbed with needle nose pliers should the need arise.

-TheWolfen

 

Nice free mod. I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning. Thanks!

 

I can't get those springs to move at all WTF! 2013 JKUR. I must be modly retarded.

 

No you just need retard strength when the spring is new. Kidding no offense to anyone! Anyways just pull straight back & over. I used a cotter key puller & that made it easier. Don't baby it you won't hurt anything... Well maybe your pride if you can't remove it.