ericdrob67
Well-Known Member
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- #1
Disclaimer: The purpose of this is to try to help others with what i learned during this project. Attempt at your own Risk! I learned to weld on this project, so welds arent very pretty.
For us tall folks, the leg & head room in the JL is lacking compared to JK(which wasnt comfortable for me either, but suffer-able). With OEM seat position, my knee is right on the dash and my head was an inch or more higher than the sound bar.
Im 6'7" 300 lbs 38" inseam for those interested in proportions for my project to see how/if you might need to change some dimensions/angles/etc.
First thing I did was to pull the passenger side seat to mock up a mount to build the new seat brackets in.
Driver side was a mirror of passenger, using passenger side left me able to drive in the couple days it took.
My goal was to move the seat back about 3" and add a put a little more slope to the bottom of seat(it felt too flat for my tastes). Clearance becomes an issue on the bottom side of the new brackets due to a hump in the floor.
My brackets moves the seat back 3" and changes the angle from 5-6 degrees(IIRC) to 11.5 degrees.
I used some 1/2 x 1 1/2 square stock(rectangle stock?) from Alro Steel $10. Ive seen square stock & C channel at some Home Depots/Lowes also. Measure 2 or 3 times, cut once. I made the feet at the back of bracket first, then made relief cuts & bent the long portions of the bracket
NOTE: this is not for the faint of heart...
You need to use a cut off wheel to remove the OEM stamped steel brackets. They are spot welded on and rather bothersome & tedious to cut/grind out. I used my cheapo Ryobi 4.5" grinder and cut off discs, wire wheel & flap discs from Harbor Freight when they were on sale. Lincoln 210 MP which ive wanted for a while, but purchased just so i could start this project. It took me a couple batteries in my grinder to cut these off....would definitely recommend a corded grinder.
Moving the seat rails back makes it a bit of a challenge to reinstall/tighten the T50 bolts in the back of the bracket. I ended up knocking the T50 bit out of its 3/8 socket and then used a 5/16 wrench to tighten. The height of my new brackets leaves just enough room, kind of a PITA but doable(dont forget to use red lock tite).
Hopefully others will be able to use this to get some much needed leg & head room. If you dont have the welding/fabricating skills(im FAR an expert in this) you might be able to show this to some one who does and have them do something similar for you.
For us tall folks, the leg & head room in the JL is lacking compared to JK(which wasnt comfortable for me either, but suffer-able). With OEM seat position, my knee is right on the dash and my head was an inch or more higher than the sound bar.
Im 6'7" 300 lbs 38" inseam for those interested in proportions for my project to see how/if you might need to change some dimensions/angles/etc.
First thing I did was to pull the passenger side seat to mock up a mount to build the new seat brackets in.
Driver side was a mirror of passenger, using passenger side left me able to drive in the couple days it took.
My goal was to move the seat back about 3" and add a put a little more slope to the bottom of seat(it felt too flat for my tastes). Clearance becomes an issue on the bottom side of the new brackets due to a hump in the floor.
My brackets moves the seat back 3" and changes the angle from 5-6 degrees(IIRC) to 11.5 degrees.
I used some 1/2 x 1 1/2 square stock(rectangle stock?) from Alro Steel $10. Ive seen square stock & C channel at some Home Depots/Lowes also. Measure 2 or 3 times, cut once. I made the feet at the back of bracket first, then made relief cuts & bent the long portions of the bracket
NOTE: this is not for the faint of heart...
You need to use a cut off wheel to remove the OEM stamped steel brackets. They are spot welded on and rather bothersome & tedious to cut/grind out. I used my cheapo Ryobi 4.5" grinder and cut off discs, wire wheel & flap discs from Harbor Freight when they were on sale. Lincoln 210 MP which ive wanted for a while, but purchased just so i could start this project. It took me a couple batteries in my grinder to cut these off....would definitely recommend a corded grinder.
Moving the seat rails back makes it a bit of a challenge to reinstall/tighten the T50 bolts in the back of the bracket. I ended up knocking the T50 bit out of its 3/8 socket and then used a 5/16 wrench to tighten. The height of my new brackets leaves just enough room, kind of a PITA but doable(dont forget to use red lock tite).
Hopefully others will be able to use this to get some much needed leg & head room. If you dont have the welding/fabricating skills(im FAR an expert in this) you might be able to show this to some one who does and have them do something similar for you.
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If I had a welder and any metal working skills at all I would attempt it. I have been annoyed when my knees hit the dash and head clips the sound bar but I guess I will live with it since nobody sells a relocation bracket for the 2 door. If they did it would be...
