Seats for a '62 Willys CJ-5

With any luck, I will soon have my CJ-5 on the road. It came sans seats, so I am looking for any information from you all as to what, besides the original seats, you have found that work well in the vehicles you own. Has anyone found seats from some other cars that work well in CJ-5's and that are more comfortable than the stock seats? I am not talking Ricaros (sp?), but something that can be put in there that doesn't take an engineering design to make it work. Am I just better off trying to get a set of CJ-5 seats? I see the frames are available, but I can't seem to find the whole seats anywhere. Let me know what you know. Thanks...

 

My buddy put the Smittybuilts in his '69. I have the Bestop seats in my '79. And I just got these MRAP seats from Sportsmans Guide for my $400 mail jeep. The MRAP seats are nice. Be aware though you may not get an exact match... My first one has a removeable head rest. Second does not. First ad I had said came with racing seat belt and it did, a Corbeau dual release which is a $100 set by itself. I'm tempted to buy another pair as they are really nice.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist?k=mrap

 

I would look at Marine seats, they are water proof, and come in low back or mid back. They range in all price ranges, just something to consider.

 

Lots of discussion here in the past, if you search.

Smittybilt low-backs worked very well for me.

 

Rick, do you have a link or a source you can pass along? Since my Jeep will be open most of the time, since I live in Calif., these might be the best way to go...

 

Pete,

Thanks for the info. I will do some searching. Along these same lines, where do you all put the gas tank? Do you still keep it under the front seat. I have heard that there is a fuel cell that some put in their CJ's, but I have not seen anything by that name. Are you familiar with this, or was someone misinformed? Thanks!!!

 

Mike,

Do you have a source? If not, I can just look on the Internet, e-Bay and Craigslist. It looks like the seat that was pictured has a frame, but no undercarriage or base. Did you have to modify them? Thanks...

 

At 6' tall, I have always liked the '65 and earlier seats with tied coil springs under them. I have tried the later '60s and newer molded foam seats, and several aftermarket foam seats, including Smittybuilt, and found I sit way too high "on" the seat instead of low "in" the seat with coil springs.
Just something else to consider.
-Donny

 

I would look at Defender Marine, that is where I got my windshield wiper motors and wipers.

 

I tend to agree that foam seats seem a little higher and firmer. On the other hand a OEM coil spring seat might have been a lot firmer....50 years ago.

When I made the mounts for my smittybilts I was able to lower them an inch or two, and that helps. Once I got used to them I actually like the firmness.

 

I looked at the Smitty's today and one thing I didn't like about the two models they had at the store is the dish shape with the high sides. I have seen the "high spots" wear out quickly because people have to slide over them to get to the sweet spot. I am looking for something with less "dish" to it I am 6' 3" and don't mind sitting a little tall in the saddle but at 240 lb. I can put some "dish" in a flat seat. Merlin Olsen is my second cousin, if anyone remembers him from the NFL days of yore, so "bigness" runs in the family.

I will keep looking. In the meantime, I can strap a lawn chair in there (lol), like they do in West "by God" Virginia. Gotta love 'em!!!

 

ETI, at 6'3" you might want a pillow on the gas tank instead of a seat. I was 5'8" now shorter at 70, and I am tight with the factory seats in my Jeep, no room for my drink between my legs. You might look at those Race Car seats that are just shells?

 

The "fender notch" might be in your future, as a big and tall guy.

http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/search.php?searchid=1101797

 

A search might help https://www.google.com/search?q=site:earlycj5.net+junk+yard+seats&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

I'd expect the main thing to look for is the cusion thickness. The back and seat need to be fairly thin to give you clearance for your knees and distance from the pedals. Back in the day, we put seats from Ford vans in Jeeps that were going to the car auction, and they were awful - the bottom cushion is so thick you can hardly get your legs under the wheel. And that was back when I was a (comparatively) skinny kid.

 

Me too. I really like them.

 

What do you mean about source? And as far as the frame, it has 4 captive nuts on the bottom almost like the Smittybuilt. Probably won't line up with the factory seat mounts, but the Smittybuilt didn't on my buddies either we had to make some adapters. Presently they are sitting on the floor in my shop...

I got mine for a $400 1970 short nose mail jeep I have and I am going to use the original brackets to make a WIDE bracket (I'll add some bracing to the floor.) They are a REALLY nice seat for $71 since I'm a club member.

 

Wonder if we are looking at the same ones? On mine the outer edge is only an inch higher than the flat center area, with a very gradual transition. No "dish" as I see it.
I weigh only 165, but my butt doesn't sink at all.

http://www.amazon.com/Smittybilt-44...6524&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=smittybilt+lowback

 

PO put tractor seats in mine. Actually pretty comfortable and there are armrests on each side that fold up and down

 

I bought a brand spanking new set of aftermarket seats from one of the Jeep vendors. I installed them and almost immediately "uninstalled" them.

At that point I took a set of stock bench seats to the upholsterer and spent about as much as the aftermarket seats on getting the stock seats back up to speed.

I sold the aftermarket seats and took a bit of a loss, but I have no regrets.

The aftermarket seats are all cast formed foam and have no springs at all (effectively). I thought they were of no value whatsoever. The aftermarket seats sat higher than normal, required 'finessing' to install, and were just plain uncomfortable.

I'm sure that there are other differing opinions on this, but I don't see any "comfort" difference between aftermarket seats and wooden crates.

 

Seats are like wheels to some extent, what works best for you. My A1 has great OEM seats, but if you want to compare crates to seats, that would be the MB. The Bestop seats in my '79 are super comfortable and I thought the Smitty's were great in my buddies '69. But, as usual, YMMV. The MRAP seats don't appear to be as thick as any of the other seat choices I have seen, but the base is kind of long and my require a notch. I am going to test fit them in my postal, maybe this weekend at least on the one mount I have.