Aftermarket Seats in M38a1

I'm helping put together a '52 M38a1. It currently has a piece of galvanized pipe, some plumbing fittings and one studebaker seat. We would like to install some fairly modern aftermarket seats, but still utilize the under seat tank. Will stock 69ish cj5 seat frames work with minimal modification to fit newer seats? Where can I find these seat frames? If that will not work, what other suggestions do you have?

Thanks

Don

 

I have the original seat frames with the back cut off. The previous owner welded S-10 blazer seats to the old frames. Not pretty but they work.

 

Hello again Don!

This is another issue I ran into with my Jeep. Funny how the whole multi-year project started out with what I thought would be a simple seat swap. All I can contribute is telling you to fabricate some kind of mouting brackets. Get used to hearing that since there are very few parts that are truly "bolt-in" with an old Jeep.

 

IIRC, I think that the passenger side ECJ5 seat bracket will fit w/o alteration. You can adapt many types of seats to it, including some of the new "lo back" seats on the market. Regarding the drivers side, an ECJ5 bracket MAY fit. I have an M38A1 at home and said bracket, I will check and see. If you dont have those brackets, it might be easier just to fab up what you need from some tube...IMHO

cheers

 

I got rid of my under seat tank but my buddy has his mounted by using a thin piece or square stock 1inch i think from door frame to door frame.(you could probly use angle iron to to make it harder to see. Then it has pieces that go back to the rear wheel well. Its simple holds really well and looks decent. I would recomend it I could draw it up on paint if you want let me know.

 

Thanks for all the input. Unfortunately the jeep is not mine, it belongs to a friend/ customer of mine, thus trying to find a bolt on option. I do have some left over 1" square stock I may be able to put something together with.

 

Check out this older post http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11289&highlight=trailmax+john

It has this info plus more:

From member John A Shows in an older post.



Quote:
Making the pass side work is a piece of cake. I bought the same Bestop Trailmax Classics, and they are as close to the original as you can get IMHO. Since I still have the originals to compare.

To make the mod, find a piece of sheet metal, (I used 18 guage). Cut out a square that's the same size as the bottom of the seat. Then layout the holes to match your frame. Then layout the holes to match your seat. Bolt the sheet metal to your seat through the seat holes, then bolt the sheet metal to your frame through the frame holes. Voilla. Took me about 20 minutes, and it's practically invisible. The only time you see it is when you fold the seat forward, and even then you can't tell that the drivers seat is any different. Trust me on this.

I still have my old seats, so......if your'e interested let me know. I think I have the boxes the Bestops came in so packing them might not be that hard. I don't know about shipping though. Also FWIW, I went through the possible recovering issue, and it costs more to recover than the new seats cost.

 

If money's not an issue, Beachwood Canvas has new seat frames and cushions for M38A1's. Not cheap though.