'64 Cj5 Seat Replacement

Hi guys. The seats in my 64 are the tube style frame. Drivers side mounts up on the door sill and the passenger mounts into the tumble bracket on the floor. The upholstery is mounted around the tube frame. I was a sucker and bought the Smitty Built low backs because the website says " fits '55-'76 CJs" and the "instillation is quick and easy" and that they use the "same mounting hardware from the original seats." They don't show any photos of the bottom of the seats which turn out to have the flat plate mounts which I assume are for later model CJs and YJs. Does anyone out there make a flat plate adapter for these old frames, or can anyone make any recommendations other than returning these seats or having the originals re-done? Thank you.

 

Odd...The low back Bestop seating I just installed in my 1966 cj5a was a direct bolt on. The underside of the seats has a flat plate that has 3 different spacing options to fasten to the existing stock seat frames. The listing has the same description of "fits '55-'76 CJ's"

 

The Smitty seats you got will mount to the raised bar on the drivers side pretty easily, especially if you have a sliding adjuster from original.
The passenger side is another story! The pre-'66 fold-and-tumble passenger seat has the springs as an integral part of the tube seat frame. I have seem all the springs stripped/cut off and a bubba mount, but it doesn't work well because of the curverd frame and the backrest hinge. At this point, you would be much better off fabricating seat brackets that mimic the attaching hinge on the top of the tool box.
Please don't cut up your early seat frames to mount the Smitty seats! They are getting hard to find in servicable shape. If you can find the '66-newer style frame, they are very easy to adapt to the Smitty aftermarket seats. The newer ('66-up) frames are almost a mirror image of your drivers side where the frame mounts in the door opening.
I would be interested in your spring style passenger frame if you end up not using it if the frame is not rusted out and the springs are intact/unbroken.
-Donny

 

Thanks for the input. Did I need to cut the upholstery and wiring away with cutters in order to see the flat plates? Is the wiring around the frame the only thing holding the stock seats onto the tube frame or are they bolted as well?

 

C_Johnny_5, Your seats are entirely different than Beach66's, so there is very little in common with his. Your '64 seats have old-fashioned metal springs and coils with burlap, where the '66 seats are molded foam cushions. The '66 seats have the plates for easy mounting of the Smitty seats, whereas yours do not have the plates. Please don't start cutting on the "wire" as that is the part of the tempered springs which make up the seat.
Your best options are to correctly reupholster your original seats, or find appropriate later CJ seat frames that were used with the molded foam seats. The later foam seats bolted onto the mounting frame/seat base, so are easily adapted to your new Smitty seats.
Does your drivers seat have a sliding adjuster? I know my '64 Tuxedo Park does, but that may have been a unique feature to that specific model. If it does, there should be bolts holding the seat to the frame, but on the drivers side only.
-Donny

 

Thanks Donny!