1973 CJ5 Passenger Seat Bracket Doesn't fit New Seat

Hello, Everyone!

I hope all is well with you. Various family and business obligations have kept me from my Jeep project for awhile, but I'm back with more questions as usual.

The seats in my 1973 CJ5 were trashed, so first I bought an old style Bestop seat, and it bolted into the drivers side with no problems. Then I ordered a second seat for the passengers side, but the tubing on the origiinal seat bracket are wider than the new seat. So I sent the seat back and got a seat from SmittyBuilt -
same problem. So we welded on some cross members to the original bracket to accomodate the narrower seat rails and drilled holes in the seat rail to make it fit, but it leaves me with more problems. The seat now sits closer to driver's side which is OK, but it will make the seatbelt anchor bolt almost under the seat. Next,
the seat doesn't line up in a way so it can latched down in order to get into the tool box, which I really want to have access to. I'm so frustrated at this point that I'm wondering if my only option is to have the original
passenger's seat re-upholstered. I thought that maybe a 1976 or later seat bracket would bolt in, but so far, I haven't been able to locate any sources or info regarding this option. Any help would be truly appreciated. Thanks.

 

I went the re-upholster route. It costed me about $150 for both seats in my 73.

 

I paid $240 for both last month .

 

Almost everything changes in 1976, including the seats. If you buy aftermarket seats meant for a '76 or later Jeep, they are not going to fit a '73.

If you have a parts issue like this for an intermediate Jeep, I suggest that you ask - don't assume a '76-on part will fit unless the seller claims it fits your year.

For the '76 model, the floors in the CJ-5 were completely changed, and the toolbox was eliminated. The seat from '76 on does not fold and tumble. Instead it moves forward on a telescoping bracket to allow access to the back. Entirely different. The driver's side changed too, but the mounting of the seat stayed roughly the same. This is why the later driver's seat mounting was basically ok, but the passenger seat did not fit at all.

 

The was a little piece in one of the latest JP Magazine articles about welding some tabs on the seat frame to make it work,
but to save some time I took the seat in to be re-upholstered. Thanks for the replies.