"Factory" Seat Bracket Solution for Fiberglass Body Tubs

So...after countless hours spent reading other posts, daydreaming, and searching junkyards and ebay, here's what I came up with:

1. Start with two driver side factory seat brackets from any '72-'75 CJ.
2. Cut off the turned-down part that bolts to the transmission hump on each.
3. Cut the welds that attach the flat iron to the tube (one bracket only).
4. Re-weld the flat iron to the tube, only in the opposite direction.
5. Weld the two tubes together, using a 1" I.D. tube section as a sleeve.
6. Bolt two sections of 2"x2" angle to the tub in front of the wheel wells.
7. Bolt flat irons to the angle and tubes to the door sills.

















Interesting note: the original seat sliders and newer '76-'86 sliders (Bestop or Rugged Ridge sell them) bolt directly to the '72-'75 brackets with zero modification (11" center-to-center on the mounting studs). Any new replacement seat will bolt directly to the newer '76-'86 sliders with zero modifications.

My pictured version is slightly more complicated than the description above, since I welded the flat iron sections to some 1" I.D. tube which sleeves and rotates freely over the factory tube, allowing the passenger seat to flip forward as originally intended. If I ever find a set of original low-back seats, and figure out some sort of latching mechanism, I can still have this original feature. For right now, everything is bolted in place.

 

I wish I had better fab skills !

 

I am not happy with my seat bracket results in my '75 glass tub. I'm a fat guy and need to not only have the seat back away from the wheel, but I also need to mount the seat lower than the stock. Could you post a profile shot of your rig from say 10 feet so I can get an idea of the seat elevation? I want to compare it to mine to see if this will work for me.

Thanks

 

Nice job on the frame. As far as your 'glass body, did you run into anyother problems in fit...frame,front clip, drive train etc? I'm planning on a rebuild with a 'glass body and would like to be prepared for the worst.

thanks

 

Nice frame. You may consider adding a center post so the door sills aren't bearing so much weight, though. Could be something really simple like a piece of vertical pipe with a "crutch" tip on the end so you wouldn't even need to drill the floor pan. Or get all fancy and incorporate a 20mm ammo can console into some method of support.

 

I did somethign similar for mine but I had a full cage.

It looks great by the way. Very clean.

 

LBOGRS-
Any chance you making another and selling it?

 

No chance of that. You wouldn't want to pay for it anyway, haha.

One used bracket from ebay $40
One used bracket from olympic 4x4 (jeep junkyard) $70
Sandblasting $40
Chromoly Tubing $40
Primer & Paint $20
Help from a friend and use of his welder & shop $Priceless

All In, and very conservative, $210, plus 8 hours labor.

Now, if I had my own shop and the brackets were easy to find, I'd probably say yes and charge $400 for it. Unfortunately I don't and it took me over a year to source the used brackets. Maybe I should have added this to the post originally

 

The biggest problem I have with my glass tub is the way the PO installed it. First of all, it is mounted to the frame tabs via 4" tall steel tubes, with no rubber. Let's just say that it's complete trash. Body lifts of this magnitude are a big no-no. Screws up the steering column geometry, clutch linkage, transfer case shifter action, etc.

In my case, the body isn't even mounted squarely on the frame - it's about 1-1/2" too far to the right, and 2-3" too far back. The backs of my headlight buckets are so close to the radiator, that the wires rub on the radiator support creating a short circuit.

I'm in the process of re-mounting my tub to the frame the way it should be done, and locating the seats correctly was the first step. Next step is to replace the steering column and lower shaft, as this was all modified by the PO in the name of the body lift.

Once the steering column is corrected, the body can be lowered to it's proper height & position. The original body mounting fasteners don't apply to a fiberglass tub, so that was another area of fabrication - one that I've completed already, so I'll post another thread to show what I've come up with. You'll need a polyurethane body mounting kit and a machine shop, and it'll cost you about $100-$150.

Keep an eye out for the post in this section of the forums.

 

Nice. I like the way you think. I am actually planning on making some kind of center console and incorporating it into the cross-bar in order to support some of the load. Actually, you'd be surprised at how much of the load goes to the rear of the brackets and not to the door sills. Most of your weight goes down your back and into your ***, not so much behind your knees.

 

Can do. Check back this weekend for the picture. One thing that alot of folks do - my PO did as you can see in the one pic - is notch the wheel well so that the seat can slide back further. I'm going to undo this 'feature', but something like that might be what you're looking for. You can also swap in a tilt steering column that will also buy you some more wiggle room.

 

I've seen body mount kits for 'glass tubs specifically. They look the same but with extra metal plates/pieces. Hard to tell in the small photos. Looking forward to seeing your set up....thanks.