[1696]

Hey folks. Been cought up in life for a while, but I'm finally back to Jeeping.

I ordered a set of Bestop seats for my YJ as the factory seats were destroyed, and I wanted vinyl for the weather resistance when the top comes off this summer.

They're the Bestop TrailMax Classic Low Back seats. They're about 100 times more comfortable than the old seats, but I have a few issues.

The first is that I seem to be sitting a *lot* higher than I was. Maybe that's because the foam in my old seats was so destroyed.

The second is that the seat is tilted *way* back. This will be easy enough to fix with a spacer or two, though.

Has anyone installed these seats and run into the same issues?

 

[1720]

Like you said you can fix the tilt with a couple of spacers. About the height, I would think that the extra height would be a plus. Ive been wanting to put spacers on all my seat mounts to lift the seat just for some more visibility.

 

[1696]

Actually, the height is a problem; I have a tilt column, and it's tilted all the way up, just so I can steer without hitting my legs!

Gotta call Bestop.

 

[JimmyZ]

I bought an '85 -7 for parts. It had Bestop high back seats. I transferred them over with the same results as what you got. Seems the factory seats were a flat cushion under your bum, no taper from front to back. The high backs had more of a taper, thick in front getting thinner as you moved back, thus the leaning back feeling. Also the thinnest part was still thicker than stock, thus the height. Finally went with Fiero seats.

 

[LEVE]

In reply to:

Actually, the height is a problem; I have a tilt column, and it's tilted all the way up, just so I can steer without hitting my legs!

[/ QUOTE ]1. Yep, it's not uncommon.
2. When I installed the Fierro seats,
3. They sit much higher,
4. I had to modify the mount,
5. To drop the front...
6. Now I'm not that tall,
7. But those seat frames,
8. Made me feel like a midget.
9. I hate it when my feet can't touch the floorboard!

 

[1696]

Well, if this is a recurring problem, why in the name of Pete does bestop sell these as jeep seats?!

 

[1696]

Well, after about a half of a day of measuring, cutting, welding and bolting, the seats are in.

Well, almost.

The driver's side seat is done. I had to cut and section the brackets (Not a swing-up seat) to tilt the seat forward. I lowered the front of the seat nearly two inches; now the seat sits flat, without all that leaning back feeling.

I had to weld the brackets with my Lincoln Weld-Pack 100 and flux core wire, as I have no useable 220 outlets in this place so my Miller is collecting dust right now. Man, I'm glad I didn't sell off the Lincoln. The flux core wire is smokey, spatters a lot and generally doesn't make anywhere near the clean weld that a normal MIG process makes. As ugly as the welds are are, they're solid.

Anyhow, the passenger seat is a tilt-forward setup, and from some quick preliminary looks, will be much easier to re-angle. It's just a matter of shortening the link bars in front.

I'll snap some pics in the morning, if anyone's interested.

 

[JEEPININMEXICO]

My Beasttop seats sit up to high for me too. I read all of the post and will have to cut mine too. I am over six feet with a 30 in inseam. so a high seat is realy a problem. How about a couple of photos of how the seat support was cut.

The seats are comfortable but high. I thihk that will be a good fix.

 

[1696]

Well, after a test drive this afternoon, I'm still not completely happy. The classic lowback seats, to put it mildly, suck. Not comfortable at all.

Looks like I'm making a trip to pep boys this afternoon, give those other seats a whirl now that I have the brackets cut down. I'll shoot some pics then, too.

 

[WILL]

In reply to:

The classic lowback seats, to put it mildly, suck.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. My jeep had the low back levi seats stock. About 5 years ago I found some high back seats from a YJ for sale (along with the fold and tumble rear seat) and bolted those in. Much better.

 

[Raduckal]

In reply to:

The classic lowback seats, to put it mildly, suck. Not comfortable at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow! That's good for me to find out now.
I really liked the factory lowbacks in 76 CJ I once owned and was considering lowbacks as my next set. I guess they wont be Bestop's.
And while we're gripping about seats. Why dont they leave a gap between the back and the bottom, so that water can drain and air can flow across my hairy back when I lean forward.

 

[432]

I put Best seats in my CJ and they were highter, tilted back and closter to the wheel. So I cut about an inch and a half off the front of the seat risers and left the back unchanged and added on to the riser to let the seat move back more. Worked great.

 

[WILL]

In reply to:

and air can flow across my hairy back when I lean forward.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bead cushion

 

[1696]

Well, folks, after a great deal of deliberation, and driving myself batty, I devided to drop the stock seats off at a local upholstery shop, where they'll be re-foamed and re-covered with vinyl. Total cost: $200. Any other *worthy* seat option is a lot more expensive. The local junkyards don't have anything of any use; I know because I visited them all today.

Glad I kept the packing materiels for the 'Bestop' seats.

And a FYI: *all* Bestop seats sit higher than stock in YJs.

Hopefully someone else doesn't go through this nightmare, too.

Now, to order a replacement bracket for the one I hacked up trying to make these ill-begotten hunks of crap fit. *sigh*

Update: Holy Hell!! 1992-95 seat brackets are hard to come by, it seems. Cost me $70. My butt hurts. I hate bestop. They should stick to soft tops and leave the seats to someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[Raduckal]

LOL @ Will
Because I tryed tryed those