I havent seen alot written on this but i think its really important when building a rig. So i thought id start something up so thoughs of us who dont have them can learn how to make it happen. Maybe by ideas on how to build seat brackets or which seats work nicely... or maybe bolt right in... which ones dont... who has what... then the same with 5 point harnesses... which ones work nicely... how you got them connected... all the goods... where you got them from... who got good prices for the comfort... Im wanting to know all this myself since my seat brackets are pretty rusty and since i have a chopped top and no doors i need any extra safety i can get... And if ur crawlin with reg stock seats and belts i hope you know ur stock belts arnt going to do a whole whole lot in a roll over... Thanks guys!

 

If I give you a nickel, can you buy a question mark?

First thing I want to reply to is the comment about stock seats/belts being worthless in a rollover. That's not exactly true... in normal wheeling (especially east coast) rollovers are very slow and pretty calm. I've been in a TJ rollover and watched an XJ rollover. Both instances had stock seats and stock belts. None of us had problems being held into place by the stock 3-point belt, although it's not fun dropping when you release the buckle. Being doorless is more of a safety concern since you could get hit by a rock or branch or something during the roll that would have normally been blocked by the door. I wouldn't worry about a 4 or 5 point harness unless I was doing Jeepspeed stuff or was wheeling in a canyon or something, but you'd need a full cage then anyhow.

I've been messing around with various aftermarket seats trying to find what I like the best, and I prefer the Baja RS seats from Corbeau. I've got bolt-in brackets from them that'll work with most aftermarket seats (Corbeau, PRP, Beard, Mastercraft, etc). And the side bolsters on the Baja RS are low enough to not interfere with the stock belts.

There are some seats that will bolt-in from other vehicles, I know it's been mentioned here and on NAXJA before and people have made brackets out of angle iron for other seats.

Back to safety harnesses... Most won't function correctly without being attached in the rear to a harness bar about level with your shoulders. And that needs to be attached in some way to the base of the seats, optimally this means the seats are bolted to the rollcage and the harnesses are bolted to a crossbar between the front and rear seats. If the seats and harness are not bolted to the same rigid fixture, in a bad wreck the metal of the Jeep can go in different directions and could cause a compression injury to your spine.

 

If you gave me a nickel... id get a stick of gum! cause i wasnt really asking a question more or less just wanted some general info from everyone... lol... i see alot of people have looked since last night and are curiouse about this but seems not many people have gone with seats... and i know that stock belts and seats are pretty good also thats why i said they wont do a whole whole lot... of course if you didnt have them at all you would be all over the place. What i was getting at is 5 point systems are safer then the stock setup (as long as installed right) and im pretty sure theres not many stock seats that can work with a 5 point setup easily... but your kinda info is what i was looking to try and find... so if anyone else has an opinion come on with it!

 

The only reason stock belts don't work AS well during a crawling roll, is the roll is usually slow and the "catch" doesn't grab. If you use just a lap belt from a harness, it will be fine. Now if you were racing I could see needing a different seat, but 90% of us don't really need expensive seats. There are tons of offroad racing sites and fab sites that offer advice on seat and belt mounting. Offroadfabnet.com is one.

I would see about a roll cage in that chopped XJ befroe worrying about seats and belts. Since you are worried about as much safety as you can get.

 

oh i know... thats why im building bumpers now and then rock sliders... not that i really need them right now but there going to be my base for a cage coming up...