1996 Cherokee (sport) front seats are hard to find. My driver's seat is broken. I managed to find an 83 that "the book" says is compatible. My mechanic says it isn't. So I need to either find a mechanic in the Coos Bay, North Bend ( or anywhere on the southern Oregon coast from Newport on down) who can make it work or I need to find a gently used 1996 Cherokee front drivers seat.

 

Did you check your local Pick-'n'-Pull junkyard? Where I live, there are plenty of older Cherokees to pull parts from. They're cheap, too, and some do core exchanges as well if you're willing to unbolt the seat from your Jeep and bring it in to exchange it. Otherwise, keep checking your local Craigslist and on eBay as well and they'll pop up every one in awhile.

 

Yes, I pulled the best seat I could find from a junk yard (actually they pulled it for me since I'm 70). I took the 83 seat to my normal mechanic who said it wouldn't work in my 96. The mounting to the floor was different and the existing mount didn't mate with the seat's hardware. Even though the computer at the junkyard indicated the 83 was compatible with the 96. I can't do it myself but I suspect there's some way to mate the two.

 

if it was out of a 2 door cherokee going into a 4 door cherokee compatibility may not fit. with that being said. i've welded my own chair back together, and it wouldn't take much metal to weld mounting tabs to bottom of the seat that would match your stock seat rails. I think you just need to find another mechanic who is a little more adventurous. with that being said there are plenty of write ups on this site which you can print and bring to him so he has a better idea of what needs to happen. this is a swap most guys do in a driveway, no reason a mechanic in a shop can't do it either.

 

What's wrong with your seat?

The cushion part all busted up and leaning?

If so, the fix is easy.

 

No cherokee (xj) in the yard would be an 83 anyway, first year was 84.
Seat interchange is 84-94 and 95-01 for direct swaps.

 

'96 XJs are bastard year seats. They have the same mounts as the '97+ XJs, but the seats themselves are the same as previous years. You can replace it with a '97+ seat, but I don't like the material as much and think it's weaker. If you're handy, you could always change the mounts on the floor or remove the seat mounts from your seats and put them on a previous year XJ's seats. It's not rocket science, but if you're not a DYI could be tough.