Cherokee Ppl

hello
I have the chance to buy some electric wj seats. But I have an xj with manual frames. I know the bolts are supposed to line up, but what to do about the electrics?
Is it possible to take an electric wj seat and put it on my xj manual frames? Is this a hassle to make happen? What about the side trim?
I cannot find in my xj, of any sign of an existing electric harness for the power to add electric seats. Where should it be? I pulled up the rug and removed my manual seats and cannot find an harness anywhere.
do I have to have xj electric seat frames to make this swap work out? Should I punt? If I bought the wj electric seat harness could I use it in my xj?
I am really on the fence here and would love some input.

thanks
clint

94zj318

Hi Clint,

If you don't have power seats currently, there likely isn't wiring underneath the carpeting, so you'll have to do that yourself and get power to it somehow (perhaps by figuring out which relay drives the power seats on Jeeps that have them, install the appropriate relay, and tap into that). ZJ seats *should* fit into an XJ, but you might have to re-tap the holes in the floor pans using a tap-and-die set. You'll probably want to salvage the plastic side trim from the ZJ you remove the power seats from (probably take everything, including the wiring harnesses as well). If you want the easiest possible swap, you might want to get power seats from another XJ.

Hope this helps.

-Vince

Ralph77

You should have part of the power seat set up in the XJ.
Look under the carpet under the passenger seat.

Now my understanding is that WJ bases, not seats but bases, will not bolt into an XJ.
At least without modding maybe. Again that is my understanding. You need to research that.
My understanding is also the WJ seats will bolt right on XJ bases.
If you were able to get power seat base(s) for an XJ you could bolt the WJ seats right to them.
Get the rest of the wiring harness for the power seats from a donor XJ.
Also going to need a 25 amp circuit breaker that would be in the Junction Box of an XJ with power seats.
Now be aware that in XJ's with power seats came 2 ways. Driver's side power and passenger side manual.
Or both sides power and heated.
Each harness is different.
Here is another thing I don't know.
Which plastic seat trim and power seat switches would you use?
XJ ones or the ones from the WJ?
I put power/heated seats in an XJ that did not come with them.
From an XJ.
So what I did was plug and play.

Cherokee Ppl

Thanks guys.

I do not have a powered seat harness currently in my xj. From what I am gathering the simplest swap would be if I had xj powered seats already. Power to power or manual to manual. I just looked on eBay a single powered xj frame goes fo about $200. What I thought would be easy and relatively inexpensive is a racking up fast. I guess I was hoping I could set the seat position using a battery pack to get the seat where I wanted and then leave it there.
would you guys suggest a punt here, and to wait till I found either some xj powered seats and or frames? Or get them and sit on them till I find the other pieces of the puzzle.
Really on the fence here. The seats are in perfect shape and are tan leather.

thanks

CR97XJ

I just finished WJ seats in my 97 xj. My xj has power driver and manual passenger. Both donor seats were power. The actual seat unbolted from the track/mounting assembly (which house the motors). The xj and WJ are set up the same and the bolt holes line right up. As for trim, I tried both the og and the donor. I wound up keeping the og due to power switch size being different and a hole on the passenger side where the switch would be. As for making them power, I agree with the above post where you would need xj power tracks and a donor harness with the appropriate relay, & fuse connections. Probably an easy pull
from the jy, I plan on doing that one day.

CR97XJ

here is a couple of pics of finished work


With donor trim

Original trim

they are super comfy too!

Cherokee Ppl

Very very nice