Help! I'm too tall!

[mustangduane]

Hello everyone, thanks again to all who have been helping me out with my newly aquired 1979 CJ5 .
Next problem....I am 6"6', and barely fit in th drivers seat. I would like to move the seat mounts rearward, but the tub is in the way. Any thoughts/ideas? Move the front legs back and cut/weld to the tub somehow?
Thanks,
Duane

 

[BusaDave9]

Duane I also have a '79 CJ5 and they are not made for tall people. I am 5 foot 10 and it's tight for me. You could modify the tub to move the seat back. How good are you with body work and fabrication? You could cut the front of the inner fender for the rear tire. The tire can't ever fill in that front corner anyway.
First I would do a lot of measurements and testing to see how high the tire comes up during full compression. What size tires do you have? If your tires stick out past the body then they wont be going up into the wheel well anyway. You could then cut the top and front off the inner wheel well. This would allow you to move the seat back. There is a good support rail in front of the rear wheel well. This could be used to support your seat. There is a bigger issue than supporting your seat as you drive down the road. The question is will your seat stay in place if you have an accident? You very well may want to replace your lap belts with a 5 point harness. The correct way to mount the shoulder belts is by welding a brace that goes behind both seats. This extra bracing could also be used to support the seat.
See what I'm getting at? Yes, it can be done, but this may turn out to be a very big project. Next question is what will people think when you try to sell it? If you do it right the seat should be able to be moved back to the front. If you are commited to this jeep you may not care about selling it. Even with pizza cutter tires I can't imagine anyone ever having the tires rubbing the front or top of the inner wheel well. Tires always rub the outer edges of the fender. The shape of the door on the CJ5 will make getting into the jeep harder with the seat any farther back than stock.
Do a lot of thinking to decide if this is really what you want to do.

 

[geezerjeeper]

I've been thinking along the same lines but for a different reason. I would like a little more room for both the driver's and passenger's seat and I don't want to give up my "5". I am waiting until I put a planned 2.5" lift on it to see if I can make some room to either "shrink" the wheel-wells or at least remove a few inches behind the seats. I think the roll bar is going to take some persuading as well. Not sure how it will turn out but at a barely comfortable 5'10", I understand your pain.

 

[BajaEdition]

we have a thread that has some pictures of the cut the wheel well thread, it actually comes out real sweet if you can weld decent. I am sure we will get the thread found when someone decides to search for it but as of now I am up way to late.

 

[mustangduane]

Ok, the jeep has a 4" susp lift and 1" body lift with 35x12.5 boggers. I dont care about resale, I got the Jeep for a song and dance, making it priceless. I plan on keeping it, so if I set it up specifically for my tall self, then thats OK
I am handy, but not a great welder. I do have some friends with some talent that I can ring up for a favor.
Based on the rub marks from some agressive wheeling with little air pressure, I believe theres a couple of inches of wiggle room to cut out and replace in the inner fender.
Couldnt find another thread on this, would love to see some pics if it done!
Thanks!
Duane

 

[CJ]

http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f7/cj-7-seats-731/

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