Rear seat won't latch upright

J

JonB

New Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2020
Messages
12
Location
Florida
Hi All,

My first “It’s a Jeep thing” happened. My drivers side rear seat will not latch back in the upwards position on a JKU. I tore it down to the metal and the wire is still attached from the plastic latch at the top. It’s also attached at the bottom.
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It seems as though the j bracket is not engaging at the bottom to secure it. Anyone have any thoughts?
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I have made sure the seat was all the way down before going back up.

One thing I find different between the one that works and the one that doesn’t is the cable has slack in it at the top


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Any recommendations?
 
I haven't taken my seat apart like this before, but given that the cable has slack like that, it seems to suggest that it's broken.

Have you inspected that cable to see if when you pull the latch it actually pulls the hook at the bottom? My guess is it's detached on that side entirely.
 
I took needle nose plyers at each end and tried to move the cable. Didn’t seem like it’s broke as I couldn’t move it. It’s still attached at the bottom and top
 
What year is your JKU? On my 2008 JKU I have a cloth like loop on the seat back that I pull to release my latch, it pulls easy and when I release the loop it latches.
 
Ok think I found what’s going on but can’t figure out how to fix. The j hook moves on working seat and is stuck in the up position on the one that doesn’t. Trying to not manhandle and break anything. I’ve lubed it up and will keep tinkering.
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JonB said:
Well this was it. Combination of lube and taking plyers and physically moving it. Thank you everyone for your help.
Click to expand...

Thanks for updating us!

That was my second guess. I assumed at first that the cable was detached at one end or broken in the middle. Sounds like all it needed though was some lube and finesse.

Glad you got it fixed.

How easy was it to take the seats down to the metal frame?
 
Wasn’t hard, just time consuming.
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At the bottom of the back of the seat there’s this plastic clip that you have to detach
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Then you have to find the zipper. It’s on the side between the seat and the wheel well. Have to use pliers to coax it out from behind the cable.
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Then there’s two clips attaching the foam to the metal on the seat. One at the top and bottomCoincidentally they have 7 vertical openings like the grill.
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Then you just ease up the leather or cloth over it, but you have to stop in the middle as there’s a bracket connecting the seat to the foam.
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Then just ease it up over where the headrest connect.

While I took it apart to diagnose, all you really have to do is unbolt the seats from the floor to have access to the part that was in need of some Ky.

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That's kinda what I thought it might be was just a little rusty from looking at the metal around it. Like Chris said thanks for updating this easy fix once it was figured out.
 
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