Reproduction rear seat...

[1955CJ-5]

Well, I won't make any judgement, now that I've cooled a bit....

I drilled the repro seat frame so I can attach the cushions and covers from Beachwood..

When I turned the frame over to drill the bottom pan this is what came out....

At least there wasn't anything swimming, that I saw.....

[F Bill]

Yecch.. get some Ospho in there....and then some sort of rust preventative coating.

Moisture could have come from anywhere between here and the Philippines....It may even have been condensation.

[1955CJ-5]

It's possible that it is condensation....but there sure was a lot of it. I've turned it over and over fitting it to the jeep, and nothing leaked out, so it was sealed up in there until I drilled the screw holes....I know it's humid in the Philippines, but really, there isn't that much air space in that seat frame..

I need to find a local source for Ospho.....

[garage gnome]

Drink up! 

[1955CJ-5]

I'm going to put some in a Petri dish and see what grows or hatches.....

[SteveW]

Ace hardware carries Ospho. They also carry an inferior green product which no one should buy.

[1955CJ-5]

There is an Ace not far from here...I'll give them a try....Thanks Steve...

[1955CJ-5]

I got it put together....It looks nice enough.

There was an original rear seat on ebay...it went for $565 plus over $100 shipping....that made my repro look even better!

[JohnR]

Very nice job!

[athawk11]

Aside from the leaky pipes, as always, your work is impeccable.� I have often been shocked at the cost of an original rear seat. Again, I always go back to my argument that I would have a $700.00 seat in an $800.00 Willys.

Did you end up treating the inside of the tubes with something?

Tim

[1955CJ-5]

Thanks Tim,

I used some SEM rust converter. I taped all but one of the holes and I filled a glue syringe several times with the SEM and "injected" it. Sloshed it around, blew air through it to help dry it....and after a few days I put it together.....

There is a fellow over on the 2a forum who also just bought a repro seat....I'll be curious to see if he comments on finding water...

Randy

[macrisel]

I have been watching this thread pretty close.  I have been on the lookout for a back seat for some time with no luck.  I cringe at the idea of spending that kind of money for a repro seat frame, but then again my girls are getting tired of sitting on the floor in the back......

Has anyone heard from MD Juan on any corrections/improvements they may make to these seats?

[1955CJ-5]

Hi Mark,

This is supposed to be the "new" CJ-3a seat. It seems solid enough and with just a little tweak here and there it fits well enough. I didn't make the cutouts for the spring clips until I had the seat and could use it as a pattern. So if you have original cutouts I can sure measure mine to see if the seat frame will fit.

Your soldering iron technique for punching screw holes worked perfectly again!

The water thing may have just been bad luck. I've not seen any other comments on it. They did have a typhoon not too long ago.....

I did reinforce the front leg tabs as the bend looked pretty weak..

[Ryan_M]

Randy - The seat looks great. Nice work, as always.

Mark - I bought a complete original one on ebay last year for $250.  I was willing to pay much more but luckily the auction ended without a brutal bidding war.

A friend in town here bought a 3A seat frame from another local this past summer for $50. It had been hanging in his garage for 30 years.

Affordable original seats are still out there you just need to keep the radar on at all times. If the correct repros were available when I was shopping I probably would have thrown in the towel earlier and bought one of them too. "Way back then" there were no other options aside from a 2A style seat so I had to sniff out an original.

[1955CJ-5]

I bid on that ebay seat that ended recently...I figured I'd use the repro in the CJ-5 with a little modification..but the bidding went nuts in the last minute...

I'll still watch for a seat, along with a PTO pulley, winch, top, and...

What am I forgetting?

Another jeep?