Jeep XJ Cherokee Front Seat Tilt Lever Fix

What You Will Need

• 1/2 " Socket
• Flat Head Screwdriver
• Small Flat Head Screwdriver
• Phillips Head Screwdriver
• Ratchet
• Pliers
• Wire Cutters
• Zip Ties

Jeep XJ Cherokee Front Seat Tilt Lever Fix

When I purchased my 1994 Jeep XJ Cherokee, the front passenger seat tilting lever wasn't working at all and being that this vehicle was a 2-door, getting my son in and out of the rear seat wasn't going to be an easy task unless I got it fixed. Now, I should mention that I've had a similar problem happen once before on my TJ and in that case, it turned out to be a broken cable. However, once I took apart the upholstery, I found that the cable on this seat had simply stretched out over time preventing enough leverage to release the latch. So, this fix turned out to be super simple and cheap too.

If you are experiencing similar problems with your XJ seats, these are are instructions as to what I did to fix mine.

Instructions


1. Looking under the front of your Jeep Cherokee's seat, locate and carefully pry off the push on fasteners securing the plastic trim to the base frame using a flat head screwdriver.	2. Move to the back side of your your Jeep Cherokee's seat, remove the screw securing the plastic trim from the base frame using a phillips head screwdriver.	3. With the plastic trim out of the way, remove the 4 bolts securing your seat to the floor pan of your Jeep Cherokee. You will need a 1/2 " socket to do this. Then, pull the seat out of your Cherokee.

4. Push back the vinyl upholstery next to the recliner lever in order to expose the plastic locking tab holding it in place. Carefully lift up this tab with a small flat head screwdriver and pull the plastic lever off.	5. If your Jeep Cherokee's seat still has a plastic bezel around the tilt lever, remove it at this time using a phillips screwdriver.	6. Turn your seat around and locate the spring loaded latch locking the upright section of your Jeep Cherokee's seat-back to the base. Using a flat head screwdriver, push this latch to the side releasing its lock and then tilt your seat into the forward position.

7. With the upright section of your Jeep Cherokee's seat-back tilted forward, you should now be able to un-velcro the base of the upholstery.	8. Carefully and completely pull the upholstery. up and off the upper portion of your Jeep Cherokee's seat-back.	9. This is what your Jeep Cherokee's seat should now look like. You now have access to the tilt lever cable.
	10. Because my seat-back tilting cable wasn't broken, I determined that it just needed to be more rigid in place in order for it to have enough leverage to release the locking latch. So, I used a set of zip-ties to secure the cable to the side of the seat-back frame.

11. For extra support, I also secured the seat-back tilting cable to the base of the frame.	12. Here's a shot of all the zip-tie points I used to secure the cable in place.	13. Trim the excess zip-ties, re-assemble your seat upholstery and re-install it back into your Jeep Cherokee.
That's it, your seat should tilt forward again and without any problems. Please email me with any questions you might have.