Heated Seat Kit Ordered on Ebay today

[rirrgang]

It's been cold around hear lately which got me interested in heated seats. I bought a factory kit for the JK on eBay today. Anyone here bought and installed them? Any tricks or tips to share?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

[redrockin7]

heat seats installed

[rirrgang]

Yep, saw that but no mention of how easy or how hard the kit was to install. I was hoping by starting a new thread someone that installed them might chime in. Thanks to the link to that post however.

[SaharaBlackNo1]

There's a thread over on JK-Forum in the write up section. Looks very straight forward and easy and sealed the deal for me on getting a set for myself. This week I'm installing the Katzkins so it'll be a 2 birds with one stone situation as far as the heated seats go.

[versoel]

http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=39723

[rirrgang]

Thanks, I've book marked the post and will use it when my heaters show up. Looks pretty straight forward. Patience will be key I think.

[ge2]

I've done them while installing katzkins, on two previous rides. While I did everything except hook up the electrical, the install is very straightforward. If you're installing under the stock seat covers, then try to undo only one side of the hogrings, if you can get away with it. You can replace the hog rings with regular zipties, but I've hear that if you're not careful with how you position the ties, they can work themselves into a position where they can poke you through the seat cover.

And for those doing the full katzkin cover--- if its your first time, watch the dvd first. It helps a lot to see other folks do it. Prepare for bloody knuckles and sore hands-- but the end result is WAY worth it.

Here is a vid that a good buddy of mine did for an episode of Motorz.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Katzkin-Leather-Interior_199018.htm

[rirrgang]

Am I to assume that the electrical connections are plug and play and buried somewhere that is accessible?

[liquids]

Just did mine Saturday. Took me all day.

Issues and findings:
- Seat bolts are torqued down WAY more than 61 N*m (as noted in another thread) plus the ends are exposed to the elements under the vehicle. I broke my 18mm socket and borked my ratchet. Had to go to Sears to replace them (free, of course ... gotta love Sears).
- The seat belt bolts are torx 45, not torx 50 like the instructions say.
- The seat leveler bolt is torx 40, not torx 50.
- Zip ties sound like a great replacement for the hog rings, in which case you can remove as many of the originals as you can bear. It'll give you more room to place the sticky foam pad accurately.
- Taping the connector ends of the foam pad wires will help them make it through the very narrow gap between the seat and back without snagging. For that matter, taping your fingernails will help keep your cuticles attached while trying to push the connectors through. ouch
- The seat back fabric interlocks at the bottom via two j-shaped edges. These will be hard to separate and re-attach.
- The instructions don't say it (searched this forum and found it) but the center dash top panel pries up from the back (two tabs), then pulls off toward you.
- Removing the torx 30 bolts at the front of the side tunnel trim should be enough to fold back the carpet.
- I could not get the black wiring and connector to fit behind the main center dash panel. They all went got shoved in behind the lower one.

Everything is working as designed.

Another note: I always thought my seat foam was a little lopsided, so I took this opportunity to add some foam underneath it to even things up.

[SaharaBlackNo1]

Great Googly Moogly the bolts for the seats are in tight. I've got PB blaster on them now trying to loosen them up. I'm guessing that the seat removal is the hardest part based on attempting to get them out. lol They definitely aren't torqued down to spec from the factory!

[JK2BJeep3]

I installed the Mopar heated seats myself last week - a few things to note.... Took me 2.5 hours to do the drivers seat. Then came back to it and did the electrical and passenger seat in another 3 or so hours. With larget ratchet, mallet, and WD40, was able to get seat floor bolts undone. I never could get the seat back fabric to reconnect together - oh well. Also, I pulled the hog rings off but didn't bother reconnecting it with straps or hog rings, etc. How far can the fabric really go???

Nice plug'n'play connections but lots of knuckle scraping and a b*tch to get the electrical to fit back there. Everything works great.... except a few days later I undid the dash panel again to install the Uconnect module to the back of the radio (haven't brought it to the dealer yet tho). Now the push button for the passenger heated seat doesn't light up properly - instead of full 6 lights, 4 lights, 2 lights, off, if I push once it goes to full 6 lights, 6 lights, no lights, no lights. However it seems to be operating ok.

[tcc11tcc]

Now I know why I pay people to do things like this. ugh!

[rirrgang]

Originally Posted by tcc11tcc

Now I know why I pay people to do things like this. ugh!

I'm with you most things like this but I'm going to do this job myself. If I can install the tow setup to pull the JK behind the coach, I can certainly install bun warmers.

[SaharaBlackNo1]

So where did everyone who did the swap end up putting the black rubber plug with all the connections? I've got mine all wired up and sitting in the area behind where the heated seat control buttons are (right below hazards, lockers, etc), but haven't yet put the panel on. I got the bright idea to pull the sides of the dash and the console to paint the light grey parts black so I'm waiting on them to dry before reinstalling everything.

Anyway, seems like it'll be a tight fit, and there was no way it was all fitting up above that where the lighter plugs are.

[JK2BJeep3]

Originally Posted by SaharaBlackNo1

So where did everyone who did the swap end up putting the black rubber plug with all the connections? I've got mine all wired up and sitting in the area behind where the heated seat control buttons are (right below hazards, lockers, etc), but haven't yet put the panel on. I got the bright idea to pull the sides of the dash and the console to paint the light grey parts black so I'm waiting on them to dry before reinstalling everything.

Anyway, seems like it'll be a tight fit, and there was no way it was all fitting up above that where the lighter plugs are.

I first tried placing it at the bottom but couldn't get the panel back on. I think I managed to get it in between the vents, under/behind the window switches, but surely not a comfy feeling slowly shoving everything back into position. Between that and the uconnect behind the radio I just hope nothing's pinched all that much!