Following everyone's advice and info I bought some factory fog light switches....

And a pic of the lucky contestants for the switch panel... After reading about the Ext Idle feature I decided to install that instead of the spotters....

Thanks guys for all the advice it went easy with the correct info... I ended up painting the backside of the aftermarket rocker so the light didn't bleed through as suggested..

And it's a done deal.. Everything is wired in and I have the trigger wires ready for the relays {which are going to be out in the engine bay.. Thanks again guys for chiming in at the perfect time !!!

 

Before the bucket seats go back in there's something I want to do.. Our new Dodge Ram has heated seats so.. Yep the seat will get some heat !! lol.. The rig will be our wintertime runner and the wife's winter storm commuter so the seats will have heat... I want to keep the new truck from getting all salted up for at least the first few years...Anyhow here's the process:

First the seats get broke down into two pieces..

Here's a pic of the heating grid and it's placement on the back of the seat.. It'll fit right between the seat's listing wires perfectly..

Third is to take apart the plastic seam at the bottom and simply slide the grid up in there...


There's a tape strip on each side.. I peeled the tape after it was in position and it's a done deal.. Yes, it's that easy.. Final step was to cut a small hole for the wire to come through then button it all back up...

 

Wow, this whole thing has been fantastic to watch unfold. Ever thought about installing the ZJ/WJ power leather and heated seats? I did the conversion in my '98 Limited and was pretty easy as my driver's seat was full power already. I just left the passenger seat manual except wired in the power recliner. I didn't hook up the heated seats as I heard there were fuse blowing issues . . . seems like you'd be pretty capable of overcoming that though . . . Anyway, great job!

 

Thanks !! I was watching for some nice ZJ/WJ seats during my boneyard runs but I just didn't come across any that were nice enough.. And the one's that probably were had been snagged already.. I've read up on the factory heated seats and guys trying to retrofit them... Seems like more trouble than it's worth considering how easy these aftermarket kits appear to be.. I'll post some more details as I go..

 

The bottom upholstery is a touch more involved so I'll show just what needed to be done for anyone thinking about adding the aftermarket heated seat kit..First up is to remove the seat bottom upholstery... There's 4 listing wires held on by 2 hog rings each listing.. It basically forms a square...You need to remove all the hog rings and separate the upholstery from the foam...Here's a pic of the listing wires on the upholstery...

Next step is to lay the heating grid on the foam..I only needed to make one cut for the center listing wire...After the cut it was placed on the foam and fastend down using the grid's tape strips on each side.. The kit also has extra cloth tape so you can tape the exposed metal grid around the hole you cut...


Next step is to reattach the listing wires with hog rings just as the factory did... For anyone not familiar with the hog rings here's a pic of some hog rings and my ancient hog ring pliers I've had forever.. I've reupholstered many seats with this....

The factory foam has wire in it to hold the listing wires in place.. Here's a pic of the hog rings in place on one side..​​​​​​​You put the hog ring in the plyers and simply squeeze the ring...It will close around the two wires {foam wire and upholstery listing wire} Attach the listing wire to the foam in the same spot as the factory did. There's even slots in the foam to show where to attach..

One other piece of advice.. Turn the upholstery inside out so the sides are straight up to aid with the listing wire attachment..

 

Fold the sides down and reattach.. And it's a done deal...

The heating grid wires come out the back, bottom to the connectors in the carpet...

 

OK... Did anyone catch what I did ?? Time to fess up and show what I did.. I wasn't sure I could do this but it worked just fine until I find another bottom upholstery to work with...
Even though the jeep has only 67,000 miles on it the seat bottom suffered from what they all do and the vinyl side skirt had seen it's better days....

I was going to have this replaced and reinstall it until I seen the small hole in the center of the cushion from smokey the bear {my mom} dropping the cigarette on it...And that left me with nothing to use... After many boneyard runs I've not found one to even attempt to use from the driver's side... But I did get a perfect PASSENGER side... Yep, I installed a passenger side bottom upholstery on the drivers foam...
So I've got the soft skirt out and the vinyl skirt twards the console now..... So I spent $5 on the seat bottom and got my problem solved for the time being.. Hopefully I'll come across at least a donor seat bottom that I can repair the always ripped vinyl side skirt and have it done correctly... It'll be interesting to see just how this works out in the long run... But for now problem solved !!

 

Nice job on the seats.
I bought a hog ring kit too and after that read where some guy said just use zip ties.
Wish I had thought of that first. LOL.
I did the same thing with the first sets of Camel leather seats in my '00.
Had two sets and turned a passenger seat into a driver's seat too.
Back cover swaps no problem.
Bottom as you pointed out needs a little "tweaking". LOL.

In my case my seat covers hide the carpet being on the outside.
You might want to check this out. Not cheap though.

https://leather-auto-seats.com/produ...tom-dark-gray/

Also wondering about how well it would match.
I saw some Camel leather seats on the marketplace once.
The bottoms were in excellent shape but it was very obvious that they did not match the backs.
I mean stood out like a sore thumb did not match.
Now I assumed that covers from Richmond were used. To the best of my knowledge they are the only guys making them.
Now was it that they really did not match? Would have matched if the backs hadn't seen 20 years of light exposure and wear?
Just something to keep in mind if you try this.

 

Hey Ralph thanks for the link.. I tried to get the factory replacement and although the pics for the part number are still active on the mopar parts sites, I couldn't find anyone that could get their hands on one...I'll probably order one of those and see if it matches... Some of these manufacturers buy the NOS cloth material on rolls from mopar and if that's the case it should match... Until you have an upholstery shop fix an old cushion up, you'll be halfway to the new one anyhow..
I'm going to snag a perfect seat back from the boneyard and possibly another passenger side bottom just to have... It seems the jeeps are starting to dry up compared to even a few years ago and I want some future options..

 

There's a few different aftermarket switches available with the heated seat kits...Round,rectangle, dual integrated, etc... And then there's the problem of where to put the switches...I was looking at the factory heated seat location but most aftermarket switches are too big to modify the factory piece...

So I had to come up with a plan.. Looks like a standard ash tray...

Until you open the lid... Now I won't be worried about accidently bumping the switches...

 

Center console is going back in... Heated seat switch panel is installed... I repurposed the back ashtray as well...Two USB ports for the head unit.. One is android and one is I phone so either one can be used as the interface to the unit..

 

That is pretty cool.
My buddy in Norway tried to use factory switches with aftermarket heating pads.
Said it could not be done.
So modified the switch bezel and came up with this.

 

Thanks Ralph.. I looked long and hard at adding the factory pieces for the heated seats.. It's just not cost effective when an aftermarket kit is available... The only drawback for me was the switch location...I didn't want to buy the factory console piece and find out the style I bought won't work.. I seen those round switches, they look good in there.. With the location of the switch panel I can see myself spilling something and filling that up or hitting the switches and not knowing it's on......So the lid is a good idea for me...

 

Next phase of the wiring is adding some relays.. So I have rock lights, the extended idle circuit, auxiliary back up lights, and the headlight relays{which is coming up next so stay tuned}.. That's a bunch of relays to find a home.. The solution for me is these pieces from Online LED .. I bought their fuse/relay waterproof box and their waterproof distribution block..

 

Here's the real world pics of the boxes in process.. Looks simple, in reality it's a bunch of work !! Cutting, crimping, and engineering just what needs to happen.. The boxes themselves are well made and a good investment..
First up is a pic of the distribution box.. It comes with a short {about a foot} 4 gauge cable but I need to go longer.. As in across to the other side of the engine bay to find room... Anyhow here's the front and back of the box..


It came with extra green seals and terminals for future change-outs which I thought was nice.. I used 12 gauge wire from this box to the relay/fuse box... Before buttoning it up I added some terminal corrosion prevention just to keep it fresh.. EDIT: The two "extra" hot wires using the 4 gauge terminal are for the heated seats.. I needed two 15 amp leads and the kickpanel fusebox wasn't doing it for me..

So that give me the 6 positive leads for the 6 fuses/relays in the other box.. Moving on to that box, one of the fuses will be unused because the extended idle relay is a ground circuit relay..The rest at this point will be positive relays with varied size fuses for their respective circuits... Here's one of the box in process..from the bottom so you can see how it's sealed.. I'm in deep with the wiring...lol...