Infant and toddler seats in a TJ?

bjlasota

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2020
Messages
4
Location
Bridgman, MI
I'm going to be parting with my WK soon for a truck that can better handle our camper. But I want to stay with the Jeep family so I'm shopping around for a TJ. My question is, I have a 3 year old in a rear facing that'll soon be switched over to forward. I have an infant on the way in about 3 weeks that will also be in a rear facing. I'm pretty short, 5'6", so i'm not too concerned about me fitting with the carseats, more concerned about the carseats fitting at all. If you have experience with 1 or both of these specific seats in your TJ, let me know what you thoughts are on them.

Graco 4Ever 4-in-1
Chicco Keyfit 30
 
I've used a Britax rear-facing infant seat in my TJ. I had the base installed in the back on the passenger side. With a hard top on or soft top up, the seat clipping into the base with him already buckled in was very helpful. I imagine it'd be very difficult to get a child buckled into an installed seat. I don't know how comfortable riding in the passenger seat would be as we never tried it. It was only used to pickup our son from daycare occasionally so it was just him and myself in the TJ.

I had the base installed with the seat belt but I think newer TJs have LATCH anchors in the rear. I think the cover on the rear seat of my is interfering with them though.
 
I have a Graco in mine, my 4y/o is lanky and fits fine. Seat is behind passenger seat, wife scoots up a alittle to give lurch some extra space, but they fit fine. I can't say how they fit rear facing though.
 
I have the Graco 4ever in two other cars and a very similar Graco model in my Jeep
20200625_065657.jpg
. It will not fit rear facing without the seat nearly all the way forward. Forward facing, it fits just fine. So much easier to load them in from the rear, though.
 
I've used a Britax rear-facing infant seat in my TJ. I had the base installed in the back on the passenger side. With a hard top on or soft top up, the seat clipping into the base with him already buckled in was very helpful. I imagine it'd be very difficult to get a child buckled into an installed seat. I don't know how comfortable riding in the passenger seat would be as we never tried it. It was only used to pickup our son from daycare occasionally so it was just him and myself in the TJ.

I had the base installed with the seat belt but I think newer TJs have LATCH anchors in the rear. I think the cover on the rear seat of my is interfering with them though.

Thanks. Wife is short too so she will be able to scoot the seat up. I think buckling the infant in and placing the seat on the base should be quite easy. Mine will be the same too though. Just dropping kids off and picking up at daycare. We may take a family cruise down the beach, but that won't happen too often.
 
I have a Graco in mine, my 4y/o is lanky and fits fine. Seat is behind passenger seat, wife scoots up a alittle to give lurch some extra space, but they fit fine. I can't say how they fit rear facing though.

That's what I'm thinking with my kids. Infant will probably go behind passenger since it sticks out a little more. Front facing 3yo will probably go behind me.
 
I have the Graco 4ever in two other cars and a very similar Graco model in my JeepView attachment 172036. It will not fit rear facing without the seat nearly all the way forward. Forward facing, it fits just fine. So much easier to load them in from the rear, though.

Good to know on the Graco. We probably won't have another 4Ever for a year or so, then I'll have to figure something else out.
 
I have an 16 mo old.

-03+ have LATCH. You don't need an 03+ but 03+ seats.
-Rear facing with a travel works if you have a short spouse
-Rear facing with a convertible seat (one of those that configures over time...) doesn't work. I'd get a LJ maybe.
-Front facing will work
-Loading through the side door and back works okay. I am 6' and can overhead press 135 so the weight / size isn't an issue even lifted
-It would suck to load / unload with a DD. I wouldn't do it.

Currently, daughter doesn't ride until she goes front facing next year. Seat simply doesn't fit.
 
gotta love the TJ for rear facing infant seats. Literally throw them in through the back. I always had other moms at daycare look at me like how the hell did he get him buttoned up so fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
Hello from St Joseph! By the way "LJ" means a TJ Unlimited ("L" as in "long") which if you didn't know has a longer wheelbase and more room in the back. Not to be confused with the new Wrangler JL 🙂
 
2000 TJ, so no latch system. We used the Chicco Keyfit system for a little while in rear facing mode. We now use the Chicco Myfit forward facing. Both were placed it in the middle of the rear seat with the seatbelts cross fed through the seat or base. The extra room between the front seats was needed for the rear facing, and is still nice with the front facing. Kiddo crawls in and plops down in her seat on her own. I have plenty of reach to buckle her, but it’s a stretch for momma. I replaced the bolt holding the rear seatbelt latches on the floor with a racing restraint eyebolt (not a hardware store eyebolt) to attach the top strap.

We like the extra protection factor of the center position, but it won’t work with more than one seat. Kiddo loves it and can often be heard asking to go for a Jeep ride.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
We have two boys and have run infant, baby, and booster seats. Literally brought our youngest home from the hospital in the TJ. We had a Graco infant/pumpkin seat behind the passenger side with the seat pulled forward. It was tight. When they were older, we upgraded to the Graco Nautilus for one of them and an Evenflo (can't remember which one) convertible seat. They're both in the booster part now, so there is more room, but I still pull my seat up for the older one. He has room, but I don't want him to be uncomfortable.
 
2000 TJ, so no latch system. We used the Chicco Keyfit system for a little while in rear facing mode. We now use the Chicco Myfit forward facing. Both were placed it in the middle of the rear seat with the seatbelts cross fed through the seat or base. The extra room between the front seats was needed for the rear facing, and is still nice with the front facing. Kiddo crawls in and plops down in her seat on her own. I have plenty of reach to buckle her, but it’s a stretch for momma. I replaced the bolt holding the rear seatbelt latches on the floor with a racing restraint eyebolt (not a hardware store eyebolt) to attach the top strap.

We like the extra protection factor of the center position, but it won’t work with more than one seat. Kiddo loves it and can often be heard asking to go for a Jeep ride.

Hi I'm new. How did you get the seat in the middle? My TJ just has a belt w/ shoulder strap on each side but nothing in the middle. I have a bigger 7 year old but still too small to go without a booster and I'm having a hell of a time finding the safest option for her.
 
Use both rear seat belts. Cross feed them through where the single belt normally goes to secure the child seat. Snap the left side belt into the right side buckle and the right side belt into the left side buckle. Tighten them up so the lap portion firmly holds the child seat in place and secure the shoulder portion of the belt in the clip on the child seat. The unsecured excess shoulder strap will flap a bit In the wind, but the lap portion which does the work stays tight.
 
Hi I'm new. How did you get the seat in the middle? My TJ just has a belt w/ shoulder strap on each side but nothing in the middle. I have a bigger 7 year old but still too small to go without a booster and I'm having a hell of a time finding the safest option for her.

I think the safest option with a booster is a high back booster (to give a headrest) or the Bestop rear seat replacement, which also has headrests.
 
I have a 5 year old and 2 year old boys, and have been putting them both in the TJ since the 2 year old was born. They should fit no problem side by side.

When the young one was rear facing, I put him on the passenger side because it did eat up some legroom in the front and my knees would touch the dash when using the clutch and brake.

backseat2.png


I would recommend a 2003 or later as they had the LATCH system which makes for a more convenient and secure method of installing the car seats. Otherwise you're just cinching the vehicle seatbelt down as tight as you can manage and it works loose on rougher terrain and just never gets as tight to begin with.
 
I have latch on my 03, I can’t remember what seat I had but it worked good and he was safe. I’d keep a helmet on him when out on trails so he wouldn’t bang his head off the cage or soft top channel when he’d fall asleep. I don’t have any pics of 2 in the jeep but I’ve done it and they fit fine

68A16A16-0B74-4A72-9001-461D85527417.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
I have latch on my 03, I can’t remember what seat I had but it worked good and he was safe. I’d keep a helmet on him when out on trails so he wouldn’t bang his head off the cage or soft top channel when he’d fall asleep. I don’t have any pics of 2 in the jeep but I’ve done it and they fit fine

View attachment 177293

I love how proper he is sitting! My son loves wheeling from his 1st trip - we will be doing more once I decide how I want to redo the back seat since he moved to a booster (PRP/Bestop/highback booster)