The Beast came with a broken driver's seat.

Honestly, I have a hard time imagining how it got that way... it was as if somebody had swung from the roll bar and kicked the top of the seat back with all his strength. The part you sit on was all right, but from the shoulder blades up it just flopped back like it was on hinges.

My first thought was just to replace all the Beast's seats as part of a general upgrade to the vehicle. Then I priced them out... no, thanks! My compromise was to replace the driver's seat, and then put new waterproof covers on the ratty remaining seats to pretty them up and protect passengers' clothes from all the ground-in dirt.

My choice was the Bestop 3933437 TrailMax Vinyl Front High Back Seat. Bestop advertises it as their bottom-end, better-than-factory replacement, and I really have to agree. I had the seat out of the box and fully installed in about 20 minutes, and it's noticably comfier than the old one (from the shoulders down, I mean). The vinyl is mostly waterproof, wipes off with a damp sponge, and will probably last longer than the Beast does.

Incidentally, this seat is pre-drilled about six different ways, so it's compatible with most Wrangler-type Jeep models from years 1976 through 2002.