Tilt Adjustable Headrest: 2-Way vs. 4-Way

[Kamuelaflyer]

They have now removed the temporary spares from the trucks too. No jack either. Ridiculous.

Damn. The only vehicles I've had flats in during the past 6 years have been pickups. The automotive industry has apparently reached a state of hypernormalization, where we are expected to believe that a pickup truck without a spare tire is actually an 'eco-friendly weight-saving feature'. Feature Deprivation Engineering is king.

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[NY_Cade69]

But they'll include it as part of a $1500 option package...

 

[RickMachE]

 

[dan_meh]

When I got my 2024 Premium I found the 2-way (up/down) headrests to be somewhat uncomfortable and wanted to swap in the 4-way (up/down + tilt) from the earlier models. There's a lot of good information on this forum about that already but also a little bit of confusion. I'm sharing what I learned doing the replacement in the hope that it helps others.

The range the 4-way covers is quite broad from very far rearward of the 2-way to slightly forward. The 2-way is not the farthest forward position of the 4-way in neither placement nor angle. I used the passenger seat as a phone holder to keep my camera steady so I could take a set of pictures to overlay the 2-way with the maximum extents of the 4-way along with my preferred position somewhere in the middle. My driving position closely matches the angle of the 2-way but in a slightly more car rearward position.

There's more about the 4-way that affects overall comfort than just the position. I disassembled each of the headrests. The 2-way uses a single density of foam molded directly onto the support bar. The 4-way has a softer foam inset into the more dense foam. This cushion is then installed on top of the tilt mechanism. Overall this setup has much greater plushness.

The trim covers on 2021-2022 have perforations while 2023 does not. As far as I can tell they both use the same service part number. I bought mine used on eBay. The listing used LJ8Z-58611A08-AD as the part number. One of them came with a badly bent support rod, so I bought another from an earlier model with the perforated trim and swapped the covers.
The same headrest fits both driver and passenger side. Be sure to replace both sides as the stitching pattern is different between the 2-way and 4-way. While I was waiting for the 3rd headrest to arrive I drove around for a while with the 4-way on the driver side and 2-way on the passenger side, and it looked a little strange.

If you buy used, be sure to check the year of the donor vehicle and decide if you'd like it with or without perforations. I picked a 2023 model donor without perforations to match the rear seats.

This part number is available to order new from Ford as a service part. I'm not sure if that would come with or without perforations. Their listed vehicle fitment years do not align with what the cars came with from the factory. I'm not sure if this is an error or an endorsement of replacing them as an upgrade.

Very helpful, thank you. I always appreciate people’s experiences. I can look up how to do something, but I like to know if it’s worth it. And the tips are great.

I’ve been looking for little improvements like this. My wife hates the headrest (it suits me better) so I’m going to put in new headrests, now that I know it’s this easy.

 

[NY_Cade69]

After looking at the multi pic, I was hoping for more range, like my favourite MB headrests. I like them more nearer the base of my head, so the newer headrests appear to provide that better.
But this thread was great in making the distinction clear!

 

[MachScott]

So after reading through this post I decided to swap out the 2 way headrests that came standard on my 2024 MME Premium with 4 way ones.

I ended up ordering ones off of eBay for a decent price that are black with white stitching and are perforated on the front. I should receive them on Saturday, Aug 1st.

Below is some information about possible part numbers for different headrests available for the MME that I found with my online searching. While I have tried to make sure these are correct if anyone is going to buy anything using this information it is up to them to double check with other sources that the part numbers and the headrests attached to them are correct.

LJ8Z-58611A08-AE this seem to be the ones I bought off of eBay. Black perforated cover with white stitching and are 4 way ones.

These seem to be in short supply online from Ford parts retailers with many indicating no stock.

LJ8Z-58611A08-AD this seems to be a light gray perforated cover headrest with dark stitching. I believe these are 4 way also. These seem to be freely available online.

LJ8Z-58611A08-AC this seems to be a black perforated cover with red stitching. I believe it is a 4 way headrest that was only used on 21 MME First Editions. This seems freely available online.

One poster mentioned his 25 MME Premium with the performance appearance package had a 2 way headrest with red stitching. Maybe this might be a possible replacement. @NY_Cade69

LJ8Z-58611A08-AB this is a black 2-way headrest with white stitching and no perforations. Freely available online and many available on eBay.

All of the headrests listed above should physically fit all of the 21 to 26 Selects and Premiums I believe. The ones with perforations are 4 way and the ones without perforations are 2 way. The 23 Premiums had a non perforated headrest that the OP indicated was 4 way but I could not find a part number for this.

LK9Z-58611A08-AD this is a headrest from the 21 to 23 MME GT non-performance edition seats. I believe it is a non perforated black cover 4 way headrest with copper colored stitching. It seems available online.

I do not know if this headrest would fit a Premium or Select model. It would be interesting to find out if it would fit a Select or Premium from someone who has access to both MME types. I would think if the perforated black headrests with white stitching became unavailable (again they seem in short supply) this is what I would have gone with if I knew it would fit my Premium.

Attached are some photos from eBay screenshots that show the various headrests. You can see the amount of adjustment available on the 4 way units by the slots in the headrest cover.

Unfortunately the part descriptions do not for sure indicate which are 2 way and which are 4 way headrests, I am making some assumptions in this but I believe what I posted above is correct.

Anyone feel free to correct any of the above info if they see errors.

 

[NY_Cade69]

Thanks @MachScott!
I knew the red ones were out in the wild, but had no part number!

 

[MaybeEVconvert]

Many thanks @turtle019 and @MachScott !!

I have been swearing with increasing saltiness at my 0-way headrests since I got my 25 Premium. Now I have excellent info re: options.

 

[MachScott]

I received the headrests I ordered from ebay (black cover with white stitching and perforations on the front) and I definitely prefer them over the ones that came with my 2024 premium. They can adjust a couple of inches further back as @turtle019 ’s photo shows very well. So now my head doesn’t have to be touching the headrest constantly.

I wanted to make my headrest list complete by including one more.

LJ8Z-58611A08-AF is a black cover headrest with perforations and grabber blue stitching which was used on some 2021 models. I believe it is a 4 way headrest.

So essentially all of the headrests with perforations on the front seem to be 4 way headrests.

The exceptions to this seem to be as follows.

1. The headrests that came with 2023 premiums (both light gray and black) were 4 way according to the OP and not perforated. I could not find a part number for these but they could be available used as the OP obtained them.

2. The headrest in my post above for non-performance edition 21-23 GTs had no perforations and was black with copper stitching along with being 4 way. Still not sure if this one will fit Selects and Premiums but I suspect it might.

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