Swivel seats are an essential addition to a van to create a flexible living area.
In some van layouts it may be the best way to provide a seating area
with nice elbow and leg room, especially when a fixed bed fully occupies
the back of the van. In this van though, since there is a 'dining area'
with large benches, swivel seats could have been skipped.
However, for many outdoor activities a prep area
is needed to pack up gear and, at the end of the day, throw wet and
dirty backpacks + gear on the floor to sort / clean things. No way we
are going to do that while standing outside in the rain, cold, or mud
😅 Swivel seats will free up a small prep area right where we enter /
exit via the sliding door.
After
researching a half dozen swivel seat models, the Scopema set was
selected. It is expensive but seems to be one of the most sturdy, quiet
and thin models.
On the driver side, the handrake had to be lowered first. The procedure is explained in great details on the fantastically helpful Far Out Ride site. The red circle in the pic below shows one of the holes previously used by the handbrake before relocation:
Installation was trickier than expected. The seat rails are secured on the base with 4 bolts. But there was up to a 1/4" difference between the 2 front bolts vs the back's, and up to 1/8" from side to side. On both seats. So the holes from the Scopema plates did not properly line up.
It
is not an issue with the plate design. The Ford Transit's seat bases
clearly show an inconsistent alignment of their welded parts. Likely due to a poor welding fixture
setup at the factory. I had to gently bow out the sides with a car jack:
The day the engine battery, housed under the driver seat, needs to be changed, it is going to be a pain to undo / redo all this. Beats me why Ford did not provide easier access, as a battery needs to be replaced regularly... 😡
Anyhoo... and voila, swiveling seats that provide great room to stretch the legs !
Still need to make a new handbrake top cover, since the older one interferes with the now-lowered brake. Might have to 3D print something later...
In retrospect, I wish I had ordered the swivel seats
out of the factory. When tallying up all the costs &
shipment,
it comes out the same. But doing it aftermarket requires days of
work to get a perfect result with: proper clearances, no scratching of
the door's plastics when swiveling, protected wire bundle, new handbrake
cover, proper plate alignment, slide bumpers, protected cable under the
chassis, painted parts, etc. Not worth it. And the factory route guarantees regulatory compliance and no insurance issues. Lesson learned ! 🤔
Comments
Post a Comment