Introduction

So, you want to know how to fit seat swivels in your camper van?

Particularly with smaller vans, being able to swivel the front cab seats round so that they face the living space makes a big difference.  It gives you way more living space and makes having a few mates round for a beer and food loads more sociable and comfy.

Vans seldom come with pre-fitted swivels so you either need to find one where someone has done the work or look to fit swivels yourself.

Fitting a Swivel Seat in a Campervan (You can Buy Seat Swivels here)

It's generally a pretty easy job to fit a seat swivel - they usually consist of two plates of metal on-top of each other - the bottom plate stays fixed to the base of the seat (i.e. the box mounted on the floor of the van), while the top plate is fixed to the bottom of the actual chair (or more acurately to the sliding runners on the bottom of the chair). You pull a handle to unlock the plates and the top one swivels around - easy. All you often need to do is unbolt the seat from its base, bolt the swivel onto the base instead, then bolt the seat onto the swivel.

1998 Transit Van Seat Swivel (swivels for most vans available from our online shop)

Handbrakes and Seat Swivels: The main complication I've come across with fitting seat swivels in campervan conversion projects, is that the handbrake can get in the way. When fitting a seat swivel to a Volkswagen Transporter T5, you have to mount the handbrake on the floor instead of on the side of the seat (a kit comes with the swivel - consisting mainly of a bolt on bracket).  Once the handbrake is mounted lower down it means you have to reach down slightly when putting the handbrake on but its not a big issue. The main difficulty with this is actually that you need to tighten the slack created in the handbrake cable up - fairly easy to do lying on your back under the van, but get a garage to do it if you're unsure.  Once you've move the handbrake you'll also find you need to modify some of the plastic seat trim - just take your time, use a sharp knife (or saw if you take the trim off), and try to make a neat job of it!

Seat runners and seat swivels: On some makes of van (e.g. seat swivels for Scudo, Boxer, Ducato, Relay) the seat runners need to be modified slightly in order to allow the seat to swivel.  The seat runners usually bend over the front of the seat base and are bolted there with horizontal bolts.  If you didn't modify these runners then once you put the seat swivel ontop of the seat base you have two problems - one is how to bolt the front of the runners to the seat swivel plate, the other is that the bent over flanges of the runners now hang over the swivel preventing it from turning.  The solution is fairly simple - use a hacksaw to cut off the bent over part at the front of the seat runners; then drill new bolt holes through the seat runners (make sure the holes you drill line up with the holes in the seat swivel).

Seat swivels for bench passenger seats - I looked long and hard for one of these, but failed to find one.  For the adventurous out there it may be possible to use a swivel mechanism from somewhere else - for instance one of our users has said "My 1996 nissan serena (Jap import) has a double swivel seat in the second row of seats you have the option side facing rear facing or front facing, you could look for one of these in a scrap-yard".   There may just not be sufficient space in the front to allow the bench seat to swivel though.  Let me know if you know different (info@campervanconversion.co.uk).  It's a good reason to buy a van with a single passenger seat instead of a double bench.  Otherwise you have to buy a single passenger seat and sell the bench - sometimes easier said than done!  We hope to be selling single seats on here soon - drop us a line if you're interested.

Questions

Q: How important is having a single passenger seat and fitting swivels?

A: I would say "very" as it makes for a much better campervan - However it does depend on what you will be using your van for and I know it is generally much easier to get vans with a bench passenger seat than a single.  There are single seats out there but you will have to pay for them (make sure you get the right one for your model and age of van as they are not always compatible between upgrades of the same van).  If you are planning to go travelling and "live" in your campervan for any length of time I think the swivels seats are essential as they really maximise your space.  The single seats also give a much better ride for you and your passenger.

Q: Where can I buy seat swivels?

A: You can buy seat swivels on this site!