Installing the swivel seat(s)
Difficulty:
Labor:
2.5 hours
Cost:
$438.00
We recommend completing the prerequisites before continuing your journey through the steps:
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Be sure you know how high you want your seat heigh as the swivel attachment will add additional height that may make it uncomfortable to drive
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Make sure the swivel adapter is specific to your van make/model (most work with Ford Transits, RAM Promasters, and Mercedes Sprinters)
Safety Tips:
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Be careful when installing as there are manufacturer defects that have sharp edges around and under the seat. We sliced a finger fairly bad underneath the seat when sliding the seat back to get the swivel in place.
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When rotating the swivel, be sure to move it slowly so you don't slam it into the door cubbies.
01
Positioning the seat
Reach underneath the passenger seat, carefully lift the lever, and slide the passenger seat towards the rear of the van.
02
Remove electrical harness
Remove the 7MM hex screw that you'll see in the electrical harness under the seat. Once removed, gently unclip the electrical harness by pulling the clip downward with your hands.
03
Checking the torque
Using your torque wrench, begin to turn the wrench as if you were going to tighten the bolt, but don't actually tighten it. Instead, write down what the torque was at as you'll need this number for the future (you can also look up what your vehicle recommends for the torque on these seat bolts).
04
Removing the front bolts
Loosen and remove the two bolts that are holding the front-to-back slider in place on the base of the front of the passenger seat. Place these bolts somewhere nearby where you will not lose track of them - the front cupholder works great!
05
Re-position the seat
Reach underneath the passenger seat, carefully lift the lever, and slide the passenger seat towards the front of the van. Be careful as the seat may be a little wobbly now that the front two screws have been removed.
06
Removing the back bolts
Loosen and remove the two bolts that are holding the front-to-back slider in place on the base of the back of the passenger seat. Place these bolts somewhere nearby where you will not lose track of them - the front cupholder works great!
07
Removing the seat
Carefully remove the passenger seat and set it aside somewhere out of the way.
01
Aligning the swivel
Double check that you have the passenger side swivel in hand as the driver side swivel won't work for the passenger side. Once confirmed, place the passenger side swivel onto the seat's base and align where the bolts will go.
02
Installing the swivel
Install the four bolts provided with the swivel seat. Hand tighten each bolt to ensure the bolts all line up. Once they're good, use a torque wrench and torque them to the manufacturer's recommended torque.
01
Move the seat back
Place the seat on top of the newly attached swivel. Try your best to align the bolt holes on the seat to the frame.
02
Route the harness
Depending on the seat, you'll want to route the electrical harness in such a way that won't catch anything as the seat swivels. For example, the Ford Transits have a small metal bar that goes across the seat horizontally so you'll want to route the electrical harness behind this bar so it doesn't catch as you swivel.
03
Install the front bolts
With the seat forward, install the two washers, bolts, and nuts into the back of the seat.
04
Slide the seat backward
Slide the seat towards the rear of the van to be able to access the other bolt install location.
05
Install the back bolts
With the seat closer towards the rear, install the two washers, bolts, and nuts into the front of the seat.
06
Reconnect the electrical harness
Reconnect the electrical harness by pushing it into its connector.
07
(Optional) Remove seat swivel blockers
Test the swivel. As you test, you may not be able to fully use the swivel which could be because of the seat attachments. For example, our Ford Transit has a carseat hook that gets in the way as we swivel. We simply used a hack-saw to cut off the attachment, filed down the sharp edges, and then put some Rust-Oleum on the end of it. Before you remove anything from the seat, we recommend looking up what that piece of the seat is for as it may void warranties and/or ruin the seat.
01
Positioning the seat
Reach underneath the driver seat, carefully lift the lever, and slide the driver seat towards the rear of the van.
02
Remove electrical harness
Remove the 7MM hex screw that you'll see in the electrical harness under the seat. Once removed, gently unclip the electrical harness by pulling the clip downward with your hands.
03
Checking the torque
Using your torque wrench, begin to turn the wrench as if you were going to tighten the bolt, but don't actually tighten it. Instead, write down what the torque was at as you'll need this number for the future (you can also look up what your vehicle recommends for the torque on these seat bolts).
04
Removing the front bolts
Loosen and remove the two bolts that are holding the front-to-back slider in place on the base of the front of the driver seat. Place these bolts somewhere nearby where you will not lose track of them - the front cupholder works great!
05
Re-position the seat
Reach underneath the driver seat, carefully lift the lever, and slide the driver seat towards the front of the van. Be careful as the seat may be a little wobbly now that the front two screws have been removed.
06
Removing the back bolts
Loosen and remove the two bolts that are holding the front-to-back slider in place on the base of the back of the driver seat. Place these bolts somewhere nearby where you will not lose track of them - the front cupholder works great!
07
Removing the seat
Carefully remove the driver seat and set it aside somewhere out of the way.
01
Aligning the swivel
Double check that you have the driver side swivel in hand as the passenger side swivel won't work for the driver side. Once confirmed, place the driver side swivel onto the seat's base and align where the bolts will go.
02
Installing the swivel
Install the four bolts provided with the swivel seat. Hand tighten each bolt to ensure the bolts all line up. Once they're good, use a torque wrench and torque them to the manufacturer's recommended torque.
01
Move the seat back
Place the seat on top of the newly attached swivel. Try your best to align the bolt holes on the seat to the frame.
02
Route the harness
Depending on the seat, you'll want to route the electrical harness in such a way that won't catch anything as the seat swivels. For example, the Ford Transits have a small metal bar that goes across the seat horizontally so you'll want to route the electrical harness behind this bar so it doesn't catch as you swivel.
03
Install the front bolts
With the seat forward, install the two washers, bolts, and nuts into the back of the seat.
04
Slide the seat backward
Slide the seat towards the rear of the van to be able to access the other bolt install location.
05
Install the back bolts
With the seat closer towards the rear, install the two washers, bolts, and nuts into the front of the seat.
06
Reconnect the electrical harness
Reconnect the electrical harness by pushing it into its connector.
01
Marking where to cut
Place the swivel on the driver's side seat base and mark the battery box where the center of the swivel hole is at. You will use this to create an opening in the seat base for the electrical wire to reroute through. Once marked, set the swivel out of the way.
02
Remove metal plate
There is a cloth near the rear of the driver seat, lift it up and unscrew the two 8 MM hex screws. Once unscrewed, unclip the wiring harness and carefully slide (don't cut yourself!) the grommet off of the metal plate to free the wiring harness.
03
Remove battery lid
Remove the battery box lid by lifting it straight up from the rear of the plastic. Depending on your battery box, you may need to unclip it to be able to lift the top off.
04
Remove battery support bar and route the wire
Remove the plastic bar that is supporting the batteries. You'll need this for the next steps.
Note: if you have a second battery under your driver seat, the bar may not exist or may be a different size. You may need to alter the next steps depending on your battery configuration.
05
Reroute the wiring harness
The wiring harness is now free. We recommend routing it under the battery cables as it will reduce future issues when attaching the plastic battery cover later. Once the wiring harness is under the battery cables, run it through the pre-cut wiring hole. This hole can be found near the big red battery cable that is sitting in the other pre-cut hole. Remember the rubber grommet that you previously removed? This fits perfectly into the pre-cut slot!
06
Cut hole in support bar
In order to make the wire harness fit properly with the rewiring, we need to cut a hole in the plastic support bar. Cut a square out of the bar that will fit the wire harness and its blocky connector through it.
Once cut, run the wire through this and put it back into place.
07
Cut hole in the battery lid
Next, we need to cut a hole in the battery lid box. From the plastic bar hole, go straight up and mark the plastic lid to the battery box. This should align to where you previously marked in step 01. To reduce the size of the hole, we cut a line into where the hole needed to be cut and then notched out a circle large enough for the wiring harness to fit through. By doing this, we were able to slide the wire into place without making a massive hole for the connection pins.
Once cut, make sure you run the wire through it as you place the lid back on top of the battery box.
08
Cut hole in the metal plate
To continue fitting the wire harness, we need to make a notch in the metal plate that sits in the middle of the battery box. This metal bar will be in the way of the hole that you just cut in the plastic top. So... you'll need to estimate where the wire will need to go with the bar in the way and cut a notch out of the metal. Be sure to file down the edges of the metal... and as an extra precaution we added a thicker layer of electrical tape around the wire loom where it is touching the metal.
09
Run the wiring harness through the swivel
Now that the wiring harness is fitting through all of the holes you made, grab the swivel seat and run the wire through the center of the swivel.