Swivel install (detail)

 Goal:  

Add swivels to the powered driver and passenger seats.  This will make these seats usable while camped/stopped, adding to our living space.  A table/counter/desk top will be within comfortable reach of both seats.

We used Amazing Auto swivels for powered driver and passenger seats.

Reasons for choosing these over factory or Scopema swivels -

  • Offset swivel means not opening the door when swiveling
  • Only swivel that is designed to be compatible with powered seats.
  • Half the cost of Scopema
  • Factory swivels not available with powered seats

Tools Needed:

  • Jigsaw (cutting seat plastic) 
  • Medium metal jigsaw blade (for cutting seat plastic)
  • Pliers (to bend anchor?)
  • Heat gun (others have reported using heat to help bend anchor)
  • Shop Vac
  • Straight Edge/Board
  • Socket Set (7mm, 10mm, 13mm)
Consumable Materials Needed:
  • Painter's Tape
  • Rustoleum (if cutting off tether anchor)
  • Plastic (protect electronics when trimming seat plastic)

Hardware:
  • Driver and passenger swivel
  • Edge trim (to protect wire from rubbing on swivel base)

Steps:
  1. Raise seat to highest point.
  2. Use 10mm socket to remove seat (4 bolts, may need to shift seat forward/back to get to all 4).
  3. Use 7mm socket to remove electronics port under the seat. Don't remove this before removing all 4 bolts from seat as seat will need to be moved to access back bolts.
  4. Install swivel, using bolts provided with swivel (not the factory bolts that came from the seat originally).  I believe these may have been 13mm.
  5. Set seat on swivel base and eyeball clearances for the plastic seat trim as well as the tether anchor (passenger seat) on the seat pedestal.
  6. Mark and trim the plastic seat trim/skirt so it clears the base when swiveling.
  7. Use the heat gun, pliers to bend the tether anchor down so seat can swivel clearly.
  8. If unable to bend tether, use jigsaw or angle grinder to remove tether.
  9. Reinstall seat on swivel using factory bolts (10mm socket).  No washer between bolt/seat rail.
  10. Reattach electronic port.
  11. Swivel seat, confirming clearances.
Notes:

Removal of seat and wiring harness went as planned.  The screw holding the electronics connection bracket does not come all the way out, just loosen.  We did not disconnect battery before removing this bracket and did not have any issues or airbag warnings when we reinstalled the electronics bracket.  Some people report getting an air bag error warning when not disconnecting the battery, I believe these were earlier model Transits.


Once the seat was removed, pull the felt back to access the inside space.  We unclipped the circled clip below to give the wire bundle more freedom to move as the seat is adjusted.  Because we didn't get the 120V 400W power outlet, our passenger seat base did not have anything in it (this is where the factory inverter goes if you do add this option).  We will look into a way to utilize this space.  Some people place their diesel/gas heater here, we've decided we'd like the heater in a different location.  It seems putting the heater here would make it harder to route any ducting to the areas in the back of the van.  



Attaching the swivel to the seat base went mostly as planned.  You will need to rotate the top (swiveling part) in order to fit a socket wrench when tightening bolts.  We did find that the swivel base was a smidge too long to clear a slight tab on the seat pedestal.  We added a washer or two (between the seat pedestal and swivel) to raise/support the swivel when we bolted the swivel to the seat pedestal.

Once the swivel was secured, we set the seat on top of the swivel and had a little panic.  At first glance, it appears they don't line up correctly.  After a few minutes of 👀 we realized that the seat rails have some give and would pull in easily to fit the bolts.  I believe some people try to drill new holes to accommodate the swivel.  This is not at all necessary.  We didn't modify the seat rails or the swivel base at all.  We did use the included washers to raise the seat slightly as the power seats have a small metal "button" on the bottom rail.  Using the washers gives you the clearance needed to keep these buttons from being a problem. These washers go between the seat rail and swivel base.

We didn't fully tighten the seat down at this point as we needed to check the clearance of the plastic seat trim/skirt and the tether anchor on the back of the passenger seat.  Some of this plastic skirt will need to be trimmed in order for the seat to swivel freely.  There is a slight indentation/line on this seat trim and that's where we decided to make our cut.  This keeps you clear of anything complicated on the reverse side of the seat trim.  We used painters tape on the trim where we'd make the cut, drew our straight line on the non-flat, non-straight piece of plastic and used a jigsaw with medium metal blade and made the first non-reversable alteration of the new van.  No problem, the cut was nice and smooth and gave us plenty of clearance.  We used a file to clean up the edge.  Probably could have taken a bit less off, but we were happy with the outcome.


And here's the trimmed piece back on the seat base - if you didn't know it had been cut I don't think you'd even notice it.  Now, with the seat raised to full height, the seat will swivel around the base without making contact with the plastic seat trim.



After trying to bend the tether anchor on the back of the passenger seat base, we decided it wasn't worth the struggle and just cut it off with the jigsaw.  We'll file and paint the cut edge to avoid sharp edges and rust.  The anchor can be seen in the photo above that shows the inside of the seat pedestal - the metal loop at the top of the photo now looks like this - 

We then reattached the seat, using the original Ford bolts - from top to bottom, bolt - seat rail - 2 washers - swivel - washer - nut.

The driver's side was mostly the same, other than the fact that there are two batteries in the seat base which means rerouting the wiring harness.  As it is, the wire harness won't allow the swivel to sit on the seat base due to being connected at the inside back corner of the seat base.  We removed the metal "T" that sits over the batteries and removed the plastic covering on top of the batteries.  We laid a rag over the exposed battery connections just to make sure we didn't make any contacts we weren't intending to make.  

The wire harness here is held in place by a rubber clip/grommet type thing (can be seen in above photo inside the yellow oval).  We pulled the wire harness free from the seat base and then ran the wiring connector under the positive battery cable so it would exit the seat base toward the middle of the base vs on the edge where it had been and where the swivel needed to sit.  We replaced the plastic cover and the metal "T", placed the swivel back on the seat base and ran the wire harness up through the center of the swivel.

From there, the install was the same as with the passenger, minus needing to cut the tether anchor.  Earlier (I think pre-2021?) models have an emergency brake at the inside base of the driver's seat - this complicates the swivel install a bit.  The newer models have moved to an electronic emergency brake, so we didn't have to do anything here.

Both seats need to be raised and moved forward in order to swivel but do not need the door opened and do not rub on the trim if you adjust the seat properly.  The wiring harness does not seem to be under any stress or risk of pinching when moving the seat.  There is no wobble after adding the swivels, and the seat is about 1.25-1.5" higher.  This gained height is not an issue for us (both 5'8"), but may be more noticeable to shorter people.  Right now, the swivel is very tight, and takes some oomph to swivel.  I'm going to see if this works loose after more use, if not I'll try to loosen the swivel plate.

Next up is sound deadening and getting our floor in - it'll finally look like we're making progress!





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