Swivel seat?? Can it be done??

[Grace6400]

I've converted my Nissan NV 2500 into a campervan I'd like to have the passenger seat swivel. Has anyone ever done this question mark can it be done? Anyone in Oregon or on the west coast that does it?

[evac05]

It

Edited June 30, 2019 by evac05

[cojo]

Yes, the Swivelsrus swivel seems to be the only game in town for the NV. I installed one in ours and we're happy with it. Installation instructions could have used a bit more detail, but the install was fairly straightforward. Another member here recently installed a swivel and put together a detailed writeup of the process. Look in the "Interior" section of this forum.

[Bilco]

I found another source for swivel base for the NV.  I tried to buy from swivelsRus and they are out of stock for months and also expensive and hard to deal with.  Then I found them at http://www.discountvantruck.com/  for $249 (half of what SwivelsRus is charging).  I'll post again after I install on how well it works.

[Bilco]

I installed the swivel from Discountvantruck.com today.  The swivel arrived without any instructions or documentation whatsoever, just a swivel in a box with some nuts and bolts.  But is is very heavy duty and worked fine for half the price of swivelsRus.  I found it easier to remove the entire seat and base assembly first and then separate the base from the seat, I had a few issues if anybody is considering this swivel.  (1) There is no accommodation for the bar that engages the manual seat slider so my first pass at install the bar is up against the swivel so the slider won't work.  My solution is to remove the seat base and spread the sides to remove the bar that activates the slider.  Then reinstall that bar UPSIDE DOWN.  That lowers the pivot creating a little room to move.  Also, add a couple washers to each of the 8 threaded posts to raise the swivel up ~1/8th inch.  Finally, you may need to bend the bar just a little so that it arches a little more toward the floor in it's upside down position.  (2) the wiring hole in the center bolt of the swivel is too narrow for the wiring harness to pass through.  So after unplugging the 2 harnesses, I snipped off the plugs on the wire coming from the floor (not on the seats) and I spliced in a generous extension for each wire on the 2 plugs.  then I plugged them back into the seat wiring harness, fed the wires through the hole, and connected each wire to it's original source wire.  The airbag light turns off after the car starts, so seems to be working.  Last item is the plastic trim on the right side of the seat.  It will not go back on properly with the swivel so I had to trim just shy of a half inch off the bottom.  Total install time more like 3 hours, not the half hour listed on the website, but it's in and works great.

[andy_george]

Awesome info. Thanks for posting!

[rodjava]

In 2016, I bought the same swivel seat and installed it in a few hours.  It requires a little bit of grinding and welding for the modification.  It was well worth the effort.  Anybody in San Francisco that would like to do the same, I can show you my swivel seat conversion.

[seancau]

On 10/3/2019 at 2:54 PM, Bilco said:

I installed the swivel from Discountvantruck.com today.  The swivel arrived without any instructions or documentation whatsoever, just a swivel in a box with some nuts and bolts.  But is is very heavy duty and worked fine for half the price of swivelsRus.  I found it easier to remove the entire seat and base assembly first and then separate the base from the seat, I had a few issues if anybody is considering this swivel.  (1) There is no accommodation for the bar that engages the manual seat slider so my first pass at install the bar is up against the swivel so the slider won't work.  My solution is to remove the seat base and spread the sides to remove the bar that activates the slider.  Then reinstall that bar UPSIDE DOWN.  That lowers the pivot creating a little room to move.  Also, add a couple washers to each of the 8 threaded posts to raise the swivel up ~1/8th inch.  Finally, you may need to bend the bar just a little so that it arches a little more toward the floor in it's upside down position.  (2) the wiring hole in the center bolt of the swivel is too narrow for the wiring harness to pass through.  So after unplugging the 2 harnesses, I snipped off the plugs on the wire coming from the floor (not on the seats) and I spliced in a generous extension for each wire on the 2 plugs.  then I plugged them back into the seat wiring harness, fed the wires through the hole, and connected each wire to it's original source wire.  The airbag light turns off after the car starts, so seems to be working.  Last item is the plastic trim on the right side of the seat.  It will not go back on properly with the swivel so I had to trim just shy of a half inch off the bottom.  Total install time more like 3 hours, not the half hour listed on the website, but it's in and works great.

 

I bought the same swivel and followed these instructions exactly (my swivel also came with no instructions, not a single diagram, nada). Was one of the most frustrating jobs I've done on my conversion and took me half a day but it now works beautifully and I couldn't be happier with the result - turning the slider bar upside down and adding washers as Bilco recommended even allows you to keep the sliding function which Discountvantruck.com said would be lost! It is also possible to swivel the seat without opening the door (I've heard others had to do this with the swivelsRus slider). You will have to ditch the center console however (not a problem for me) as the slider offsets the seat towards the center of the van. Thanks Bilco for the great write up

Edited July 21, 2020 by seancau
additional info

[NJ2NCAnnie]

Did you buy the "factory seat with factory base" swivel adapter (#119015) from discountvantruck.com?

[NJ2NCAnnie]

Did you buy the "factory seat with factory base" swivel adapter (#119015) from discountvantruck.com?

 

Forgot to add that I am doing a campervan conversion on a 2020 NV2500 Standard Roof and a swivel seat would be a perfect solution for having more usable space. Getting rid of the "black hole" bottomless pit center console would be a good thing. (Plan to replace with something useful that has an armrest.)

[seancau]

Sorry NJ2NCAnnie, hadn't checked this forum in a while and didn't see your question. Yes, that's the part I bought (#119015). I replaced the center console with just a 3" high square box I made out of plywood, we use it to throw things when we are driving but can still step over it to acces the back of the van. To swivel the passenger seat need to pick up the box & put it on the driver seat temporarily. I rerouted the 5V charger from the center console and installed it through the plastic below the cupholders.

[Adapperdemon]

I’m renovating my already converted 2017 high roof. Is there any way to make both of the seats swivel? I imagine doing so and having a removable table between....a man’s gotta dream, right.

[Last2ConvertNV]

This post is a bit dated, but I'll include some comments that may be of help to others.

 

There is a good youtube video on how to install the DiscountVanTruck swivel seat.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXrZeXF-yE

 

Here is my experience in installing the seat.   Thanks also to Bilco's post which contains excellent information, some of which I've repeated below.

 

1)  You will have to free up the air bag wires from the bottom of the seat.   They are held on by a metal tie contraption that is not easy to release.   I ended up carefully clipping the metal tie with a wire cutter.

  2) The bottom of the plastic trim that you removed in the video will have  to be trimmed by 1/4" - 1/2" or it will catch on the top bolts when you swivel the chair.      I did this with a grinder with a tile saw blade.    Ascetically looks good.  

  3)   The swivel arm will catch on one of the factory fixed bolts on the chair base about 1/3 into the turn.   You can get by it by depressing the swivel arm again, but that is difficult to do when you are swiveling the chair which takes some effort.     I got around this by cutting the bolt off of the base with a mini saws-all.     This would be easy to do with a grinder at the very first stage when you remove the chair off of the base.    I figure it's fine to have 7 of the original 8 bolts holding down the chair.   glides smoothly through the 180 degree turn (again with a bit of effort).   The offending bolt is the 2nd bolt from the dashboard on the console side of the chair.  Perhaps Bilco's suggestion to add washers eliminates the need to cut one of the factory bolts.  I had no problem using the sliding mechanism once the swivel base was installed.

  4) Reinserting the bolts to the chair and swivel base is not an easy process as illustrated in the video - especially on the console side.    I had to get the wife involved to provide a 2nd set of hands.   I wish I would have taken Bilco's advice and removed the entire chair from the van floor and did this operation in the garage on a table where I could move the chair around in various positions to get the nuts in place.    The chair when swiveled and fully reclined leaves you wanting to recline a little more.  I found by swiveling the chair to a position where you are skewed toward the middle of the van,  it will clear the dashboard bump out and will allow the chair to recline further.

5) We have a small fridge (costway?) that we put in between the seats.   I'm glad that it stills fits between the seats with the chairs facing forward.   It NO LONGER fits when the seat is swiveled.   So we'll have to place the fridge elsewhere once we get to the campsite.

 

Overall, I really like this swivel base.  

[Longboardguy]

Last2ConvertNV,

 

I installed the DVT swivel a couple months ago and the install procedure went smoothly. Your posted install tips above will be helpful to anyone that will be doing this DTV install. The swivel base transforms the rear cargo area into a living room.

 

I did remove the seat base entirely before doing the install. This also allowed me to have better access to the bolts, test fitting and easier access to thoroughly clean everything and lube the tracks before the final install.

I do not use the center console nor do I put my fridge between the seats.

 

I ended up with 4 concerns  with the DTV swivel base that I felt will need some of my attention and modification in the future.

 

 

1.) I found that when the seat is swiveled around to face the rear of the van, the seat would slide only a few inches towards the rear of the van, not allowing the seat back to recline very far at all. That is not a deal breaker for me since I personally do not need it to recline very much. It does make access to the glove box a tighter  squeeze.

 

2.) With the seat is installed on the DTV swivel base and the seat facing forward, the seat now becomes off centered above the rails about 1 and 3/4 inches towards the driver's side. This does make the center aisle narrower. This may have been designed this way to allow the seat to swivel without having to open the door for better clearance. I have only swiveled the seat from the outside with the passenger and slider doors opened. 

 

3.) The center bearing of the DTV swivel base is not centered on the mounting plate. When the seat is swiveled to face the rear, the seat is now another 2 inches further in to the aisle.

 

4.) The seat does not feel solid on the swivel base. Both the top and bottom base plates flex when I lean back in the seat. When I hit the seat or the seat back firmly with my hand, the seat base plates flexes enough to let the seat bounce, rocking back and forth like seat is mounted on a spring. I contacted DTV support about this we went in circles until they stopped responding to my emails and texts.

 

I had installed a swivel base into my previous ford e350 van and the base did not have any of these issues. That seat base was not a DTV base though. Different van, different base.

 

The DTV base currently appears to be the only option for the NV van. The Swivel Base feels solid and is a little heavy, the  price is fair, and the shipping was fast. It works good the way that it is.  Some day I will be pulling the entire assembly out and will be making the modifications to the base to fix the issues I have with it. It may take some welding, maybe adding another metal plate to realign and strengthen.

 

Let me know if you have experienced these same issues with your install.

 

longboardguy