Swivel seats help optimizing the precious space in a campervan conversion or in a work van. The Ford Transit, Sprinter van, and Ram ProMaster can be ordered with factory swivels (with some limitations), but installing an aftermarket adapter is often cheaper and it’s actually quite a simple task. In this article, we’ll go through the installation process of swivel seat (passenger & driver) into our Ford Transit van. Let’s get into it!
Table Of Content
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1. Swivel we recommend
We had the opportunity to try a few different swivels during our first years of full time Vanlife: Scopema, Amazing Auto, SwivelsRus and DiscountVanTruck. Our comparison criterias for selecting the best swivel to buy are: height, weight, installation, operation, wobble and squeaking. You can read more in our Swivel Seat Review & Comparison.
Too long didn’t read: Scopema is the swivel we preferred and we recommend!
Scopema Swivel Seat Adapter
(Ford Transit, Sprinter Van, Ram ProMaster)
Get 5% Discount with “FarOutRide” Coupon at Checkout
2. Benefits of installing swivel seats
A swivel seat is a bit like the swiss army knife of your van interior layout; it adds versatility and create extra space in your campervan or your work van. Indeed, you can unlock the full potential of those single-purpose cabin seats and turn them into so much more:
Dining
Living Room
Gear Room
3. Good to know
3.1. Factory swivels
The Ford Transit can be ordered with factory swivel seats (for more info on all options to consider: Ford Transit Order Guide for Campervan Conversion). Let’s see the pros and cons:
Pros
- No installation.
- Shorter base (better driving posture).
Cons
- Not offset (like most aftermarket options). To complete a 180° rotation you need to play with the seat settings (fwd/rear) in order to clear the steering wheel, the center console and the door panel.
- Only available with 4-way manual seat.
- Safety alarm constantly on when key is in the ignition and the swivel is not facing forward. (we were told you can simply unplug the speaker wire under the seat to turn off the alarm!).
- Can’t start the engine when a seat is not locked in forward position.
- Costs more than aftermarket.
3.2. 10-way power seats
Scopema swivel can be added with the 10-way power seats. Note that you will have cut the lower part of the outside trim piece that houses the seat controls (see this example on the Ford Transit USA Forum) AND raise the seat with a few spacers so the motor doesn’t catch. Amazing Auto has swivels specifically for the 10-way power seats, so that no trim is required (at the detriment of the height and driving posture). Because the seat has to be moved forward/back during the rotation, some people have reported that the power seat makes it a bit irritating if you have to swivel often (e.g. full time Vanlife). Indeed, the forward/back motion is quite slow because of the motor.
3.3. Dual AGM batteries
Yes, an aftermarket swivel can be added on the driver side with the dual AGM batteries option. This is actually what we have in our van, so keep reading to find out!
3.4. E-brake (emergency brake/parking brake)
In 2020 Ford introduced an electric e-brake to replace the standard hand e-brake. This is a very welcomed change, otherwise the hand brake has to be lowered for the seat to clear the hand brake during the rotation. Please note that not all Ford Transit models includes the electric e-brake: only the single rear wheel axle with 9,500lb (or less) payload:
Our new 2021 Ford Transit has the electric parking brake:
Our 2016 Transit had the manual hand brake in between the seats; we have the procedure to lower the hand brake (Section 6) for those of you who need it.
3.5. Espar/Webasto heater
You can install an aftermarket swivel seat in a Transit van with a Espar/Webasto (gasoline/diesel) heater installed under the passenger seat. This is actually the configuration we had in our 2016 Transit van! We do have an extensive Espar/Webasto Air Heater Guide which covers the theory (installation requirements, choosing the correct size, effect of altitude, etc.), the installation (ALL of it!) and our long-term feedback (issues we had and how we fixed them).
4. Passenger swivel installation
Time
1 hour
Cost
$399 USD
Weight
30 lbs
Material
| Item | Description | Buy Link |
|---|---|---|
| Scopema Swivel (passenger side) | Added between the seat base and the seat | The Swivel Shop |
| Rust-Oleum | To touch up the trimmed baby seat anchor | Amazon |
Tools
| Item | Description | Buy Link |
|---|---|---|
| 7mm, 10mm & 13mm Hex Socket | To disconnect/connect the electrical harness, uninstall/install seat | Amazon |
| Adjustable Wrench (or 13mm wrench) | To install the seat on the Scopema swivel plate | Amazon |
| 5mm Hex Bit (or 5mm Allen key, same thing) | To install the Scopema plate on the seat base | Amazon |
| Mini Hack Saw | To trim the baby seat anchor | Amazon |
| Sand Paper | To smooth the sharp edges after trimming the baby seat | Amazon |
| Banana | Required for Step 4.6 |
4.1. Remove the Ford Transit factory seat
4.1.1. Slide the seat backward and remove the screw (7mm hex socket) to disconnect the electrical harness under the seat:
4.1.2. Pull the retaining clip down to detach the electrical harness from the seat (no tool required, it’s fairly easy):
4.1.3. Still with the seat backward, remove the 2 front screws (10mm hex socket):
4.1.4. Slide the seat forward and then remove the 2 back screws (10mm hex socket):
4.1.5. Put the seat aside, get into the seat base, and hand-pull the 2 clips to detach the electrical harness from the seat base. This is to give the electrical harness some slack during the rotation:
Keep it up!
4.2. Trim the Seat Rails (Optional)
4.2.1. During the rotation, the seat rails may rub against the door (passenger or driver) and might eventually damage it. We didn’t do anything to mitigate that on our previous van, and we honestly don’t think it’s that big of a deal:
4.2.2. But if you’d rather do something to prevent damaging the door, now would be a good time to trim the rails. We trimmed only a small angle and that was enough to clear the door (don’t forget to touch up with paint):
4.3. Install the swivel adapter
Place the Scopema swivel on the seat base, route the electrical harness in the center, and install the 4 screws (5mm hex bit or 5mm Allen key). The holes might not be perfectly aligned, that’s OK. Start by installing each screw with just a few threads in, then once all 4 are fitted, torque them all the way in.
4.4. Reinstall the Ford Transit factory seat
4.4.1. Place the seat on top of the Scopema swivel and route the harness behind the bar (towards the back of the van) so it doesn’t catch during the rotation:
4.4.2. Still with the seat forward, install the bolts, washers & screws (13mm hex socket on top, 13mm wrench/adjustable wrench at the bottom):
4.4.3. Slide the seat backward and install the bolts, washers & screws (13mm hex socket on top, 13mm wrench/adjustable wrench at the bottom):
FIY. This is the correct way of assembling the 13mm bolt, washer & 13mm nut at the seat/swivel interface (2 previous steps):
4.4.4. Reconnect the electrical harness (7mm hex socket):
We’re almost done!
4.5. Trim The Baby Seat Anchor
The baby seat anchor interfere with the rotation and has to be trimmed.
4.5.1. We used a Dremel to trim the baby seat anchor, but we would recommend a mini hack saw instead. Sparks (tiny metal chips) can stick to surfaces and promote rust. Metal chips from a mini hack saw would be easier to catch!
4.5.2. Smooth the sharp edges (by sanding), clean & touch up the bare metal with corrosion-resistant paint. We used Rust-Oleum, but it’s a bit messy to spray so we first sprayed some in a small jug and applied it with a brush for a nice finish.
4.6. Swivel check
For the very first rotation, slowly swivel the seat and make sure the electrical harness is not catching. All good? Sweet, you can go crazy with it now!
Video
And now let’s do it again for the camera!
That’s it for the passenger swivel!
5. Driver swivel installation
Time
1 hour
Cost
$399 USD
Weight
30 lbs
Material
| Item | Description | Buy Link |
|---|---|---|
| Scopema Swivel (driver side) | Added between the seat base and the seat | The Swivel Shop |
Tools
| Item | Description | Buy Link |
|---|---|---|
| 7mm, 8mm, 10mm & 13mm Hex Socket | To disconnect/connect the electrical harness, remove/put back the metal plate, uninstall/install seat | Amazon |
| Adjustable Wrench (or 13mm wrench) | To install the seat on the Scopema swivel plate | Amazon |
| 5mm Hex Bit (or 5mm Allen key, same thing) | To install the Scopema plate on the seat base | Amazon |
| 5/8″ Spade Bit (or drill bit) | To make hole in battery box cover | Amazon |
| Dremel with Cutting Wheel | To make cutout in battery box cover | Amazon |
5.1. Remove the Driver seat
Removing the driver seat is the exact same procedure as for the passenger seat (refer to Section 4.1 for the photos):
- Disconnect and unclip the electrical harness (7mm hex socket).
- Remove the 4 screws (10mm hex socket).
- Optional: Trim the seat rails to prevent damaging the door (hack saw or Dremel).
5.2. Reroute the electrical harness
The Scopema swivel plate sits completely flush with the seat base, so there’s no more room for the electrical harness. In the following steps, we will reroute the harness inside the battery box:
5.2.1. Drop the swivel in place and trace the center hole on the plastic cover (you’ll use this later!):
5.2.2. Now put the swivel adapter away and remove these two screws (8mm hex socket):
5.2.3. The electrical harness is secured to the metal plate with a rubber grommet and a clip. Remove them to free the harness:
Removing the battery box cover exposes the battery terminals. Be very careful not to create a short between the positive terminals and the van chassis (e.g. with the metal plate or tools).
5.2.4. Remove the metal plate and the battery box plastic cover, then reroute the electrical wiring harness as follows:
There is a pre-cut slot in the battery box (nice!). Route the harness through it and slide the rubber grommet in.
We secured the harness with a cable tie, otherwise it would chafe against the sharp edge of the battery terminal (vibration + chafing = danger).
Route the harness between the two batteries.
This is where the harness will exit the battery box (next steps).
5.2.5. Drill a hole (5/8″ drill bit or spade bit) where the harness will exit the cover and create a cutout (we used a Dremel) to slide the harness all the way to that hole:
5.2.6. Slide the electrical harness all the way to the hole, snap the plastic covers back in place, put back the metal plate with the two screws (8mm hex socket). Looking good!
5.3. Install the swivel adapter
Place the Scopema swivel on the seat base, route the electrical harness in the center, and install the 4 screws (5mm hex bit or 5mm Allen key). The holes might not be perfectly aligned, that’s OK. Start by installing each screw with just a few threads in, then once all 4 are fitted, torque them all the way in.
5.4. Reinstall the driver seat
Reinstalling the driver seat is the exact same procedure as for the passenger seat (refer to Section 4.3 for the photos as needed):
- Install the 4 screws, washers & nuts (13mm hex socket and wrench).
- Connect the electrical harness (7mm hex socket)
5.5. Swivel check
For the very first rotation, slowly swivel the seat and make sure the electrical harness is not catching. All good? Sweeeet!
We’re done with the driver swivel!
6. How To Lower The E-Brake On The Ford Transit (Optional)
If you have a Scopema swivel and the manual hand brake (e-brake) on your Transit, it must be lowered to create clearance for the rotation. Here is how we did it on our first van conversion (Ford Transit 2016)! Note that we didn’t have the Scopema Relocation Bracket at the time, so today, it should be a bit easier.
6.1. Remove the 2 plastic covers by pulling them up:
6.2. Got it!
6.3. Here is the idea of this modification: we take the 3 existing attachment points (start of arrow) and re-locate them lower in other existing holes (end of arrow). Not clear? Keep reading!
6.4. To remove the metal plate, we need to remove these 2 screws:
6.5. All the batteries posts can be detached. The two batteries are “linked” together with this small tube (to locate in the picture, follow the arrow head). It looks like it is a venting tube. It can be detached (and re-attached later, no problem) to remove each battery individually (unless you’re much stronger than me).
6.6. The two batteries are located in a plastic basket. Remove it!
6.7. You can now remove the 3 screws that attach the e-brake from inside of the seat base (we have no picture, but you’ll see, it’s pretty obvious). The e-brake is not yet free! Remove the 4 nuts that attach the metal plate to the seat base and trim the plate as shown to be able to remove it:
6.8. Then, disconnect the e-brake electrical wire (at the red arrow).
6.9. The nut below is welded. We need to remove it, because we will use the hole that is under the nut.
6.10. The nut is gone! Sweet!
6.11. We’re about to lower the e-brake, but doing so makes the cable housing rub with the sheet metal. Indeed, it off-centers the cable housing through the cutout (the rubbing happens below the van, not shown here).
6.12. We must prepare a device to protect the cable housing from rubbing with the sheet metal. We kept the sheet metal that we trimmed when installing the Maxxair Fan! Neat!
6.13. We will now lower the e-brake. The back screw fits nicely, the front screw “fits” in the large cutout (where the e-brake switch wire grommet was). The cutout is way too big, but adding a fender washer will make everything secure! The third screw (the lower one) is no longer used… (but we feel that it is strong enough with only 2 screws):
6.14. We must now crawl under the van to install the part that will protect the cable housing from rubbing with the sheet metal. We fixed it with a worm-drive clamp:
6.15. We’re not done just yet! See, the airbag control module is located just forward of the e-brake. The metal bracket that we removed previously was acting as a shield, since the module is supposed to be pressure-sensitive.
6.16. We need to modify the metal bracket, and put it back in place.
6.17. Re-connect the e-brake electrical wire previously disconnected and put everything back in place!
Unfortunately, the two plastic parts that we first removed do not fit anymore, but this is only aesthetic. We still have to do something about that… trim them or something.
We’re done!
7. Long Term Review
Back in 2016, on our first Ford Transit van conversion, we installed cheaper swivels to save a few bucks. After a few years of full time Vanlife, we upgraded for the Scopema and we didn’t look back. At the time of writing these lines, we’re building our second van and choosing Scopema again was a no brainer. They do cost more, but the driving ergonomics is much better and they operate soooo smoothly. In our opinion, it’s worth paying a little extra for something we will use almost everyday and for a long time. For more: Swivel Seats Review and Comparison.
8. Conclusion
If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re just about to start your own van conversion and you’re a bit stressed out about it. It’s totally normal! Starting your build with the swivels is a good way to break the ice: it’ll boost your confidence and get you going.
That’s it for now. Hope we could help 🙂
#SwivelLife ON
We are planning a camper build with two swivel seats and two Lagun tables. We see in your Build #1 there is a cabinet about 16″ behind the driver seat. Has this proven to be enough leg room for “hanging out” in the driver seat? We are eagerly awaiting a floor plan for your Build #2!
It has worked well for us, enough leg room!
Happy build 🙂
Has anybody considered that with the seat swivels, the under seat wiring would would get twisted if we rotate seats the same direction too often.
I’m also not too sure I would undertake lowering the hand brake procedure.
The wiring is quite resilient and it’s going through a (very) large hole, so it’s all good. People have been using swivels for a looong time now, no worries 🙂
Such an amazing step by step guide. Thank you for documenting and sharing. Do you happend to know if the swivels will work on a 1999 Dodge Ram Extended Cargo Van?
Thank!
Swivel adapter are not “universal”, you’d have to buy one specifically made for you van brand/model. https://theswivelshop.com/collections/all/scopema?ref=FOR
Great article on the swivel seats. My 2019 Transit also has heated seats & the control button for the heat is where the plastic has to be cut for the seat to rotate. So it does not appear the swivel will work in this case, unless I missed a fix for that.
I just installed it on the passenger side of my 2016 Transit. Love it! Thank you for these great instructions. The only difference for me was that instead of the 10mm screws Ford through on Torx40.
I have a 2021 Transit with the 10 way power seats and I just installed the Scopema seat swivels under the driver and passenger seats. I added (4) 1/4″ ID washers between the swivel and the seat rail at every bolt location (16 washers per seat) in order the get the motor the clear the center of the swivel. The bolts that came with the swivel are not long enough when you add the washers. The factory bolts are almost long enough, but they don’t fully engage the nylon in the nylock nut. I bought (8) 5/16-18 X 1″ grade 8 bolts from the local hardware store to replace the factory bolts and they worked great!
Do you worry about tension on the electrical harness, when you are facing the back and have the seat all the way forward?
There is no tension on the harness, actually. I think you can remove a clip that holds the harness into the seat base to give it some slack.
Adding a swivel seat is VERY common and I never had report of harness damage, you should be fine 🙂
Just installed our passenger side Scopema swivel following your guide, thanks for all the advice!! The holes on our base were off by quite a bit, so we had to open up one of the holes to make everything fit.
One thing we’re noticing now that we’re testing it out is that we are getting some contact BETWEEN the two swivel plates. The offset posts and other internal features, mounted to either the top or bottom plate, will contact and scrape against the opposite plate during rotation. Is this something you’ve seen with yours? Cause for concern?
I didn’t notice scraping on ours. It’d be worth snapping a few pictures and check with the seller you purchased it from, might be warrantied if it’s an issue.
cheers, antoine
My swivel seat holes weren’t particularly close to those on the seat base. The result of which was that I could only thread a max of two bolts through the adapter into the adapter and to the seat base.
Just a warning that these aren’t necessarily always super simple to install (Ford Transit 2020).
Did you use a Scopema or a different brand?
Hello Antoine & Isabelle.
First of all. Your website and content is really great! I am building a camper conversion with a Ford Transit as well. It’s a European 2013 (mk7) wich is the previous type as yours I think.(and also a bit smaller 🙂 I’m searching for a swivel for the passengers side and was wondering if the seat – and base measurements are the same.(underneath the seat I’ll also install a webasto heater)
If so, that would give me more range for searching for the right one. Thanks in advance
Ever think about using the 3D printer to make a new E-brake trim piece?
Our new van has the electric parking brake, so I didn’t think of that! But I’m not sure a plastic part would be ideal for that (not enough strength?).
🙂
You could not have made this any easier. Passenger swivel installed in under 30 mins with no issues. THANKS!
Is the handbrake modification required for just the passenger seat swivel? Thanks!
Just for the DRIVER side, not the passenger 😉
What a great website, THANKS!
Question, once you put the front bolt and fender washer thru where the eb switch wire was, when you’re ready to hook everything back up, how do you hook up the switch wire? The hole that it went thru is now covered up. Thanks again for all your work on this site, it’s awesome!
Hmmm, when did this appear. But from the comments, it’s the old seat install revisited.
How do you like the 10-points…and the heated seat?
So I did the 10-way a few years back, with the Scopema swivel, and concur with all off your steps. I think I removed 1″ (I don’t remember) plastic on both sides to clear the seat base when swiveling the seat. (Still need to raise the seat to the top position!) But a problem with my install is the way the wiring harness gets caught by the motor for the seat fore-aft movement. (In my seat the motor is in the exact middle of the seat slider. This would not be a problem, except you need to move the seat really far forward to swirl it, and that drags the motor over the Scopema swivel hole, and mildly crushes the harness. I fixed it a little by adding 4 or 5 spacing washers to raise the seat, but I am not entirely happy with the fix.
Anyway, cheers!
How do you ensure the air bag was reinstalled correctly and will work properly?
Adding a swivel plate doesn’t affect the air bag.
Excellent site, thanks! I’ve upgraded to the Builders Package and am finding it super helpful.
Did your airbag lights remain on after you plugged the electrical harness back in under the seats? I checked the connection and it seems tight.
We have unplugged/plugged the harness several times and didn’t have any issue with the airbag lights, not sure what’s going on here sorry 🙁
Swivelsrus says their adapter raises the seat by 1.75”. Have they re-engineered?