Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
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This will be a posting about replacing the front passenger seat and adding a swivel base. I've finished this a while ago but never got around to writing about it.
I took this picture on the first day I brought the van home. Passenger seat has seen better days.
First checked out the price of new seats online then decided to head out and see what the local salvage yard had in stock. This looks like a possibility.
Nice looking seat but it only has the armrest on one side.
Here's another one.
This is more like what I had in mind.
You can tell from the pictures that the van had been in the yard some time but even without the side or back doors I couldn't find anything wrong with the seat in the way of moldy or bad smells.
Not like this seat.
The salvage yard charged me $25 for the seat. I wanted the seat to swivel but none of the seats at the yard had that option so instead bought a seat base from www.discountvantruck.com. The current price is $209 which is cheaper than what I paid for mine. The bolt hole pattern on the bottom of the base matched the pattern on the van floor but didn't match the seat I'd bought.
The width was OK but the front two bolts on the seat were off by around 1".
Nothing that a couple of holes couldn't fix.
Here is the seat now mounted on the swivel base.
Now to the seat belt. When I bought my base from http://www.discountvantruck.com they charged extra for the pre-tensioner holder. I decided to make my own from the original. This is the pre-tensioner on the original passenger seat.
The pre-tensioner needs to be attached to the new seat base. Partially disassemble the old passenger seat.
Here is the unattached pre-tensioner.
This is the left seat rail. It has the holder for the pre-tesioner riveted on.
Use a angle grinder with a cutting wheel to remove the rivet heads.
Then punch out the rivets.
I don't know the real name of this seat part. I'm calling it the pre-tesioner holder but obviously it serves other purposes.
The trick is to now remove all the extraneous bits. Start cutting.
I'll be adding some square tubing as reinforcement where the holder attaches to the seat base.
Check that everything fits with the seat installed on the base. Also check seat clearances inside the van.
Start welding.
Install the base inside the van.
Mount the seat onto the base and check operation.
Need to do some work on the pre-tensioner. The plastic pieces that cover the buckle holder are gone.
Here's the pre-tensioner from the original drivers seat. I also replaced this seat with one from the salvage yard but the pre-tensioner can't be swapped between sides.
The pre-tensioner can't be exchanged between sides but the plastic cover pieces can. Pry apart the cover pieces from the drivers side. I'll use them on the passenger side.
Clean up the pieces then epoxy together.
Screw the pre-tensioner to the seat base.
Install the cover.
Bolt everything in place in the van then have the supervisor check that it's comfortable. That's it.
I took this picture on the first day I brought the van home. Passenger seat has seen better days.
First checked out the price of new seats online then decided to head out and see what the local salvage yard had in stock. This looks like a possibility.
Nice looking seat but it only has the armrest on one side.
Here's another one.
This is more like what I had in mind.
You can tell from the pictures that the van had been in the yard some time but even without the side or back doors I couldn't find anything wrong with the seat in the way of moldy or bad smells.
Not like this seat.
The salvage yard charged me $25 for the seat. I wanted the seat to swivel but none of the seats at the yard had that option so instead bought a seat base from www.discountvantruck.com. The current price is $209 which is cheaper than what I paid for mine. The bolt hole pattern on the bottom of the base matched the pattern on the van floor but didn't match the seat I'd bought.
The width was OK but the front two bolts on the seat were off by around 1".
Nothing that a couple of holes couldn't fix.
Here is the seat now mounted on the swivel base.
Now to the seat belt. When I bought my base from http://www.discountvantruck.com they charged extra for the pre-tensioner holder. I decided to make my own from the original. This is the pre-tensioner on the original passenger seat.
The pre-tensioner needs to be attached to the new seat base. Partially disassemble the old passenger seat.
Here is the unattached pre-tensioner.
This is the left seat rail. It has the holder for the pre-tesioner riveted on.
Use a angle grinder with a cutting wheel to remove the rivet heads.
Then punch out the rivets.
I don't know the real name of this seat part. I'm calling it the pre-tesioner holder but obviously it serves other purposes.
The trick is to now remove all the extraneous bits. Start cutting.
I'll be adding some square tubing as reinforcement where the holder attaches to the seat base.
Check that everything fits with the seat installed on the base. Also check seat clearances inside the van.
Start welding.
Install the base inside the van.
Mount the seat onto the base and check operation.
Need to do some work on the pre-tensioner. The plastic pieces that cover the buckle holder are gone.
Here's the pre-tensioner from the original drivers seat. I also replaced this seat with one from the salvage yard but the pre-tensioner can't be swapped between sides.
The pre-tensioner can't be exchanged between sides but the plastic cover pieces can. Pry apart the cover pieces from the drivers side. I'll use them on the passenger side.
Clean up the pieces then epoxy together.
Screw the pre-tensioner to the seat base.
Install the cover.
Bolt everything in place in the van then have the supervisor check that it's comfortable. That's it.
