L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

anyone else aside from Green1 and Carp tackle the sliding swivel chair?

Wondering how many of you out there have done it. :M
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Artacoma
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by Artacoma »

Did it , Used all 4 original bolt locations though. Took a bit more welding but I'm happy with it. The new seat sits exactly where the old one was, I removed the left side arm rest because it was too easy to get the shoulder strap tangled up in it.
Now I'm looking for a replacement seat for the rear.
Rik
97 Series 2 V6 LWB
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

Rik, did you weld it in the same 2 rear-most places that I did (see pics)?

The two front holes lined up perfectly. Left-most (door side) hole was exposed so just welded an L-bracket drilled out. The inner (driver side) one was more challenging and made a 2-part bracket as the bolt hole rests just below the track itself.

Cheers
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Artacoma
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by Artacoma »

I used the hole thats hidden by the track by drilling thru the track and welding some reinforcement on the bottom of the track, the hardest part was creating clearance for a socket to tighten the bolt while not screwing up the locking/sliding bits.
I also had to do a bit of carving on the insulation under the carpet to get some clearance when you swivel.
I plan on getting a replacement rear seat for the odd time I'm hauling a crowd and I think I will cut the tracks short on that and just use the rear 4 bolts. So the rear seat will swivel but not slide. I will only have that seat installed when I need it.
I think I will tackle the drivers seat this spring or summer.
I had to do some minor shimming to get it all moving smoothly but I'm confident it's a secure as stock.
Rik
97 Series 2 V6 LWB
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

I attempted the driver's side to no avail.

- moved e-brake to center
- used fixed, low-profile swivel plate
- used sliding captain's chair swivel seat (swapped over from passenger side)

There is simply not enough space (width) to accommodate a swivel seat in the driver's section. Believe me, I tried.

The only way you can fit in a swivel seat is if you have a chair that is roughly 6" inches narrower than the current one and cut/weld/cover the e-brake cable area and move it over - but then it will hinder the passenger swivel seat.

I have in our L400 a low/narrow profile fixed swivel base. I used that on the stock driver's seat but the lack of space to rotate made it impossible to use.
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Artacoma
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by Artacoma »

Thanks for heads up .... in light of that I may try to just move the back seat drivers side to the driver seat spot just so I can slide it right up against the steering wheel for more room in the back when parked ..... Gonna have to think about that one though.
No more mods til spring , I got a full time job now ...... damn.......
Rik
97 Series 2 V6 LWB
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

Artacoma wrote:No more mods til spring
no such thing brother! There is always time! :-D
delicabits
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by delicabits »

read somewhere about fitting the base from a VW swivel seat to the drivers side.
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

Won't work.

Physics (in the case the e-brake and the B pillar) prevents the driver's seat from rotating regardless of what base is being used.

With that said I've fitted a T4 swivel base (2 holes shifted over) to the passenger side. It sits 2" inches higher than the driver's seat though.
delicabits
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by delicabits »

check the campervanman on the aussie site. didnt he do the VW T? conversion.
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

passenger side
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jessef
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by jessef »

Tested and all good. Ordered the parts for 10 pcs.

The guys who have emailed me, I'll shoot you an email with the details.

Cheers
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RichD
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by RichD »

Yeah so we were looking at this mod and have been pondering a mod to the mod.

1) find a second set of slides and captain's chairs. Weld these together with our slides to make much longer slides.

2) install slides on both sides that extend from the stock rear position of the middle row captain's chairs slides all the way up front so that the front row seats can be slid right up to the wheel/dash.

Because the driver's seat can now slide all the way back to the second row, it can be rotated without impediment.

Also I believe that we can support two seats on both rows with this approach for stock-like configuration. This is actually a requirement for us or we won't do it.

#3 would be to add a removable stop that you can remove to pop the seats in and out of the tracks; i.e. to remove the 2nd row for camping trips. Something like a cover plate might work.

Searching for parts now to mock it up...
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Artacoma
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by Artacoma »

Hey Rich my mind is blown that is a fantastic idea!
2 things that have to be figured are the sliding seats are a bit wider at the base so the seat will rub against the e brake handle and the sliders have finicky plastic guides that will likely make it difficult to pop the seats in and out.But I'm sure this can be overcome.
Also as happened with my sliding passenger side , you have to remove the armrest on the door side for a bit of clearance.
I think I may try to do this as well, I'll post here once I have the bits together and have started cursing them into compliance.
Rik
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RichD
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Re: L400 swivelling captain's chairs in front

Post by RichD »

Dammit now I have competition for spare parts. ;-)
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