Seat swivel upgrade
One of the first upgrades we made to the van was a seat swivel to improve the use of interior space of the van for when we are not driving. You can read about that first experience here: https://ridingroadsandtrails.com/swivel-seat-install/
The original swivel upgrade worked fine, but the increased seat height was awkward, especially being vertically challenged folks as we are. We adapted by adding a teak shower mat to raise the level of the floor. This was fine for the passenger seat but would not work for the driver seat. So we just stuck with a single swivel seat.
Teak shower mat foot rest
Then, one day while perusing Instagram, we saw this post from one of our favorite Instagrammers, @OurLibertyVan showing a new seat swivel on the market with a very low overall profile.
Instagram post from @OurLibertyVan
After seeing this post, we looked into this swivel some more and found only positive feedback. We sent an email to Alpine Mechanisms and got on the waiting list for a pair of swivels. After a few weeks, we got the call that the swivels are available. Since Luftcraft/Alpine Mechanisms is within a couple hours of home, I arranged to pick them up instead of having them shipped.
LuftKraft / Alpine Mechanisms in Colorado Springs
The visit was very worthwhile, the folks at Alpine Mechanisms are super nice and enjoyed talking about their van builds as well as hearing about our experience so far. They are also very proud of their swivel and offered any and all support, if needed.
With the swivels in hand, the first impression is that they live up to the feedback we saw. The construction is very sturdy and clean. The simple swivel mechanism and counter-sunk bolts are the design features that achieve the very low profile.
Alpine Mechanisms Seat Swivel Bottom
Installation
The accompanying installation instructions are mostly very well done.
Seat belt mount
The anchor of the seat belt is mounted to the seat. Due to this, the seat belt would be in the way when the seat is turned if the seat belt anchor is not mounted to another location. The Alpine Mechanisms swivel provides a mount for the seat belt anchor on the bottom plate of the swivel so that the seat belt can remain stationary when the seat is turned. One of the tips in the instructions is to attach the seat belt anchor to the mount before attaching the swivel to the pedestal for easier tool access…definitely follow this advice or you won’t be able to get a wrench in to tighten the bolt. (ask me how I know)
Seatbelt mount on the swivel
Seat swivel install
Installing the swivel onto the pedestal is very straight-forward, unless the bolt holes on the swivel do not match up with the threaded bolt holes on the pedestal. This can be due to the pedestal being out of square. This is easy enough to remedy. With the seat and swivel out of the way, loosen the 4 pedestal mounting bolts just a little. 2 bolts are inside the pedestal, one is outside on the back of the pedestal and one is outside toward the center of the van. With these bolts loosened, bolt the swivel into place. This will move the pedestal enough to get it to align properly with the swivel without bending anything. Then remove the swivel and tighten the 4 pedestal mounting bolts. Now you can install the swivel to the pedestal. Be sure to use a torque wrench as the recommended 35 ft-lbs is a lot of torque.
Seat pedestal mounting bolts
Seat skirt trimming
Before the seat can be mounted on the swivel, the plastic skirt that covers the seat tracks needs to be cut down so that it does not interfere with the swiveling action of the seat. The instructions show using masking tape to mark the proper height and this worked well. I used a Dremel oscillating saw to make the cuts which made easy work of this.
Cutting the seat skirt
Once the seat skirt is trimmed, installation of the seat onto the swivel is pretty straight forward. Again, be sure to use a torque wrench on the bolts.
