T1N passenger seat swivel?

[Lotus54]

I did a few searches, but couldn't find anything.

Anyone ever fit a passenger seat swivel to an Airstream T1N?
It seems the battery may cause issues.

(If there is so a thread please post link)

Thanks
Mark

[robert claus]

one person's experience

http://piercehome.us/Sprinter/SwivelSeatMounts.pdf

[Jbray333]

The Sprinter Store carries one from Europe for T1Ns. I haven't tried it but it may work for you. According to the site you'd need to shim the seat up an inch (not recommended) to clear the wet cell house battery or lay an AGM on its side first to eliminate the clearance issue.

[InterBlog]

I'm remembering from somewhere else that it's strongly not recommended for models that have the house battery beneath the passenger seat. Unfortunately that was some time ago, and I did not retain the reference(s) - I researched the issue, eliminated it from consideration, and moved on. Just because something can be achieved doesn't mean that it should be - it fell into that category for me.

However I have every intention of making this mod as soon as we finish the lithium migration. The coach battery beneath our passenger seat will be deleted as the new batteries are installed beneath the closet, thus the passenger seat will be unencumbered at that point. I'm looking forward to this one, as it will create a whole new seating area for me, the morning person in this marriage. I get up well before my husband and while I read or do some work, I would really like another seating area so that he gets some space to continue sleeping. I can fold up my side of the couch and sit there, and it's do-able but it's kinda tight. I'd prefer a swiveled passenger seat so I can put our little folding aluminum table in front of it and use that instead.

[unifreck]

Eurocampers.com has the rotating seats driver and passenger for Sprinters both
T1N (5 cylinder) and current models also. They are German sourced and currently $243.00 each. I have purchased from them and they are reliable.
There is a modification for batteries under passenger seat and an increase in seat
height with either model according to their website. AEW

[Sebtown]

I installed the Eurocampers swivel on the passenger side. Fortunately I don't have a battery under the seat. The only drawback is I had to get a foot rest for my wife as her feet danglrd.

[bugsbunny]

Sebtown,

When you installed (no battery under I am assuming), was there an increase in height? How long did it take and level of difficulty ---- THANK YOU!

Katy

[Sebtown]

Correct, no battery under seat. The swivel base installation was easy and straight forward. It was a matter of removing the seat from the base, bolt swivel to existing holes and re attach seat. If I recall there are only six bolts involved and it took me under one hour. The swivel raised the seat a little over one inch, which turned out critical to my wife , hence the added foot rest. I might add that in the swiveled position my feet don't touch the floor when seated. All in all we find it to be a very useful modification.

[InterBlog]

Eeeeee-haw! Now that our lithium system is up and running, and our old coach battery is gone from beneath our passenger seat, I ordered a seat swiveler from David at Sprinter Parts Depot yesterday, and he does have a few them in stock right now. He told me that he would be shipping it promptly.

I don't think it was mentioned on this thread, but there are observations to this effect elsewhere on the internet - these things sell out periodically and they remain gone until the next shipment comes over on the slow boat from China. Or Germany, or wherever they still fab them more than ten years after the final T1N model year. So if you happen to decide that you want one and they're out of stock at that point, you might have to wait several months until replenishment occurs. Just FYI.

[InterBlog]

Love it!! A game-changer. The come-with instructions are good, but I also made a blog post with some supplemental pics of the installation.

INSTALLING A SEAT SWIVEL IN AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

[Lotus54]

I appreciate the detailed info.

I still have a battery under the passenger seat- it certainly appears that the swivel won't work with it.
Right now I'll have to hold off and do more looking for one that works with batt, or fabricate my own.

Thanks

[xrvr]

There's a lift kit to raise the seat to clear the battery. At least there was when I had my sprinter a bunch of years ago.

[InterBlog]

An email to David at Sprinter Parts Depot would answer the question as to whether a lift kit is still for sale. If he doesn't have it, he might know who does.

David is one of a number of vendors who have warned me that, once the model year (T1N) is more than 10 years out of production, parts begin to disappear at an accelerating rate. So, what theoretically should be available might not be still. T1N's last year was 2006, and so here we are.

[Lotus54]

IB-
Could you check to see how far below the seat base the swivel extends?

I'm replacing my existing battery with an AGM- so I can lie on it's side and give more room. Perhaps enough?

thanks
mark

[LB_3]

It's essentially a flat plate. It doesn't extend into the pedestal.

[Lotus54]

Originally Posted by LB_3

It's essentially a flat plate. It doesn't extend into the pedestal.

Thanks!

[InterBlog]

LB_3 spent the first four months of this year either working on our lithium system or studying for his state engineering licensing exam rather than traveling with me, so this morning is actually the first opportunity I had to try out the "front parlor" with the swiveling seat. Pretty cool stuff.

[InterBlog]

There are several sparsely-populated threads on the T1N version of the passenger seat swivel. I decided to deposit my question in this thread.

This is a long shot, but those of you who did this mod and who used the Sprinter Parts Depot swivel add-in (which I think might be the only one available for the T1N, also sold through Eurocampers)...

Have any of you added a permanent foot rest? One that perhaps folds out of the way and is integrated into either the seat or its base?

It has come up before in discussions that swiveling the passenger seat around leaves feet too high off the ground. In this 2-year-old pic, you can see that I've used some Valterra stackers as a foot rest.



Now that we have pushed the seat backward to accommodate the dog platform, (a) we are using the seat in the swiveled position far more often, and (b) this height effect is even more pronounced:



Does anyone remember the old commercial aircraft coach seats that had aluminum step-like supports that flipped down for use as footrests and then flipped up out of the way to clear the aisle? Those things were awesome (and they are so old by this time that I cannot find a pic on the internet). I'm trying to figure out if there is a similar product that could be adapted for this application.

The height issue bothers my taller husband more than it bothers me. I prefer to sit upright, so I can make the Valterras work. He prefers to be more reclined, so that option doesn't really get the job done for him.

I don't have good close-ups of the area in question yet. You can tell from the dog pic above that the seat is scooted very far backward. It would be difficult to attach a foot rest to the base itself due to the resulting distance - the moment arm would be considerable. Maybe attach something to the seat apparatus itself, somehow (?).

Pic showing the underside of the seat, but it gives no depth of field sense.



2nd Edit: LB_3 would prefer something that attaches to the base, even if it requires tertiary support due to the moment arm. He notes that, if such a device attaches to the seat, then it will swivel with the seat, which could turn out to be a P.I.T.A. with the seat facing forward.

[InterBlog]

Boats, buses, racecars, motorcycles, airplanes, medical devices, barber shops, bar stools... there are many variations on this foot support theme, but so far, nothing has jumped out and slapped me in the face saying, "THIS is what would work best in the T1N."

[Lotus54]

I have a few ideas of some simple supports.
Let me see how they actually fit on the base and related to the seat and I’ll post up.
(I have the same setup)

Mark