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Swivel Seat Brackets?

dbreid

dbreid

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I have no idea what made me think about this, but I was wondering if any of the GMC or Chevy Vans with front swivelling captains chairs had the seat bottoms that might fit in the front of my 1989 Suburban....

I am planning do do a bunch of camping this summer and will be taking the Suburban. For whatever reason, I thought it would be cool to have the passenger seat swivel 180 degrees to point towards the back when parked. I was looking at the way some VW vans and other conversion vans do this, and wondered what it would take to make the burban do that...

I would prefer to keep the seats themselves, but could modify or swap brackets if there was some way to do that.

Thoughts?

-Dan
 
IIRC, the Burb buckets sit way low on the floor hump, different from Blazer buckets, and there's not enough room there to put a swivel.

OTOH, I could be wrong...

-- A
 
I am back to thinking about this... I went camping in the rain, and while we hung out in the Suburban and stayed dry (I have a bed in it, etc), I was wishing those seats swivelled...

I have thought about Vanagon type seats. Those swivel, and the mechanism is flat, so I could just mold it into the floor and re-mount the factory sliders on that. But I worry that the ceter console would get in the way as the seats tried to swivel?

Just thinking out loud...
 
Alrighty. This idea festered in my mind for a long, long time. A little while back I decided to actually do something about it. I went to a VW Camper Van supply place on a slow day, and worked with the guys there to measure out and look at how their camper swivels actually worked. I wound up buying a new (Factory VW) pair of swivels, because they looked like they would hold up.

I had measured, and I was pretty sure they would work.

I have a friend (shop) who is a much better welder and fabricator than I am (doesn't take a whole lot!) and we brainstormed a little, and decided that we could take the tracks off the seat bottom, and build an adapter plate, and sandwich in the swivel mechanism.

This means that we can swivel the seats without having to slice into the floorpan (which would have meant all kinds of new carpet, etc etc.)

There's no way it will work with the center console intact, so I removed that.

So we mocked it up (not really bolted together) and it definitely works. It will be close to the doors, meaning it it possible that I will have to open the door slightly to get the swivel to go. But it is definitely gonna work.

My friend is making the final adapter plate now, and hopefully I'll have pictures to show soon.

-Dan
 
Any more info on the swivels, part number and cost? I have an 82 bus and was thinking about doing it on that. I have been searching bone yards and no luck so far.

Thanks
Mike
 
I remember a 70's olds or Pontiac my bud had that had swivels in it a long time ago.. a GM car, not a van or anything...
 
I had a '74 Monte-Carlo with swivel bucket seats,factory...my dad loved them,it was the only car he could get in and out of without assistance after parkinson's disease messed his legs up..he wanted me to put the car on the road,but I had bought it only for the 454 engine and TH400 tranny--

..Looking back I was dumb,it was a pretty nice car,hardly any rust,and it was black inside & out,ran decent,should have not parted it out --I still have the tranny from it..car would be worth a lot today probably--it ended up being used as an ice racer in NH..:doah:..paid 500 bucks for it,I thought that was a bargain..engine ran OK,but had non foulers on the rear cylinders,it needed valve guides and stem seals..

I dont know if seats like the ones that car had would be adaptable to a Burb,but they did sit low to the floor,like they would have too in a Suburban..the swivel pedastals on a GM van seat or aftermarket ones sit about 9" off the floor,so you would have to chop them down a lot to work..
I wouldn't mind having swivel buckets instead of the "fixed" ones,but I would not want to lose the center console..
 
Here's a couple shots with them swiveled. Note that I have the larger (driver side) rear bench removed in this picture. Also, the shiny stuff is my heat shielding under the carpet.

e9aguden.jpg
ubudapyt.jpg
 
Note no center console. Also note that because of the steering wheel, the drivers seat doesn't go 180. But the mechanism does. I might do a removable wheel?
 
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