Ford E-Series seat swivel options?

[Hound]

Howdy all,

We recently acquired another E-Series van and I am looking to install seat swivels ASAP. Front seats are both manual so both should be able to convert into swivels. My research produced two options (happy to hear of any others you all may know of):

Ford E-Series Swivel Seat Base

The Ford E-Series Swivel Seat Base allows you to rotate your seat 180 degrees to face the rear of the van. Works for E-Series van model year 1997-present.

shop.fieldvan.com

Swivel Seat Bases for Vans | RV's

Within seconds, you can have an instant "living room" or office in your rig (including cutaways) or motor home when you rotate your passenger and / or driver's seat with the swivel seat base. Convert a "dead" area into valuable, comfortable, living / usable space — these swivel seat bases are...

www.blingmyrig.com

If I understand correctly, the blingmyrig seat swivels are made by a member here and were what Sportsmobile used when they built E-Series vans. So far I have not been able to find any info about the fieldvan option. Can anyone here shed any light on the differences (i.e. swivel footprint, change to seat height, safety testing, ect.? Any and all info on E-Series swivels would be welcome.

 

[Raul]

I believe I have used on both of my vans the one from Blingmyrig. the user name is 1der or something like it. I used only the passenger side. I like them, easy to use, not a significant change in seat location or height (maybe a little bit taller). On my newer van, I was able to use the base with the front seats of an Audi A4 with little modifications.
I have not crash-tested them (knock on wood), but they seem well-constructed and sturdy. I'm sure they will not be as strong as the original bases, but you have to compromise.
Having them makes a big difference when camping.

 

[motovan_mn]

The blingmyrig swivels seem to be the go-to over on sportsmobileforum.com

They have a very thorough installation guide and I was able to install my passenger side swivel with no issues. I have a power driver side so I know I will need to make some modifications... Just need to find some time to dig into it.

Can't comment on safety testing, but my mechanical engineering "FEA goggles" tell me the swivel base does not take the bulk of the load in a crash scenario. I'm not concerned about the swivel base failing.

 

[Raul]

Don’t want to turn this into tech considerations of seat belts, but I think you are not considering that the seatbelt buckle is bolted to the base. out of the three point of the belt, two are on one side, bolted to the body, the other side is the base.

 

[Daviticus]

The seatbelt buckle on the 97+ Econolines is on the bottom of the seat, and stays with the seat when it rotates. You shouldn't be operating the vehicle with the seats turned around, so the seatbelt point is moot.

I install Discount Van-Truck swivels on a fairly regular basis, with OE and Scheel-Mann seats. In my experience, the Econoline swivels are the only quality component they make (Your mileage or experiences may vary). I have also installed Amazing Auto LLC (SprinterSwivel.com) in Chevys and Sprinters, and I really like their design, however they lift the seat by just shy of 2", which may make-or-break your install. For shorter folks it can work.

-EDIT-

After looking at the links in the original post, the Field Vans swivel looks IDENTICAL to the units I install from Discount Van-Truck, which now has me questioning who builds what. I am lead to believe that DVT gets their hardware from whoever builds Field Vans' units.

I've been given some internal insight that during the pandemic, someone had ordered stock of Field Vans swivels and they had DVT barcodes / part numbers on them. Guess that settles who is the manufacturer. That all said, I like those swivels and have experience installing them. They keep the seat in the stock location.

 

[Ozarker]

Just bolt it down! Simple!

 

[motovan_mn]

Don’t want to turn this into tech considerations of seat belts, but I think you are not considering that the seatbelt buckle is bolted to the base. out of the three point of the belt, two are on one side, bolted to the body, the other side is the base.

Good point, I had forgotten about that aspect. I take back everything I said! Well, not everything. I still maintain that the swivels seem well built.