Armadillo Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 We have recently had our Mark 7 transit van converted into a campervan, but we would like the drivers seat to swivel. We have bought the swivel plates, and have tried to raise the seat to allow for the swivel to pass over the handbrake, but it's not possible. All the professionally built motorhomes we have seen on Transits have the handbrake to the right of the drivers seat. Does anyone know where we can have this modification carried out please? It would make such a difference . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 The standard position for a Transit handbrake is central, to the left (on RHD vehicles) of the driver's seat. Having the handbrake to the right of the driver's seat (ie. in the driver's door foot-well) is a factory-fitted option offered by Ford to motorcaravan manufacturers. It was originally introduced for Mk 6 Transits, where it freed up some space between the cab-seats even though the central gear-change lever remained obstructive. In principle, you should be able to obtain all the necessary bits from a Ford dealer to allow you to carry out the modification you are interested in. However, all the Transit-based motorhomes I've encountered with their handbrake in the driver's door foot-well have been FWD and I'm guessing that your van conversion is RWD. Not sure if this would matter, but it's worth saying. I'm sure I've seen (fairly recently in a French motorhome magazine) an 'adapter' being advertised to lower the height of a centrally-located Transit handbrake to permit a swivelled seat to pass over it. I'll see if I can find the reference when I have a moment, but the product may well not be available in the UK. The usual ploy when a central handbrake gets in the way of a swivelling seat is to put the vehicle in gear and then lower the handbrake lever before swivelling the seat. That, of course, means the handbrake is no longer on when the seat is swivelled, but this never seemed to worry owners of 1990s Auto-Sleepers Legends (etc.) It would appear from the following video clip that Transits have pretty powerful handbrakes - either that or the driver of the van in the video has arms like a gorilla: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armadillo Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 The van is indeed RWD. Releasing the handbrake does still not allow seat to swivel, and a 6'4" driver does not want to sit any higher up either. I can read french, so that article sounds as if it would be interesting if you can find it please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Just to add that our Mk 6 Transit twin RWD had the handbrake in the driver's footwell (right hand drive). :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 You can buy a new bracket for a T5, and even a Merc, it might be worth calling to see if they can do one for a Transit? http://www.autohausvw.co.uk/seats-seats-extras/ http://www.campervanconversion.co.uk/shop/c/seat-swivels/p/mercedes-sprinter-pre-2007-seat-swivel-handbrake-adapter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 My A/S windsor on 2.4L mk7 2008 RWD has the factory fitted motorhome handbrake in the drivers footwell. I know that it was factory fitted because I looked up the vin etc on Ford Etis site. Mine only has a swivel fitted to the passenger seat because a swivel on the drivers seat would mean removing the drivers seat to be able to maintain the 2 underseat batteries. I am however considering buying sealed batteries when the originals fail and then fitting a swivel to the drivers seat. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Sorry double clicked submit Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 mike 202 - 2011-08-07 6:09 PM My A/S windsor on 2.4L mk7 2008 RWD has the factory fitted motorhome handbrake in the drivers footwell. I know that it was factory fitted because I looked up the vin etc on Ford Etis site. Mine only has a swivel fitted to the passenger seat because a swivel on the drivers seat would mean removing the drivers seat to be able to maintain the 2 underseat batteries. I am however considering buying sealed batteries when the originals fail and then fitting a swivel to the drivers seat. Mike There is a swivel seat mechanism that still allows you to maintain the batteries under it ... I saw it on the web the other day when I was looking for a swivel table leg, but can't remember where I'm afraid!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Armadillo - 2011-08-07 11:01 AM The van is indeed RWD. Releasing the handbrake does still not allow seat to swivel, and a 6'4" driver does not want to sit any higher up either. I can read french, so that article sounds as if it would be interesting if you can find it please. I finally found the (small) article in the July 2010 issue of Le Monde du Camping-car. The modification kit (basically a plate that attaches to the side of the driver's 'seat box' and to which the original Ford handbrake mechanism is then fixed) is made by SCOPEMA and the quoted price was 20€. It's mentioned on http://www.campingcar-bricoloisirs.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3173 but I can't find any reference to a "kit d'abaissement du frein a main" (or anything similar) on the Scopema website http://scopema.com/ The photo in the French magazine shows the adapter-plate bolted to the right-hand side of what's clearly the driver's seat-box of a LHD Transit, which makes me wonder whether the plate would actually be suitable for a RHD Transit. However, the photo does confirm that (although it might still be necessary to lower the handbrake to rotate the seat even after the adapter-plate had been fitted) the top of the re-positioned handbrake mechanism would be well below the base of a seat-swivel. Suggest you contact SCOPEMA for more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Mel B - 2011-08-07 6:17 PM There is a swivel seat mechanism that still allows you to maintain the batteries under it ... I saw it on the web the other day when I was looking for a swivel table leg, but can't remember where I'm afraid!!! It would be useful if you could dredge back through your History files to see if you can find the reference. (I find it difficult to visualise a seat swivel that would be both sturdy enough to be safe and allow sufficient access to the batteries to maintain them.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Armadillo - 2011-08-07 11:01 AM The van is indeed RWD. Releasing the handbrake does still not allow seat to swivel, and a 6'4" driver does not want to sit any higher up either. I can read french, so that article sounds as if it would be interesting if you can find it please. You might also try contacting the Campervan Conversion people as their webpage about fitting a seat-swivel to Transits http://www.campervanconversion.co.uk/shop/c/seat-swivels/p/ford-transit-seat-swivel-2004on includes the paragraph "Campervan Conversion DIY Difficulty: 2/5 for passenger side, 3/5 for drivers side. Note that we haven't had any difficulties reported with this model, but the drivers side swivel can be more difficult to fit (though still highly achievable by most DIY enthusiasts) since you sometimes have to mount the handbrake lower down on the floor on a bracket provided. This sometimes involves trimming the plastic seat covering as well as re-adjusting the handbrake cable after fitting." If they could supply you with the "bracket" mentioned in that paragraph, this might do what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armadillo Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 Thank you all for your replies. I have emailed Scopema and also Campervanconversions to see if they sell this kit. Fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armadillo Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Email received back from campervan conversions. it is a mistake on their website and they do not sell anything for a transit. No reply from the french one yet. Anyone any other ideas PLEASE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Hi Angela Marcle Leisure show a Transit Seat Swivel on their website http://www.marcleleisure.co.uk/store/seat-swivels-ford-c-25_142.html So it may be worth giving them a call, to see if they have a solution for the handbrake problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 flicka - 2011-08-10 10:10 PM Hi Angela Marcle Leisure show a Transit Seat Swivel on their website http://www.marcleleisure.co.uk/store/seat-swivels-ford-c-25_142.html So it may be worth giving them a call, to see if they have a solution for the handbrake problem. The Marcle Leisure FASP-branded swivel-plate for Year 2000 onwards (Mk 6/Mk 7) Transits is suitable only for the left-hand seat (ie. the passenger-seat on RHD vehicles). See: http://www.marcleleisure.co.uk/store/seat-swivel-plate-ford-transit-from-2000-fasp-p-790.html?cPath=25_142&osCsid=b686e8df3e310b844a85db169d973b7e I suspect that the SCOPEMA 'drop plate' may be the only commercially-available product designed to lower a between-the-cab-seats Transit Mk6/Mk 7 hand-brake to allow a driver's-seat swivel base to pass over it. As there are relatively few Mk 6/Mk 7 Transit-based motorhomes with a between-the-cab-seats handbrake and where the motorhome owner will wish to swivel the driver's seat, a lowering device won't have mass-market appeal. The SCOPEMA device's concept seems straightforward enough and, at 20€ for the kit, is clearly not expensive high-tech. Consequently, it might be possible for a small UK metal-working firm to produce a one-off copy for not too much cash. There seem to be only two viable options - either relocate the hand-brake to the foot-well as in the Ford factory-fitted arrangement (which is an unknown quantity regarding difficulty and cost) or lower the between-seats hand-brake enough to clear the swivel-base. As Mk 6/Mk 7 Transit seats are high enough to begin with, and even higher when swivels are added, blocking up the seat-swivel to provide the necessary clearance will be a non-starter. Besides which, if the seat-swivel were blocked up by more than a few millimetres, I doubt that a driver's thighs would fit beneath the seat-cushion and steering wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 In theory at least, the parts to relocate the handbrake should be available from Ford. Much of the detail of what is possible in converted vehicles is contained in the BEMM manual which is downloadable from the Ford ETIS site. I've taken the liberty of copying the most obvious page below. As there may be a significant number of parts, and also some wiring to extend, I suspect this will not necessarily be cheap, but patently it would be a reasonably neat and endorsed solution. (and as mine came from new with the relocated handbrake and swivels, I can vouch for the useability). If you were to progress this, I would suggest any contact through a Ford dealer should be via a Transit specialist (or of course, through the email supplied on the page). In addition, there are many hits on the web on lowering the handbrake in-situ (but the usual suspects for info seem to be playing their cards close to their chests - www.motorcaravanning.co.uk for instance will refer you to a workshop, but only if you bought from them). You might try somoene like http://www.jennings-seats.co.uk/ for info, as they are a major stockist/importers of swivels, and also mention the need to lower the handbrake. You may also find the following post gives some more insight http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=55156 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazooka Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 The drivers seat swivel on my mk 6 transit clears the handbrake( and in gear when released)but its too much hassle.the seat has to be slid right back, the door opened if you have armrests,the seat tilted up at the front,I am 5ft 9 and close on the limit for knee room,its not worth the hassle.Nu-venture-campers did theswivel on my then new 2004 Sorrento. Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armadillo Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 We never had a reply from Scopema. My wife had an inspired idea to contact a converter who specialises in Transits and we are having it done at Horizons on Wednesday. Seemed the easiiest solution in the end. A big thank you to all who contributed your ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentech Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Please follow this link http://bilpart.ru/ford/parts/manufactur/ford/year/2006/model/117/group/1799939/shared/0 Takes a will to load, then use google translate. It has all the transit Hanebrake lever numbers the last two letters in the part number depicting witch seat and what side of the seat it attaches to. hope this is of help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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