Is it easy to remove seat swivel from '91 Westy?

[pjackman]

My girlfriend is 5'0" and she finds that driving our manual Westy is uncomfortable for her because of the reach required to the pedal and shifter locations. We're wondering if dropping the seat height by removing the swivel might help so I'm wondering how hard this is to do.

[danfromsyr]

you might suggest blocks and at least a shift lever extension.

It can be done, but it requires careful cutting & grinding of the welded on bottom plate.
the OE tracks are down there on the fender, we have done this with a few of our family vans. (we remove the DS swivel and install a PS swivel in all non-westies)

added benefit is you can retain and reinstall the swivel complete, or you can sell the 3 pieces to a tintop camper to improve their vanagon useage.
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[pjackman]

[MidwestDrifter]

It is definitely doable. It will require some steady work with a grinder. If you don't go crazy removed swivel can be welded into a non-westy.
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2004 Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter (Custom Camper)
2000 Jetta TDI
1982 Diesel Westy W/ ABA I4 hybrid (Sold)
Epic Road Tripping since 08/05/12 | http://VagariesAbound.blogspot.com/
My Current Build | http://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41215

[Steve M.]

If you remove it, what is it going to do to your driving position?

As been said easier to add blocks on top of the pedals so they reach her feet.
That way you still have adjustment in the seat from the original position to adjust to fit you.
That said, I am 6'2" and have no problems on a seat without the swivel.

Better to find a Vanagon without a swivel seat in your area and get her to try sitting in it to see if it makes a good difference for her before you do any surgery.

[Howesight]

Is the driver's seat the original Westy seat? Some swap in the Vanagon seat for comfort or to replace a worn-out Westy seat.

Note that the Vanagon seat, designed to be used without a swivel, has a thinner seat pad (which is done to accommodate the loss of headroom created by the swivel mechanism) and also has a longer (front to back) seat bottom.

Platform shoes for your significant other might be easier than pedal blocks and my wife tells me that they are in fashion just now. Mrs. Howesight is 6' tall, so no pedal blocks are needed in our rigs.
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'86 Syncro Westy SVX

[jberger]

[davevickery]

You can apparently just unbolt the swivel parts and leave the welded base in place.

[pjackman]

davevickery, thanks very much for passing that information along. I had written off the idea with all the work implied in earlier posts. noganav's experience backed up by VWinVT's has me keen now to see what I've got underneath when I just slide the driver's seat all the way forward.

[pjackman]

[davevickery]

Bummer, I see what you are saying. I wonder why he thought it would work, it definitely doesn't look like it can.

It is still worth it if you have to cut the welds. I did that on my donor van with a grinder and thin metal cutting wheel. It only took maybe 10 minutes for each seatbase. (put something up to catch the sparks) If you ever want to put it back, just keep it, it can be tacked back down pretty easily. I put the swivel base on my passenger van seat and sold the one for the driver side.

[Robw_z]

Just throwing it out there, having never done this myself, but you can unbolt the rails and cut off the inboard half of each and it'd probably be fine. I've removed a few seat tracks from junkyard seats to use on experimental seats and they cut pretty easily.

-Rob

[pjackman]

[Michael4104]

Removing the swivel may not solve the problem. She may sit to low and have to look though the steering wheel and still not reach the pedals. She may also be to close to the steering wheel for comfort. The best bet is to use blocks as Dan said and you can remove them when you drive. Do a google search, you can find them or just make them yourself.
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1990 Wolfsburg Carat with new poptop.
1985 Westy now sporting a 1995 Jetta ABA 2.0L. Sold