Promaster Seat Swivel Install in a DIY RV Camper Van

Promaster Seat Swivel Install in a DIY RV:

In order to have additional seating and usable living space for our floor plan in our DIY RV Promaster van, we opted to install Promaster seat swivels on both seats. Swivel seats are an option on the Promaster, but it is rare to find vans with that option without ordering the van special.

There are a few manufacturers of seat swivels, and some look more like a garage or workshop homemade part. We opted for a well-known and trusted swivel by CTA. These are available from US dealers, but the cost is nearly $300 per swivel! We contacted Leisure Lines in the UK, and we were able to acquire two CTA Promaster (Ducato) seat swivels for about $390 total, saving us nearly $200. Note that we had to contact them first to get a shipping quote before placing our order.

Since my height puts my line of sight near the top of the windshield, and considering that the swivel would add almost 1.5 inches to the seat height, we opted to install a lower seat base from Sportscraft on the driver side at the same time. Our lower base came from Eurocampers at a cost of around $275. This lower base will keep the overall seat height nearly the same as before the modifications.

When installing the new Promaster CTA seat swivel, the existing seat and track must first be removed. We started with the passenger side seat. There are six T-40 torx bolts holding the seat and track to the base. After removing these bolts, the wiring connectors under the seat must be disconnected before moving the seat off the base. Be sure to disconnect the negative side of the battery with the quick-release clamp before disconnecting wiring, since some of the wiring goes to airbags. The battery access panel is under the driver side floor area.

Promaster seat mounting bolts shown circled in yellow above.

After the seat is removed, the new swivel assembly is placed onto the seat base and attached with the original six T-40 torx bolts. Be sure that the swivel is oriented correctly. There is a ‘up’ side and a ‘down’ side. The CTA logo on the red release handle should be visible on the top side when installed.

The yellow circle indicates swivel mount to base with original bolts. The red circles indicate seat track mount to swivel with new bolts provided with the seat swivel.

After the swivel is bolted down, feed the seat wiring through the hole in the swivel and set the seat onto the swivel assembly. The swivel should come with six sets of hardware to bolt the seat down through the track using the original bolt holes. The swivel and seat can be rotated 30 or 45 degrees to make attaching the hardware easier. Once everything is tightened and torqued down, the next task is to reconnect the seat wiring. Connect all three (on the passenger side) wire connectors, and then use small zip ties to tie the wiring back to the seat frame and keep it out of the way. This completes the first, and in our case, the passenger side work.

Moving to the driver side, we removed the seat and disconnected wiring in the same manner as the passenger side. Then, we needed to remove the plastic side trim from each side of the Promaster driver side original seat base. The metal screws can be removed with a T-20 torx bit. In addition, the parking brake mounting bracket also was removed with a T-40 torx bit. This left only the seat base bolted to the van floor. We removed the front two bolts, and then removed the base. The back mounting studs fit into a keyhole opening in the original base.

We found that the new Sportscraft Promaster lower seat base would not easily fit over the rear mounting studs if they were fully tightened down. We loosened the rear mounting studs with a T-55 torx bit, which allowed the new base to fit over the rear mounting studs and be bolted down with the original two front bolts.

Photo above shows socket with an extension used to reach and tighten the torx T-55 back mounting studs after installing the new, lower base.

After securing the new, lower seat base, we bolted the parking brake bracket to the new seat base. The location is lower than on the original base, so you may need to push some of the cable down through the floor in order to get the bracket to line up with the mounting holes. This also keeps the lowered brake handle below the swivel to allow it to turn properly. The one more difficult task if installing a lower base is to modify the side plastic trim in order to get it to fit below the seat swivel and attach with screws into the new base. Our video below provides much more detail on this process.

After spending some time to trim and mount the plastic panels, we installed the driver side seat and reconnected the wiring just as before. We again used zip ties to tie back the wiring under the driver seat and keep it from getting caught on anything stored under the seat. Be sure to leave enough slack in the wiring so that the seat will swivel freely. Also note that the seat will need to swivel back to normal in the reverse direction so that wiring will not become twisted over time.

We are very happy with our seat swivels and the addition seating a space it will provide when parked or camping in the RV. The lower floor behind the seats will require us to build some kind of higher foot rest, but we will use this for additional storage in our RV van. I hope this information is helpful for anyone else wishing to install a CTA seat swivel and Sportscraft lower base in their Promaster / Ducato DIY RV van.

A list of the tools and items used in the projects, along with links to purchase, is included below:

• CTA Seat Swivel – the same swivel fits either side
• Sportscraft Lower Seat Base – the same base fits either side
• Torx T-40 Bit – to removed the seat mounting bolts and parking brake bracket
• Torx T-20 Bit – to removed the plastic side seat trim
• Torx T-55 Bit – to loosen the rear seat base mounting studs
• Hack Saw – to trim or cut the plastic seat bsae
• Dewalt Drill Bit Set – to drill pilot holes in the base for trim screws
• Cordless Drill / Driver – to drill pilot holes in the base for trim screws
• Screws – #8 Self Tapping – alternate way to drill screw pilot holes
• Zip Ties – for attach excess wiring to the seat base frame

We also have produced a Youtube video detailing the CTA Promaster seat swivel install that provides more detail. Click the image below to view the video.

Happy Trails…