Fitting a swivel to your VW Transporter drivers seat?

As is often the way in the world of campervans, it's not quite as straight forward as you might think. The main issue you'll find is that the handbrake (even when released) sits higher than your the metal seat base in your van. If you fit a swivel on top of the seat base it will crash into your handbrake when you attempt to rotate your seat. This is a problem!

Realistically you have 3 options to get around the issue:

Option 1: Use a RIB swivel

These drivers side swivels include a pair of 20mm spacer bars which raise your swivel and seat up a bit higher. The extra height is sufficient to just clear the handbrake.

However... you are now stuck with a seat that is, in total, 45mm higher than originally designed by VW. You will also find that your handbrakes plastic trim may also need to be removed in order to gain a couple of of extra millimeters clearance.

Option 2: Fit a handbrake lowering kit

Typically these are supplied by the swivel manufacturer (e.g. Sportscraft). By removing your handbrake and refitting it at a lower height, you'll have space to rotate your seat without it hitting your brake lever.

Option 3: KIRAVANS SOLUTION

So Kiravans have created, what we believe is, the perfect handbrake lowering kit:

• It includes new vacuum-formed plastic trim cover for your handbrake bracket
• 4mm steel bracket to avoid any flexing
• All the nuts, bolts and cable protection you'll need to fit it in 10 minutes
• It's compatible with every single swivel on the market & with our Double Seat Swivel

If you want to use a RIB drivers swivel with our lowering kit the great news is that you can now remove the spacer bars and drop your seat down by 20mm! 

The handbrake lowering kit is compatible with the VW Transporter T5, T6 & T6.1.