General Ducato Front Seat Replacements

[Phazaar]

Alright, I know this question comes up fairly frequently, but I'm finding myself at a bit of an impasse.

Ideally, if anyone knows where I can get a single passenger seat for a Ducato from (or an LHD driver's seat) for a not-insane amount of money (my local Fiat dealership set the bar at £1300 :bang: ) I would be really grateful.

If that's not possible, I'm giving thought to a seat swap for both the front seats. So my question is does anyone know any that are a relatively straightforward swap, ideally one that would still allow swivels to work? I'm open to a bit of fabrication if necessary, but ideally would rather be following along someone else's build than dropping money on seats I might never make fit!

 

[Peter James]

The passenger seat carries the seat belt mounting so you really do need the right seat for it to be strong enough and MOT approved. Driver's seat will not do for the passenger side because the seat belt mounting reinforcement (and arm rest) is built in to the wrong side.
I got a good single X2/50 passenger seat off ebay about 5 years ago. But it was £250 - and I saw a brand new double passenger seat go for £5.

 

[Joiner]

I am in exactly the same situation.

Have bought a drivers seat with the hope of changing the handing.......

A lot more work than first thought. The armrest will be the easy bit. Remove the seat cover ( after setting the lumber support to suit ) and weld on a new bracket to enable the armrest bracket to fit. Remove the roll pin and change the handing of the armrest.
Now the difficult bit.
I am going to see a lad who is a coded welder to see if he can fabricate the mountings for the seatbelt on the other side and maybe even cut and alter the base to allow for the height of a swivel plate. Also wondered about trying to locate the seat a bit to the left on the base to make more room in the centre of the van for access. Will need to use the seatbelt stalk and pretensioner from the r/h side of the double front seat.

My thinking is that all this work will hopefully still be cheaper than paying the mad prices asked on Ebay for second hand seats. I also bough a LHD seat just over 2 years ago for £165 plus postage and thought myself lucky, then only to put it away with the conversion that I sold because I needed the money...............
I would have thought that it would have been sensible thinking by Isri to design a seat that was not handed to ease production for themselves but obviously not !!

Have seen vans with replacement seats but I suppose you would really need to prowl about a scrappies to see what would fit.
I think I have seen swivel seats from a Ford Galaxy and Kia Sedona used in the past but would think you would need to alter the mounting brackets and also be aware of the seatbelt buckle design.

Oh well, keep trying lads.........................

 

[corcai]

For the seat belt you can bolt a long wire stalk through the floor or bolt a short one to the seat base instead, either is stronger than the rails / seat frame.

I found the galaxy seats are were too high on the ducato bases, you'd have to fabrciate new bases or have the bases cut down..

 

[Joiner]

My idea about the seatbelt was to be able to have a swivel seat. Agree about a floor mounting being stronger if properly braced underneath.

I do wonder at the elaborate fabrications manufacturers create to get to a simple end result.

If not interested in a swivel seat then maybe it is worth looking at some of the aftermarket seats that are available for commercial vehicles and plant. Have seen on a website somewhere a new suspended single seat with armrests for about £300. Not bad considering the asking price of scabby secondhand LHD seats.

Not sure now but it used to be a no cost option to order a new van with 2 single seats.

 

[corcai]

I had a ducato drivers seat as my passenger seat previously on a fasp swivel with a stalk bolted to the base. Only difference in use is you have to reach down a few inches to plug it in. You're not gping to be driving around in a swivelled position so it doesnt need to move with the seat.

 

[Phazaar]

The passenger seat carries the seat belt mounting so you really do need the right seat for it to be strong enough and MOT approved. Driver's seat will not do for the passenger side because the seat belt mounting reinforcement (and arm rest) is built in to the wrong side.
I got a good single X2/50 passenger seat off ebay about 5 years ago. But it was £250 - and I saw a brand new double passenger seat go for £5.

£250 would be a steal for what I'm seeing! I'd pay £400 in a heartbeat if it was just a straight swap

The drivers seat point was about LHD seats - these are a straight swap for the passenger seat since they mount on the same points and have seatbelts/armrests on the correct side

 

[Joiner]

I can completely understand your point about the seatbelt and swivel thing Corcai but I thought it would keep the original look and keep the stalk out from among your feet. i might even find another armrest and use the original mountings to then have 2 on the passenger seat, which would be the only swivel one and would be better for the layout I want for the camper element.

Talking about how the costs of seats has risen I can hardly believe how much half decent vans are holding their value. I sold a van more than 2 years ago and it is still worth what I got for it today. What a job I had finding an L4H2 van to convert that wasn`t bashed to bits or had super galactic miles on it at anything like a reasonable cost. Ended up with a Relay but there is more reasoning to that story.......