Swiveling Driver Seat

I can't seem to find any combination of positions with the seat and the wheel to allow my driver seat to clear the steering wheel and face the rear. Is this just a "feature" or am I doing it wrong? This is in my '09 Sightseer 35J with a Ford chassis (maybe the WH has more steering wheel tilt?).

Thanks,
John

In my 2003 the drill is
1 seat all the way back
2 tilt the wheel all the way up
3 rotate seat 90* clockwise
4 fold seat back forward
5 as you rotate seat the rest of the way slide seat all the way forward.

it is a bit like one of those brain twister puzzles but it can be done

Wayne

You aren't doing anything wrong, most drivers seats will never face the rear.

I'm afraid Tom is right. The best we can do in our Ultimate (Spartan Chassis) is to get the driver seat to face very slightly to rear of center.  The passenger seat will rotate all the way around, but then it makes it a little more difficult to get in and out of the coach via the fron entry door!

I have a 35J.  It can't be done   Been there, done that...we just use it sideways and that works fine for TV viewing.

Getting our driver's seat turned around is a bit like a Chinese puzzle, but after some fiddling both chairs can be turned around completely aft.

Mc2guy said:

I have a 35J.  It can't be done   Been there, done that...we just use it sideways and that works fine for TV viewing.

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That's what I thought. It's a poor design, especially for just sitting around. With our TV up front, I've reclined it facing forward to watch TV. Note to those who might do that: make sure you don't have the seat reclined any at all when it's time to bring the living room slide in! BTDT, but didn't damage anything that one time.

Wayne is correct, at least in my 06 Ford Voyage, I can turn the seat around with his method BUT I cannot sit in it as when I try to put the seat back upright it hits the steering wheel so no one could sit in it. It would need longer sliding tracts to be of any good. But thanks any way Wayne at least I got it facing in the rear direction! (yes I had the seat all the way aft) Art

We need a Nascar style racing steering wheel that comes off with the press of a button!  That'd fix it. ;D

John Canfield said:

Getting our driver's seat turned around is a bit like a Chinese puzzle, but after some fiddling both chairs can be turned around completely aft.

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                I agree with John,  we turn both seats around but I can't say it isn't a chore.
                                                                                                               

I can see why this is Winnebago speccific, every other coach spins easily.  (g)

I just turn them sideways.

You're not alone.  I too, also came to the forum for help in getting mine turned around.  I tried EVERYTHING.  And I know it turned around cause it showed it like that in the 'for sale' photo.  Don't remember who helped me, but what Wayne says is absolutely correct.  I now can turn mine all the way around facing the rear of the coach. 

Ruth

John Canfield said:

Getting our driver's seat turned around is a bit like a Chinese puzzle, but after some fiddling both chairs can be turned around completely aft.

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Our first two Winnebago MH's I could not find a way to turn the drivers seat around.  Our 2008 Voyage is a chore, but it will turn around if you work at it long enough.

There is no way  the drivers seat on my Sightseer can be turned completely around and still be used as a seat. The back will be tipped so far that it is very uncomfortable. It can be be turned far enough to be used as a guest seat though.

Our seats swivel just fine................hummmmmmmmmmm 2007 Adventurer

tallyo said:

Our seats swivel just fine................hummmmmmmmmmm 2007 Adventurer

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Same here, probably because ours is also a 2007 Adventurer. Takes a little adjustment from driver position but nothing excessive.

I solved that problem by replacing the front seats with captain chairs from a Chrysler Town & Country. They are more comfortable than the original seats, very slim and compact and best of all, they are leather and match perfectly with the interior colors in my coach. Now I have room, not only to swivel the seats 360 degrees, but I can also recline them. ;D

used to swivel my captains chairs all the way around in my old chevy van too.
It was definately a chore and I can't really remember the combination of the
process but it was something like making sure the seat back was straight upright,
then sliding it back and pulling the pin that would allow it to swivel, then sliding
again and setting the seatback where I wanted it. It definately was a chinese
puzzle but we DID do it, in fact I had a little table made over the dog house and
I sat there and enjoyed my breakfast many times.

We had the same challenge when we bought our first Winnie, an '08 Voyage 32H, also on the Ford chassis. The dealer said the driver's seat wouldn't swivel all the way around and we sure couldn't make it happen. Then, at a campground, a former Winnie owner checked out our rig and asked why our driver's seat wasn't turned around. When we said it wouldn't, he said "Sure, it will...they all do!" Then, he went about contorting the seat and it swiveled around.

Last weekend, a dealer brought a '10 Vista on a Ford chassis to our Winnie club outing for an open house. One club member said, "I really like it, but...the driver's seat won't turn." I repeated the words we heard a couple of years ago, "Sure, it will...they all do!" I contorted the seat and it swiveled around.

I posted these instructions on another forum way back when. I hope they help.

1. Start with the seat as low and far forward as it will go, and the steering wheel as far up as possible. The left arm rest should be down.
2. Flip the switch to unlock the seat and rotate it clockwise until the seatback clears the seat belt and bar. When the seat has rotated 90 degrees, stop.
3. Move the seat back as far as it will go. And, flip the lever to pull the seatback as forward as possible. Keep the armrest down.
4. Rotate the seat clockwise in this position until the armrest clears the bottom of the steering wheel.
5. Keeping the seatback flipped forward, move the seat forward as far as it will go and rotate clockwise until the seatback clears the steering wheel.
6. Flip the seatback back and rotate the seat into desired lounging/TV viewing position.

The keys are:
* moving the seat back in Step 3 (that seems very counter-intuitive)
* keeping the armrest down to clear the steering wheel
* moving the seat up for the seatback to clear the steering wheel.

For some reason, it seems to go back much more smoothly!

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Good luck,

Mary

Mary
You helped me get it turned around! I have a 2006 Voyage. Thanks. The first time I tried it I thought I had pushed the seat all the way aft, but It was not all the way back & the seat hit the steering wheel. I am attaching 2 photos. The dinette slide is still in as I didn't want to put the slide out just for the photos. Again thanks. Art