charlz
Elite Member
The seat on my old b7100 badly needed replacing, it had no cushion/cover, was badly cracked and the mounting was worn so it was really sloppy. My back would be aching after a few hours of seat time. I also have a backhoe for my tractor and the 'seat adapter' interfered with the lift arms so I had to use chains. With chains you can't level implements left to right making things like a back blade a pain. I wanted 1) a new seat 2) to be able to use the solid lift arms 3) keep the ability to spin the seat around for backhoe work.
Here is what the old seat adapter looked like, I never used it to raise the seat for backhoe operation and neither did the previous owner(s) as one of them bent the locking tabs over (the center would lift and the two tabs would be secured by the pin at the rear of the adapter):
This what was under the seat adapter.
These are the materials:
3/16" plate 4" x 10.5"
1/4" plate 6" x 6"
1/4" bar 1" x 3.5" (qty 2)
2.5" of 3" OD DOM tube 1/4 wall
2.5" of 2.5 OD DOM tube 1/4 wall
Not pictured are a quick release pin I ordered from Reid Supply, they were half the price of McMaster. The seat is a 'universal fit' I ordered from Tractor Supply.
The 4" plate was bent so it could bolt to the original location on the hyd block. The 1" pieces were used to make brackets in the rear. I ended up cutting them down quite a bit. The 2.5" tubing I had turned down a few thousandths so it would fit inside the 3" tubing. The idea being the two tubes would provide the pivot. I drilled holes in the tubing and welded on a quick release pin to make pivoting the seat easy. The cross piece that keeps the fenders from bending out was flipped around and moved to a second set of existing holes... worked out perfectly.
Here is a shot of how it looked tacked up on the tractor:
The 6" x 6" piece was welded under the seat along with the 2.5" tubing for the upper part of the pivot.
The seat ended up being 1 or 2 inches higher than I would have liked but clearance for spinning was required so not much choice. I originally took the sliding mechanism off the seat to save some height but had to put it back on as the seat would be too close to the backhoe for operation after turning it around. Here are a few shots of the finished product:
Under the seat shot. The 3pt lever on the right side is what caused most of the clearance problems. I could have re-worked it to make it lower and closer to the fender but since I don't have a bandsaw to cut the two pieces of tubing down I decided to just leave as is and live with the slightly higher seat. I did have to cut about 2 inches off the plate the seat slides on so that it would clear the lever when spun around.
And here is a shot of the seat spun around and slid back against the steering wheel for maximum leg room when the backhoe is in operation.
Overall I think I am pretty happy with the results.... time will tell. I did lose the ability to flip the seat but I can also take it off very easily.
Here is what the old seat adapter looked like, I never used it to raise the seat for backhoe operation and neither did the previous owner(s) as one of them bent the locking tabs over (the center would lift and the two tabs would be secured by the pin at the rear of the adapter):
This what was under the seat adapter.
These are the materials:
3/16" plate 4" x 10.5"
1/4" plate 6" x 6"
1/4" bar 1" x 3.5" (qty 2)
2.5" of 3" OD DOM tube 1/4 wall
2.5" of 2.5 OD DOM tube 1/4 wall
Not pictured are a quick release pin I ordered from Reid Supply, they were half the price of McMaster. The seat is a 'universal fit' I ordered from Tractor Supply.
The 4" plate was bent so it could bolt to the original location on the hyd block. The 1" pieces were used to make brackets in the rear. I ended up cutting them down quite a bit. The 2.5" tubing I had turned down a few thousandths so it would fit inside the 3" tubing. The idea being the two tubes would provide the pivot. I drilled holes in the tubing and welded on a quick release pin to make pivoting the seat easy. The cross piece that keeps the fenders from bending out was flipped around and moved to a second set of existing holes... worked out perfectly.
Here is a shot of how it looked tacked up on the tractor:
The 6" x 6" piece was welded under the seat along with the 2.5" tubing for the upper part of the pivot.
The seat ended up being 1 or 2 inches higher than I would have liked but clearance for spinning was required so not much choice. I originally took the sliding mechanism off the seat to save some height but had to put it back on as the seat would be too close to the backhoe for operation after turning it around. Here are a few shots of the finished product:
Under the seat shot. The 3pt lever on the right side is what caused most of the clearance problems. I could have re-worked it to make it lower and closer to the fender but since I don't have a bandsaw to cut the two pieces of tubing down I decided to just leave as is and live with the slightly higher seat. I did have to cut about 2 inches off the plate the seat slides on so that it would clear the lever when spun around.
And here is a shot of the seat spun around and slid back against the steering wheel for maximum leg room when the backhoe is in operation.
Overall I think I am pretty happy with the results.... time will tell. I did lose the ability to flip the seat but I can also take it off very easily.