Tractor Seats

[bpence]

GeneP, thanks for the thoughts. I spent the first 25+ years of my life working my Dad's dairy farm and spent eeennndddllleeesss hours in the seat of an IH 1456, Ford 9000 & 5000 as well as a few smaller tractors and the occasional week or two in the seat of a combine. The larger tractors all had the weight adjustable seats with higher backs and the IH had arm rests and would even swivel 45 degrees to either side. You could actually get pretty comfortable in the seat of that thing.

You're right about thinking through what type of seat to use as a replacement. In running the larger machines I became hooked on the high back seats simply because extended hours on the machines will take a toll on anyone's back. And since I just saw the big 50 on my last birthday, I find I need the lumbar support and cushioning some of the adjustable high backs provide. As far as the armrests, I was going to get them 'cause I think they'll be cool. No other practical reason.

The B7100 is typical of the smaller Kubotas in that it doesn't provide much in terms of "ride quality" and the seat really doesn't help that situation much. Most of the hours spent on the little beast are mowing, bush hogging, and grading or moving snow. On this tractor, I can reach the top link if I need to, but can't reach the lower link adjuster from the seat. Still have to get off the tractor to reach that. I guess I'm just looking to improve the comfort for my butt and back while in the saddle.

I'll keep you posted on how things work out.

Bob Pence

 

[W5FL]

Look at the seat on any of the M Series. It is a very comfortable seat with arm rests. You can barely reach the top link from the seat anyway, but a hydraulic top link eliminates that problem. The arm rests are really nice and much better than my previous Massey seat that was well sprung but without the arm rests. A good seat is not going to be found for $100, but they are worth what they charge for a good suspension seat.

 

[richh]

just thought I would let everyone know how I didn't make out "with the new seat" It sounded soooooo good 4" of travle with a shock, great! well the seat look good it just won't fit. Im sure that it would work just fine for most folks 6' and under, but any taller and your going to trade a better seat for cramped leg room. It was a modle 17492 from northen hyd. and I tryed to put it on a L4610. It just won't go back far enough. Back to the drawing board. Any other ideas out there? Maybe a shock for the stock seat?
Rich

 

[MChalkley]

Rich - Sorry it wouldn't work for you. How tall are you, anyway? I'm 6'0", well, I used to be - I'm probably 5'11" by now.

Mine doesn't go back as far as the original was, but it's fine with the steering wheel tilted closer to vertical.

MarkC

 

[Billc]

Mark, the tractor pulling the cup is GREAT!

 

[MChalkley]

Billc - I thought it was highly appropriate. But it never would've happened without Harv making such a big deal of the cup, among other things. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

MarkC

 

[bpence]

After seeing the size of the cup hooked to Mark's tractor I tried to calcualte what it would take to lift a cup that size, full. Near as I can cypher, understanding my cyphering skills are somewhat limited, I don't believe Kubota has produced a tractor / loader combination yet that could hoist THAT CUP.

Bob Pence

 

[MChalkley]

Bob - Why do you think I'm dragging it? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

MarkC

 

[richh]

Mark- well I thought I was 6'6" but you make a good point maybe only 6'5' now? Any way its to tall thats all I know. Most things don't fit, Im kinda used to it by now.
The up side is the tires work great/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif It looks like your draging a 55 gal. drum with a handle on it behind your
tractor? do you realy drink that much coffey??
Rich

 

[bpence]

I finally bought a new seat for the B7100 on Friday nite and my neighbor and I installed it Saturday. It's a suspension seat with 2" to 4" of vertical travel, weight adjustable, high back, and fore/aft adjustment. Although I bought it at the local TSC store, the Northern Tools website has the same basic seat, #17491. I opted for a seat without fold down armrests and went for one that has molded armrest "stubs" that kind of surround your back and inhibit lateral movement. I sat in the seat with armrests and found the one I bought generally more comfortable overall for me, especially the lower back support.

The installation was interesting. I made a 9" x15" plate from 3/4" marine plywood that I mounted (bolted) on the brackets that held the adjustment track for the original seat (I'll probably switch this to a 1/4" steel plate when I get some plate steel). I had to take this approach in order to position the new seat far enough back on the tractor since the front edge of the new seat extended so far in front of it's mounting plate. In fact, the back of the base is mounted against the ROPS posts, although still allowing sufficient room for the suspension system and access to the top link pin. I then bolted the seat adjusting plate to the plywood platform. Not at all difficult, it just took a while to figure out the best way to mount the new seat.

A couple of observations. With the new seat I sit about 1 1/2" - 2" higher than in the original seat. The new seat extends about 2" further into the operator area than the original, even moved as far aft as possible, so some room was compromised. Operator space was initially a concern.

Now, the really great news. The new seat is absolutely, positively, undeniably, and beyond a shadow of a doubt the best $148.39 (plus a few nuts, bolts, washers) that I've spent in a long time. Although it sits slightly higher and a bit of room was compromised, but not enough to really matter, the ride and action of the new seat is at the very least, excellent. My son, who is 6' 3" tried it out and gave it a stamp of approval as well. I'm 6' and found the arrangement to be all I'd hoped it would be. I think I actually like the positioning in relation to the steering wheel better than the original seating position.

Yesterday (Sunday) I spent about 3 hrs. in the afternoon mowing & chopping up leaves before pulling the mower deck off for winter. For the first time since I've owned the B7100 I had two notable experiences: 1) I had support for my lower back while driving. 2) After 3 straight hours in the saddle, I got off the tractor without a stiff back or sore butt. As far as I'm concerned, that seals the deal for me. The only thing that has been adversely affected by the new seat installation is reaching the 4wd lever. It's more difficult now to reach down below the Hi/Lo range lever, but it's not often I switch between 2wd and 4wd, anyway.

My wife thinks the seat looks a bit "big" on the B7100. Maybe it does since the seat is actually designed for larger ag equipment, but it does a nice job on the little Kubota. Frankly, don't care how it looks.

I bought the seat from TSC vs. Northern Tool for a mostly economic reason. Both sold the same basic seat for $139.99. With Northern Tool, adding a shipping charge of $21.68 brought the total to $161.67. At TSC, adding 6% sales tax brought the total to $148.39. And, at TSC I could actually sit in the sample/display seats and see which one fit me the best.

Unlike a lot of folks, I'm somewhat technically challenged and don't have pictures to post, YET. I'm going to borrow a digital camera this weekend and will hopefully have pictures showing the installation next week.

I just wanted all those folks out there considering seat upgrades to know....it can be done with a little thought, ingenuity, and help & advice from your friends. And, it's really worth the $$ and a small time investment in terms of comfort. The only question I've asked myself the past two days is: "Why did you wait so long, dummy?"

Bob Pence