Improving the Seat & Ride

[rScotty]

It's was easy to make simple improvements to the Kubota seat.
The original seat was low, tilted too far forward, and rode too stiff. It made for a jolting ride over small bumps, and bottomed out over large ones.
The nice thing about the original seat is that being so simple makes it easy to improve.

The cost in time & money to improve the seat was near nothing, and the improvement was dramatic.

The downside is that it's now enough better that I haven't spent that $1K to buy the air ride seat I originally promised myself.....

The bolts are from Home Depot's metric assortment, and the rubber spacers from the junk box. HD or the local hardware store probably has something similar.
If not, Mcmaster.com has a huge assortment of rubber spacers & bumpers. Search under their "rubber bumpers" for the perfect part, but almost anything works.

Oh... also.....In the center of the front of the seat you can see a wood block I added to raise the seat safety switch to the new level.
Knowing what I do now about the M59 and it's peculiar pedal layout, I should have simply defeated the switch by plugging the wires togther.
rScotty

 

[Blue14]

:thumbsup:

It's was easy to make simple improvements to the Kubota seat.
The original seat was low, tilted too far forward, and rode too stiff. It made for a jolting ride over small bumps, and bottomed out over large ones.
The nice thing about the original seat is that being so simple makes it easy to improve it.

The cost in time & money to improve the seat was near nothing, and the improvement was dramatic.

The downside is that it's now enough better that I haven't spent that $1K to buy the air ride seat I originally promised myself.....

The bolts are from Home Depot's metric assortment, and the rubber spacers from the junk box. HD or the local hardware store probably has something similar.
If not, Mcmaster.com has a huge assortment of rubber spacers & bumpers. Search under their "rubber bumpers" for the perfect part, but almost anything works.

Oh... also.....In the center of the front of the seat you can see a wood block I added to raise the seat safety switch to the new level.
Knowing what I do now about the M59 and it's peculiar pedal layout, I should have simply defeated the switch by plugging the wires togther.
rScotty

Nice :thumbsup:

 

[Smokeydog]

Same issues with the M59 seat. I need to do something like that. The wood strips tapered to level the seat?

 

[rScotty]

Same issues with the M59 seat. I need to do something like that. The wood strips tapered to level the seat?

I beveled the all the ends of the wood strips at 45 degrees just to make them look better. And varnished for the same reason. Isn't that new shiny tractor beautiful! It sure doesn't look like that now....

I guess I could have also tapered the wood strips to level the seat, but I didn't think of doing that. And also I wanted to be able to easily make some small adjustments because I didn't now how much adjustment it would take.

Leveling the seat front to back was done over a period of a couple of days by unscrewing those front mounting bolts so I could slide in some more of those big diameter galvanized washers that end up as my leveling spacers on top of the two thick rubber spacers at the front of the seat.

So that photo is probably day 1, but I think I ended up with a total of 3 more steel washers on top of both the front rubber spacers. I remember that I would have added one more, but that would have meant another trip to Home Depot for bolts a little longer, so I quit there. The rear spacers I just left with one washer apiece because it needs one washer to protect the top of the thick rubber spacer from the slightly smaller seat frame.

Mounting that way means the stress on the four rubber spacers is ever so slightly uneven front to back. But there is enough elasticity in the rubber spacers so that that heavy seat frame isn't under any stress from that. The thick rubber spacers soaks up the uneven loading and the seat frame sits nice and flat on those steel spacer washers.

How hard you tighten down those 4 long bolts is a sort of crude preload adjustment. After I was satisfied with the front to back leveling I took out those 4 bolts one at a time, put loctite on the threads, and tightened them down about one turn past finger tight. That was done not just to preload the thick rubber spacers but also to put enough tension so that the seat mounting would stay firmly in place and the bolts not back out. It's been 12 years now, without a change.
rScotty

 

[Frankenkubota]

Rain in the Carolinas, again and again and again.....

Good idea! I've got a long gravel drive and it gets real bouncy.

The first day I had my tractor it kept cutting out, for no apparent reason. For once in my life, I'd bit the bullet, bought the good stuff, bought new and......I thought I bought the only lemon Kuboata had ever built!

I've learned not to panic, not too much anyway. Of course, it was the safety switch under the seat. When I tilt forward and to the right, bingo!

The dealer DID NOT suggest that I bypass the switch, not in so many words anyway.

Speaking of seats...... I got the backhoe. I don't know how it is with other models but, my backhoe, imho, is a little sketchy getting in and out of. The seat is hinged in the back so the front of the seat drops down in an attempt to get it out of the way, not quite. I find it a bit of a process getting in and out. Left hand here, right foot there, don't bump anything!!!!! I understand there is very little room back there etc. etc.

Again, newby but, retired engineer with lots of experience in manufacturing and design so I've learned, there is always another way!

I'm spooked because, everyone at Kubota has been telling me to " run the **** out of it", hi RPMs, it's built for that! I guess I agree but, when trying to climb onto that backhoe with at least 4 hydraulic controls directly in the way and the tractor at 1800 to 2000 RPMs....... Don't even bump one of those controllers. I kinda wish you could start the tractor and adjust throttle from backhoe seating, seems far safer.

Like my buddies, Im in my late 60s, retired but......unlike my buddies, I walk 5 miles a day, work hard everyday!!, 5ft 10 and 165 lbs. My age and possibly being out of shape is not the issue. For 67 I'm in very good shape. ****, for 37 I'm in good shape��

I'm not complaining, everyday I'm amazed by my tractor and especially my rtv, the right tool for the job!!! I can make the backhoe seat work but, anybody have any ideas?

 

[rScotty]

I'm spooked because, everyone at Kubota has been telling me to " run the **** out of it", hi RPMs, it's built for that! I guess I agree but, when trying to climb onto that backhoe with at least 4 hydraulic controls directly in the way and the tractor at 1800 to 2000 RPMs....... Don't even bump one of those controllers. I kinda wish you could start the tractor and adjust throttle from backhoe seating, seems far safer.

Why would you do that? Yes, I agree that there's a slight advantage in emission and fuel efficiency at high RPMs - but only if you have a use for the higher RPMS.
Otherwise it's just extra wear that you don't need.

IMHO, running a small diesel at high RPM for no reason is just another example of "common knowledge" without any common sense to back it up.

Luckily, it's not widespread belief, although I have run across it from time to time. Back when I had my mechanical & machine shop I ran into that way of thinking more often talking to mechanics from from the older industrialized areas of the East Coast and Southern US where large industrial engines were in common use. For those big engines, 900/1250 RPM was often tops, and running them flat out made sense as a way to spread the load over the whole cycle & avoid impact loads

So it's possible that there is a full throttle argument that applies to large fairly slow stationary engines where full throttle is basically a high idle. My guess is that is where the idea came from. Even so, that doesn't mean it applies to today's small diesels with tight clearances...except as I said, for increased effiency. That's real, but I'll trade some loss in efficiency for a quieter tractor with a decrease in engine wear.
YMMV,
rScotty

 

[Frankenkubota]

Thx for the reply! Again, new to tractors but been around motors my whole life!

I've throttled back! I found the controls to be very sensitive, even twitchy, at 2000 RPM.

I was having a hard time controlling the reverse function, that was because it was runnin so hard, much better at lower RPM.


Dealer said they have problem with people that don't run them hard enough, carbon up?

We used to call that an Italian tune up, no offense, I worked for an Italian technology co., wonderful people!

 

[stephenh]

I have a different model Kubota, but new last October. I, too, had some rough-running engine issues right off the bat. Note I had not had a regen' type engine before this one. The shop manager at the dealer told me something similar to your advice in that he said I needed to get used to running higher RPM than I am accustomed to on a tractor, just keep RPM up and lower the gear I'm in. This was also in cold weather that the tractor was delivered and I began to run it. Guy also said, well, in such cold weather, you need to run at least 2200 RPM and perhaps even higher. He said if I need to stop or get off the tractor I needed to keep the RPM up even then.

This bothered me, and I played around with the RPM and quickly found I do not need to run it that way. I do keep RPM up a it higher than idle when it's sitting, by that I mean 1200 RPM or so. I have about 60 hr on it now, and it's gone through regen' twice in that time. I hear of folks going 60+ hr before regen' running higher RPM.

Other thing is, I have very steep, rocky property, so I have to do a lot of tractoring slow, and I'l just live with more frequent regen'

 

[Fallon]

Thx for the reply! Again, new to tractors but been around motors my whole life!

I've throttled back! I found the controls to be very sensitive, even twitchy, at 2000 RPM.

I was having a hard time controlling the reverse function, that was because it was runnin so hard, much better at lower RPM.


Dealer said they have problem with people that don't run them hard enough, carbon up?

We used to call that an Italian tune up, no offense, I worked for an Italian technology co., wonderful people!

All? modern diesel engines over 25hp have a DPF. Diesel Particulate Filter. It basically looks like a catalytic converter in about the same spot. It collects all the soot from the engine. Every so often the engine injects some extra fuel so the DPF gets super hot & all the soot (carbon) gets burnt off. That's called a regent cycle. Happens every 5-40 hours depending on machine & usage. Kind of sort of a factory Italian tuneup.

Keeping the DPF hot by working the machine hard can burn off the filter without needing a regent. Any time you lug the engine you'd normally see black smoke out of the exhaust. Idling is bad too. Basically any time you use to see soot out of the pipe will load up the DPF faster. Not the end of the world, but regens are hot, waste fuel & wear things out a bit faster. So it's best to avoid them if possible.

If I'm puttering around I don't run my machine wide open, only half throttle, but take care not to lug the engine. I run it wide open when I have the mower or tiller working.

The Grands & fancier machines from other manufacturers have adjustable HST response. Not sure if it's an feature on the B or BX sized machines. You can make it super responsive & snappy so it responds RIGHT NOW. Or you can set it so it's soft & smooth but costs to a stop ir slowly speeds up over a bit if a distance. I tend towards about 75% on the responsive side so it stops quickly in an emergency or when doing precision work.

 

[chim]

All three Kubtoas I've owned felt like they wanted to dump you forward and out of the seat. Used longer bolts and double nuts and dialed it to where I wanted it. Seat was OK for comfort with the factory suspension.