B2650 ROPS with BH77 - Lose your suspension seat?

[sbasham]

Hi all. I've been enjoying my B2650 for a few weeks now and the backhoe attachment finally arrived this week and was installed.

I was highly disappointed when I plopped down into the seat only to be greeted with a bone-jarring thud! The seat was one of the features that I liked about he B2650 over the B2620 to begin with, so I am very surprised that going with the swivel seat on a nearly $8,000 upgrade removes all suspension.

There are some springs under the seat, but they only serve the purpose of helping to raise the seat up when swiveling it around. Otherwise, with anything heavier than about 20 lbs of seat pressure, the seat is sitting directly on rubber stops with no working suspension at all. Is this correct? I'm hoping the tech left something out or should have somehow used the scissor suspension that was originally on the seat. (They gave that part back to me since it was no longer needed).

Comments appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Mowbizz]

Hi all. I've been enjoying my B2650 for a few weeks now and the backhoe attachment finally arrived this week and was installed.

I was highly disappointed when I plopped down into the seat only to be greeted with a bone-jarring thud! The seat was one of the features that I liked about he B2650 over the B2620 to begin with, so I am very surprised that going with the swivel seat on a nearly $8,000 upgrade removes all suspension.

There are some springs under the seat, but they only serve the purpose of helping to raise the seat up when swiveling it around. Otherwise, with anything heavier than about 20 lbs of seat pressure, the seat is sitting directly on rubber stops with no working suspension at all. Is this correct? I'm hoping the tech left something out or should have somehow used the scissor suspension that was originally on the seat. (They gave that part back to me since it was no longer needed).

Comments appreciated. Thanks!

My new BX25D with the "supposedly" upgraded seat bottoms out on me too. Passively, seeking some sort of solution to this as the tractor with FEL and BH off is nimble but with a very bumpy ride for mowing. Not very well thought out in my opinion.

 

[My Hoe]

That sucks. Subscribed.

 

[bash1]

It's not that it just bottoms out some of the time. For the swivel seat conversion, they actually removed the scissor/spring mechanism that provided the suspension. It now just sits flat on rubber bushings. Absolutely no suspension. This doesn't seem right, but I don't have any other tractors with a BH77 connected to compare it to. If you have a BH77, how is your seat isolated from bumps? i.e. do you have any type of spring to your seat?

It seems rather misleading on Kubota's part to advertise the B2650 with upgraded suspension and then the BH77 with swivel seat capability with "all day comfort" when it completely does away with any and all suspension associated with the original seat.

The mechanic at my dealer is going to try and rig something up making use of the scissor suspension that the tractor originally came with.

 

[tk tom]

I hadn't seen a hoe on the 50 series, but looking at the suspension seat I assumed they moved away from the swivel and the hoe had it's own seat. Guess it's not a good thing to make assumptions.

 

[DaveS1108]

I've been looking at purchasing a B2650 and noticed on Kubota's website that the Cab version has a seat for the BH77 attached to the backhoe frame. Would it be possible to use the Cab version of the BH77 on the ROPS tractor? A quick look online at the parts diagrams shows that there is a mount kit for the Cab version that has spacers (parts 010 and 020) to push the BH further out.

 

[bash1]

I hadn't seen a hoe on the 50 series, but looking at the suspension seat I assumed they moved away from the swivel and the hoe had it's own seat. Guess it's not a good thing to make assumptions.

Nope, you get to fork over $8k and in turn, they give you a backhoe attachment and associated parts and have to strip your seat of every bit of suspension, then bolt it onto a plate that lifts and twists, but doesn't suspend or absorb any, repeat any bump, or vertical movement. I could literally stick socks, soft pieces of wood or any number of other things under the seat and have a better setup than they provide in the kit.

It's actually quite a shame. The lack of thought put into the seat for the BH77 kit is inexcusable. My local Kubota mechanic was able to fab up a plate to let me use the suspension it was purchased new with, but now it is about 3" too high. Kubota could have easily fixed this with a simple design change.

I've bought Kubota products since age 12. I took a long hiatus in my 20s and 30s where I did not need any. I've bought a couple recently and this is around the 5th or 6th small Kubota diesel mower or tractor that I've owned. I've been a life-long Kubota proponent, but with crap like this, I'm heading the other direction fast!

 

[bash1]

I've been looking at purchasing a B2650 and noticed on Kubota's website that the Cab version has a seat for the BH77 attached to the backhoe frame. Would it be possible to use the Cab version of the BH77 on the ROPS tractor? A quick look online at the parts diagrams shows that there is a mount kit for the Cab version that has spacers (parts 010 and 020) to push the BH further out.

Dave,
That may very well work, but I'm big on aesthetics. I don't like the add on seat look. It reminds me of the rental unit from across town. I wanted an integrated machine that looks like the backhoe wasn't an afterthought, it's actually one of the reasons I didn't go with the Cab version. Adding an extra seat is completely unnecessary if they would only redesign a few pieces of the seat suspension / brackets.

 

[tk tom]

I saw one recently at the dealer when I took mine back for a little service that still appeared to have the suspension seat with the backhoe installed? I should have really paid attention but was in a hurry getting out of there, 2 minutes to closing time and I still had the strap the machine down. Didn't want to hold the guys up leaving for the night.