Getting the seat to go forward a little more

[Teikas Dad]

I'm not going to say that my wife is short.....let's just say that she's vertically challenged. This presents a problem when she's operating the tractor (B3200) as her leg is not quite long enough to fully apply the brakes from a normal seated position. To push the brake all the way down she has to slide forward in the seat to get close enough which I don't think is particularly safe.

The tractor has the reversing seat mount for use with the backhoe. I've got the slider adjustment as far forward as it will go (it's actually a good spot for me to operate from and I'm 5'11"). Here's a photo of the mount.

If I could get the seat to slide forward another 2 inches it would make a big difference for her. There are other holes in the bottom of the seat but they don't have the same spacing dimension as the bolts holding the silver plate on. I thought about moving the seat on that bracket, but that seems to be a no go.

The track section that attaches to the seat is 11 inches long.

Does anyone have another model tractor that has a longer seat slide than this? If so I may be able to buy the parts and retrofit mine to get a little extra forward movement.

If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions or if you had the same problem and you modified things, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks

 

[sailorman]

I would deal with the pedal instead . Maybe a wooden block or similar of appropriate thickness on pedal. That way the seat would be ok for her and all you would have do do his move seat back a bit .

 

[Don87]

My wife is 5'2" and she didn't have a problem pushing the Kubota brake pedal fully down when we were comparing tractors. Does your pedal need adjusted by any chance?
Now she did have a problem with the JD, the seat would not go forwards far enough for her to operate the pedals.

 

[Leejohn]

Take thin angle iron and flat stock to tie the angle iron together to replace the bracket on the seat. You would have to grind part of the angle to get it shaped right where the pin goes thru.

 

[kw22614]

Maybe some stacked sole/high heel go go boots - just for operating the tractor!

 

[Teikas Dad]

Maybe some stacked sole/high heel go go boots - just for operating the tractor!

I like that idea, I brought it up to her suggesting she get either these




or these



or these



I told her you guys said she had to wear them if she wanted to drive the tractor..........I only have to sleep in the barn for a week this time.

 

[CurlyDave]

Many shorter women have been known to use seat cushions placed on the seat back to move their seating position forward.

A good thick cushion with a strap to hold it in place might just do the job.

 

[Chilly807]

Good thing you didn't tell her you were going to trade her for a taller woman to operate the tractor while you were sleeping in the barn.. might have been a longer exile.

The trouble with shifting the seat base is going to be that you won't be able to get it far enough back to suit you if you move it for her. You're better off to try and find a way to extend the adjustable range a bit more. Pedal blocks and cushions are a nuisance, I find the cushion shortens the seat enough to make it uncomfortable.

We have almost the opposite problem here.. I'm 5'11" and a bit, she's slightly shorter than I am but has longer legs, so we usually don't have to move much when she runs the wee beasty.

Sean

 

[kw22614]

I like that idea, I brought it up to her suggesting she get either these

View attachment 301209


or these

View attachment 301212

or these

View attachment 301214

I told her you guys said she had to wear them if she wanted to drive the tractor..........I only have to sleep in the barn for a week this time.

I'm with you - WOO-HOO! :laughing:

 

[boggen]

i have seen the threads here on TBN were folks have modified the brake pedals. and redid the linkage to make brake pedal stick back further.

i have seen blocks of wood, and holes drilled and screwed onto pedals

i have seen blocks of wood with pipe clamps attach block to pedal.

==============
looking back at your pictures, the second picture from top, showing the "silver bracket" that attaches to bottom of seat, and hinges.

take that off, and take to some metal shop. and have them make a new bracket that is offset with holes you need to move seat forward. and have them weld or bend edge. so you can get your hing. so the seat tilts up.

 

[Deano]

Gonna show the wife these boots!!

Go to the Kubota dealer and have her sit on ones till she finds one that fits her...the buy it for her!!! Valentines day is coming up!!

 

[tomf]

This thread motivated me to modify my seat. While I could reach the pedals with no problem, I could not sit comfortably with my back against the backrest and keep my hands on the steering wheel. During long periods of mowing this was hard on my back. Anyway, after looking at my seat I figured I could drill two holes in the bracket attached to the seat and move the seat forward 1.75 inches. I haven't driven the tractor yet but my first impressions are favorable.

Maybe you could do something similar with the bracket that mounts to your seat. You'd probably have to fabricate a new bracket with some angle iron.

Attached is the picture showing the completed modification.

 

[Teikas Dad]

Well, no matter how hard I tried she wouldn't go for the boots, so, it was back to the drawing board.

Went out to the shop yesterday and took the seat off the tractor. I removed the plate from the bottom of the seat. Here's the before photo:

The plate was set up on the front two sets of holes in the seat bottom. There's another set of holes that are threaded further back.

The mounting plate fit lined up with the back set of holes but due to the taper of the plate the second set of holes from the front edge of the seat were outside the plate. After pondering for a while I took some 3/16 steel which is the thickness of the seat mounting plate and cut out a couple small triangles. I butt welded the triangles to the edge of the plate, ground down the welds, drilled two holes, primered and painted and this is what it came out like. (I didn't have any method of duplicating that factory coating on the mounting plate so I sprayed it with some Rustoleum satin nickle paint...close enough to original for government work.)

This is the modified plate mounted in the original position.

This is the plate mounted to the back holes.

The modification lets the seat come forward 3 1/2 inches from the factory setting. Here's the seat all the way forward.

Here's the seat all the way back.

Underseat view.

The only thing I found that I need to pay attention to is if I want to tilt the seat up I need to move it forward to clear the T handle that releases the swivel. This modification will actually work for me too as I found that the seat was too far back for long term comfort when operating the backhoe. This should make it more comfortable now as I won't be hunched over trying to reach the BH control levers.

Total cost for the modification: $0 I used a piece of scrap steel and I had the paint around for other projects anyway. The nice thing is I can always put the plate back to the factory position as all of the holes are still in place and the two pieces I welded on don't project out or interfere with anything.

 

[tomf]

Nice job. It's amazing what can be done with a little effort.