Leveling seat and how I fixed the weirdness

woodlandfarms · Apr 22, 2025

So if you don't have an 1850, you would not have the thrill of the self leveling seat. It's pretty simple, a couple of mercury switches on the back of the seat actuate a controller and a piston and it honestly keeps the seat pretty level and does so pretty quickly. But for years, mine has been intermittent, with no reasonable explanation. sometimes it just would not activate. I traced the wires, examined the mercury switches, tested the valve. nothing seemed to make it 100% reliable. Now I am talking at least 10 years of being unreliable. if not more. And the night before last I had a dream. Yes no poop.... not lying. I had this dream bout the little rubber "shocks" had put between the seat and the seat control. A little cusion for my tush... I dreamt how I realized that the ground signal that the seat got was from the screws that held the whole contraption together. And over the years, with all the rain and rust, they no longer provided a great ground. Next morning, woke up, thankfully remembered the dream. Went out, pulled a dedicated ground wire to the switches. and wow... it works. This was a moment where I felt like a genius and an idiot all in the same emotional moment.

ponytug · Apr 22, 2025

woodlandfarms said:
So if you don't have an 1850, you would not have the thrill of the self leveling seat. It's pretty simple, a couple of mercury switches on the back of the seat actuate a controller and a piston and it honestly keeps the seat pretty level and does so pretty quickly. But for years, mine has been intermittent, with no reasonable explanation. sometimes it just would not activate. I traced the wires, examined the mercury switches, tested the valve. nothing seemed to make it 100% reliable. Now I am talking at least 10 years of being unreliable. if not more. And the night before last I had a dream. Yes no poop.... not lying. I had this dream bout the little rubber "shocks" had put between the seat and the seat control. A little cusion for my tush... I dreamt how I realized that the ground signal that the seat got was from the screws that held the whole contraption together. And over the years, with all the rain and rust, they no longer provided a great ground. Next morning, woke up, thankfully remembered the dream. Went out, pulled a dedicated ground wire to the switches. and wow... it works. This was a moment where I felt like a genius and an idiot all in the same emotional moment.

I have to admit that one of the first things that I did on my PT was to run grounds to the "dash", front & rear frame and engine. I've been burned too many times by intermittent grounds.

Congratulations!

All the best,

Peter

MossRoad · Apr 22, 2025

woodlandfarms said:
So if you don't have an 1850, you would not have the thrill of the self leveling seat. It's pretty simple, a couple of mercury switches on the back of the seat actuate a controller and a piston and it honestly keeps the seat pretty level and does so pretty quickly. But for years, mine has been intermittent, with no reasonable explanation. sometimes it just would not activate. I traced the wires, examined the mercury switches, tested the valve. nothing seemed to make it 100% reliable. Now I am talking at least 10 years of being unreliable. if not more. And the night before last I had a dream. Yes no poop.... not lying. I had this dream bout the little rubber "shocks" had put between the seat and the seat control. A little cusion for my tush... I dreamt how I realized that the ground signal that the seat got was from the screws that held the whole contraption together. And over the years, with all the rain and rust, they no longer provided a great ground. Next morning, woke up, thankfully remembered the dream. Went out, pulled a dedicated ground wire to the switches. and wow... it works. This was a moment where I felt like a genius and an idiot all in the same emotional moment.

Glad you got it fixed!

MossRoad · Apr 22, 2025

woodlandfarms said:
So if you don't have an 1850, you would not have the thrill of the self leveling seat. It's pretty simple, a couple of mercury switches on the back of the seat actuate a controller and a piston and it honestly keeps the seat pretty level and does so pretty quickly. But for years, mine has been intermittent, with no reasonable explanation. sometimes it just would not activate. I traced the wires, examined the mercury switches, tested the valve. nothing seemed to make it 100% reliable. Now I am talking at least 10 years of being unreliable. if not more. And the night before last I had a dream. Yes no poop.... not lying. I had this dream bout the little rubber "shocks" had put between the seat and the seat control. A little cusion for my tush... I dreamt how I realized that the ground signal that the seat got was from the screws that held the whole contraption together. And over the years, with all the rain and rust, they no longer provided a great ground. Next morning, woke up, thankfully remembered the dream. Went out, pulled a dedicated ground wire to the switches. and wow... it works. This was a moment where I felt like a genius and an idiot all in the same emotional moment.

Next question....

What did you eat before going to sleep?

part-time-Farmer-NC · Apr 22, 2025

Man what a relief it must have been for you. You worked on it night and day. I do that sometimes, work on something and even when not in front of it i'm still there thinking it through. (remembering my relay issue (thanks again GRSgreat...)...

I call it slaying a dragon! It sure does feel good to slay dragons every now and again. A whole lot better than them beating you up all the time.

Glad you got it!

AVIVIII · May 11, 2025

Glad you fixed it! I'm on my 3rd valve for the articulated seat. I rewired the system the first time I replaced the valve to include better grounding. It seems like the smallest problem throws the electrical system off in these machines....

I dislike the mercury switches and the way they respond, so I was considering a replacement of the system with a solid-state accelerometer and Arduino or raspberry pi.