Seat just broke on my BX23

[jim_wilson]

I had just finished digging a big stump out of my backyard and had positioned the tractor to use the backhoe to get some of the dirt off the stump and as I was turning the seat around to the backhoe position I heard a snap and the thing came off in my hands. Turned out there was one bolt holding the seat down to the seat mechanism and this bolt just snapped off. I got the tractor about two weeks ago and have put 21 hours on it - I had noticed that the seat was getting harder to turn around in the last day or so and was going to take a look at it after I finished the day's work. Now I am dead in the water because some of the little pieces that make up the turntable went flying and with the engine cutoff switch being in there I can't even jury rig the seat. Have to call the dealer first thing Monday morning and see about getting a new seat for it. I hope this isn't an indication of overall Kubota quality - has anybody else ever had anything like this happen?

 

[Jimbrown]

The same bolt broke on my bx22. I just grabbed another from my tool box and it has worked perfect ever since. If it were me I would just by pass the engine cut off slap a new bolt in and be done with it.

 

[gsxr1100]

Mine did the same thing last year around 25 or 30 hours...weird.

 

[jim_wilson]

I thought about bypassing the engine cutoff too - for now I want to leave it hooked up. I need to stop at the dealer to see if I can get some of the missing parts just to put the seat back together - plus I wanted to bring it to his attention that this happened. I want to see how they are going to respond to this. I think I may put a beefier bolt in there on my own anyway though, just so this does not happen again. I don't want the seat breaking off in my hands every 20 hours or so.

 

[at_obuk]

Now you know something is wrong if the same bolt snaped for 3 different orange guys. And that's just the guys we are hearing from on this forum. I wonder how many it has happened to that aren't even on this forum!?! As soon as I'm done writing this I'm going out to check my seat. It has about 21 hours on it, just about right, might just replace the bolt anywho!

Eric P.

 

[Jimbrown]

Probably so. The problem is it is a single bolt with a self locking nut on the end and it just seems to get tighter every time you turn the seat around. Maybe if you are left handed it will unscrew? ANy way I double nutted the one I put on and have not had any more problem

 

[Junkman]

I have 97 hours on my tractor and probably about 30 of those are on the hoe. I have never had any problem with mine. I have a BX22, but I doubt that makes a difference. Possibly you fellows are over weight and are stressing the seat beyond its design capacity?????? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jim_wilson]

I might be a little bigger than the average guy (210lbs) but I am not obese. The way the seat is designed you could put 600 pounds on it and the bolt in question would not be affected by the weight just sitting there. There is one bolt that holds the seat assembly to the tilt and spin assembly (seat frame) which then attaches to the tractor body. This bolt is probably about a 10mm ( I didn't measure it) - so if the bolt gets overtightened at the factory or if it starts to tighten itself from the turning the seat around between backhoe and driving position you can get more than enough leverage with the seat assembly to just snap the bolt off. So there are two problems - one is the bolt is too small for the application, two is that it is not assembled in a way that prevents the bolt from overtightening itself. This could be a real safety hazard in a case where maybe the bolt is halfway towards breaking and then somebody rolls the tractor and the force of the persons body breaks it off completely. Even if you were wearing a seatbelt in that case if the seat came loose you would probably still move around enough to get hurt.
Once I go see the dealer tomorrow morning and get some of the missing parts I need to reassemble the seat I am going to put a bigger bolt in there and put a sleeve on it cut to just the right length to let the seat function as it should which will let me tighten down the locknut but prevent it from tightening and further. This hopefully will solve the problem.

 

[Jimbrown]

It has nothing to do with weight on the seat. It soley related to how many times the seat is rotated from the front to the rear position and which way it is turned. If you always turned it to the right to go to the rear position and to the left to go to the front position it would never be a problem. If you constantly turn it the same way it will be a problem. I have a coumputer chair that is the same. I seem to always turn it to the up direction and it will bind and not turn any more and then I have to unscrew it several turns. a poor design and a case of dumb I guess.

 

[Junkman]

In case you fellows didn't notice the /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif...... I was joking about the weight situation.....