Seat springs-JD 3520

[Dapolksjj]

Does anyone have an idea where heavier spring sets can be obtained for a '11 JD 3520 standard seat? The seat springs provided by Deere do not support me well enough. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[beenthere]

See the Deere dealer/sales, as they have optional seats.

And I take it that you have used the adjustment knob for whatever it can do for you.

What weight are you looking to accomodate?

 

[greg_g]

Mine kept collapsing under me as well. The control knob seems more like a height adjustment than a weight adjustment, because it got "taller" as I turned the knob - but the seat still collapsed even at the max setting.. Supposedly it was a 250 pound seat, and I'm barely over 200. Yet every time I'd hit a bump, the seat bottomed out and stayed there. I had to take my weight off it for it to return to the normal height. So I put a pair of stout compression springs in the bottom tracks, so that the roller hits the spring like a bumper - instead of traveling all the way to the stop.

No more collapsing, but that made it ride like a buckboard. Got fed up, had a dealer replace the spring suspension with the air suspension. Just got it back yesterday, so haven't had time to see if my investment's gonna pay off. But I've now got a one year old OE spring seat suspension available, if you think there's something wrong with yours. I have the hinged slide plate also, that permits the seat to be tilted forward to keep the cloth seat dry. It came with the air suspension, but - because mine's a cab tractor - I had to pay for a part I couldn't use.

//greg//

 

[Dapolksjj]

See the Deere dealer/sales, as they have optional seats.

And I take it that you have used the adjustment knob for whatever it can do for you.

What weight are you looking to accomodate?

I did the seat adjustment. Even to the point of shortening the seat's stroke. The only option offered to me was the almost $600. Air suspension seat. Now that's a little too much. Deere must realize that some of its customers are "big boys".

 

[greg_g]

Deere must realize that some of its customers are "big boys".

But maybe they don't know this seat has two gross weight settings. The way I see it, there's one for small women and children as primary operators - say 125# and under - the other for men. I just finished testing both positions on mine - it's much easier to do with the suspension on the bench than it is on the tractor.

Look beneath the seat, almost dead center. There's a single jointed pivot arm that comes down at an angle, affixed to bracket at the very bottom with a 9/16" bolt and jam nut. Note that the bracket has two holes; forward for heavyweights, rear for lightweights. Unfortunately mine had been in the forward hole since I bought the tractor, but yours might be in the rear hole by mistake. Since mine was already in the forward hole, I went to the hardware store and got a pair of the stiffest compression springs they had. 1" diameter by 2.75" length is ideal, but they didn't have that size. I got a pair of 7/8"x3" and cut a quarter inch off each spring. Look at the bottom track where the two nylon rollers move forward on the base plate. I inserted one spring in front of each roller, the other inch of the spring butting under the lip of the forward stop. After that, the springs slowed down the forward progress of those rollers, and completely stopped the issue with the seat bottoming out when I'd hit a bump. Rode rough, but at least it didn't feel like the tractor was falling out from underneath me at every bump.

And if you think you've simply got a bad suspension, I'll sell you mine cheap.

//greg//

 

[Dapolksjj]

But maybe they don't know this seat has two gross weight settings. The way I see it, there's one for small women and children as primary operators - say 125# and under - the other for men. I just finished testing both positions on mine - it's much easier to do with the suspension on the bench than it is on the tractor.

Look beneath the seat, almost dead center. There's a single jointed pivot arm that comes down at an angle, affixed to bracket at the very bottom with a 9/16" bolt and jam nut. Note that the bracket has two holes; forward for heavyweights, rear for lightweights. Unfortunately mine had been in the forward hole since I bought the tractor, but yours might be in the rear hole by mistake. Since mine was already in the forward hole, I went to the hardware store and got a pair of the stiffest compression springs they had. 1" diameter by 2.75" length is ideal, but they didn't have that size. I got a pair of 7/8"x3" and cut a quarter inch off each spring. Look at the bottom track where the two nylon rollers move forward on the base plate. I inserted one spring in front of each roller, the other inch of the spring butting under the lip of the forward stop. After that, the springs slowed down the forward progress of those rollers, and completely stopped the issue with the seat bottoming out when I'd hit a bump. Rode rough, but at least it didn't feel like the tractor was falling out from underneath me at every bump.

And if you think you've simply got a bad suspension, I'll sell you mine cheap.

//greg//

Unfortunately, my bolt's in the forward position. I'll be off to the hardware store to get some springs. Thanx for the help.

Gerry