Tall Man's Modified Joystick

[CVHoss]

Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

At 6'6", the joystick control lever on my new J.D. 4400 just wasn't designed for me. Got tired of dropping the bucket with the side of my leg, so -- welding shop, piece of tubing, cut-off wheel, mig-welder and a can of J.D. Green paint -- presto-changeo -- tall man's joystick. For anyone who may be having the same problem, turned it about 180 degrees. Now, I can lay my arm on top of the fender and it falls right on the joystick control.

Here's a few pictures.
One
Two
& Three


Hoss

 

[dummy]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Nice looking modification. Enjoy your posts. How do you find time for all the stuff you do though???

 

[CVHoss]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Made some investments in fast food franchises in 1977. Worked 60-90 hrs a week for 20 years, but the business was good to me and in '97 I sold off a piece of the one I was running and semi-retired. Was 43 at the time, now 47. Missed a lot of stuff with my kids as they were growing up, but luckily one still lives in the same town as I do and the other is only 2 hrs away and she comes home about every weekend. I now have quite a bit of time to make up for the things I, and my family, gave up while I was working so much. Basically, I'm enjoyin' the heck out of life.

Hoss

 

[dummy]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

OK thanks. I knew there was a reason I don't seem to get anything done. It's that stupid job that keeps getting in the way.

 

[rkrynch]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Hoss,

I have the same problem - would you mind re-posting the pictures of your joystick fix?

Dick
JD4300

 

[CVHoss]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Dick,
Sorry, I had to clean up some space on my web site, and since no one had looked at the photos in quite some time, I removed them. I usually try to make links to photos on my site so I don't use up TBN's space. I finally located the pictures again and have uploaded them as an attachment to this post. Let me know if I can be any help.

Hoss

 

[rkrynch]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Hoss

Thanks for the quick response, Hoss - the pictures are a big help.
I can show them to someone who can do the welding for me.

Dick
jd4300

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Hoss, I knew I needed to do something about that lever on my new 4200. I want to thank you for the answer to "What?" At something over 6'-8" and 285# I had to be really cautious about dumping my bucket, too. I'm measuring the existing rod tomorrow to find out what size tubing I need. Did you do the cut and weld with the rod on your 4400 or off? On seems simpler but I don't want to burn up anything. Thanks again.

 

[CVHoss]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

Gary,
I took it to a local welding shop to have them do it. I was going to do it myself, if I could get the lever off easily, but when I lifted the rubber boot and looked at what I'd have to do to get it off, I decided that if anyone was going to burn a hole in the tractor, it wasn't going to be me. As they are a full service fabrication shop, they had all sorts of fire resistant blankets that they draped all over the tractor. They used a cut-off wheel to do the cutting and then welded it back together. Wasn't much I could do to the gold colored rod, so I just got a can of J.D. green spray paint and painted the whole rod green. Didn't turn out too bad and it is a definite improvement. It was either do this or figure out how to move the seat back another foot. I had them weld the handle at such an angle that when it is pulled full back, it just clears the fender. This makes it very comfortable to just rest your arm on the fender and work the lever with your fingers and wrist.

Hoss

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Re: Tall Man\'s Modified Joystick

For whomever else wants to take on this task, a couple of comments. The diameter of the rod in question is 1/2 inch. Do NOT make the mistake I made and get 1/2 inch ID steel tubing for your extension. That gives you what is called a "line to line" fit, which doesn't! Your steel tube needs to be slightly larger than 1/2 inch ID to accomodate the 1/2 inch OD rod.

Obviously, I'm taking a little more of this on myself, but I thought it would be neat to point at it and say "I did that!" I am going to see what can be done for insulating/fire-protecting all my plastic at welding time. If I'm not real satisfied I can do that I'll get everything ready then tote my Deere out to a weld shop and have them blanket everything then do the welds there.