Safety concern or don't fall off your seat

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

 I will get right to the point. please check the integrity of your seat whether on a new horse or old. i have a 1995 400 and 500 series tractors and the suspension seats greatly stress the ends of the sub frame. I mow some pretty steep ditch banks and that requires shifting to the edge of the uphill side of the tractor, so yes it is  hard on the components. what you need to do is remove the seat and seat pan and check for cracking on the too thin upper seat frame. The seat actually cantilevers from that frame and that is a poor design. The repair I used was angle iron from a modern bed frame. It is thin enough to add on without much issue, but is very strong for its size and thickness

 

 i just bought a Raider 10 and even though the tractor is 20 years older, the top subframe is a weak point as well. the subframe comes to a point, and that weakens it enough that one side of the pivoting seat pan had the hole broken away with the other side cracked. I re-inforced it by overlaying a welded boxed angle iron frame on top and bolting that to the original.With all that strength added to the frame, I made a hybrid wood/metal frame set-up and used a modern seat with suspension springs. I am recovering from falling off the thing right on my tailbone. So if you modify a raider seat by moving it to the rear, you must add bolts to the seat pan and fasten it to the tractor frame as the stock latch for the seat pan is not designed to resist a cantilever load and it will let loose when you swing your leg over the steering wheel to dismount the tractor. It was really stupid of me to let this happen, because I had actually foreseen the possibility and was "too busy' to take the time and bolt the seat pan solid.

[953 nut 51,536]

    Good advice, we all tend to think nothing like that could happen to us, but need a reminder now and then.  

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

VERY GOOD ADVICE. thanks for posting. you could save folks some grief.

 

Glenn

[JPWH 5,295]

I have a slope across the front yard along with 3 culverts I have to mow the same way. Very scary sometimes!

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

 While I am at it, I will hijack my own thread. I checked the gear lube before doing the seat bolt procedure and the oil level rod looked milky. Time for a fluid change. Trouble is, the drain plug has an upturned elbow that does not let you get the last bit of gear oil removed. After the oil had all drained out, I used an old style gas container with a nipple style vent. The clear vinyl tube that comes with a motorcycle battery fits well over that nipple. A shop vac connected to the spout hole slowly sucks out all the rest of the oil. Even with the front end lifted 2 feet high, we managed to get out another 4 ounces.

 Thanks for your comments....If anyone knows the oil capacity and weight [80w-90 ? ] I would appreciate it

Edited June 11, 2016 by ohiofarmer

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

7 minutes ago, ohiofarmer said:

I used an old style gas container with a nipple style vent. The clear vinyl tube that comes with a motorcycle battery fits well over that nipple. A shop vac connected to the spout hole slowly sucks out all the rest of the oil.

 

 

That is pure genius.

[sluggo 40]

This happened to me last month. The seat started feeling wobbly. I checked out this post, disassembled my tractor, and sure enough the bar holding the seat pan ripped off the frame. I got a guy locally to weld it it back together and working well. I agree, bad design. If can find pictures, I'll upload

[sluggo 40]

That steel tabs are probably only an 1/8" thick. You get 230lbs bouncing up and down in 3rd gear, stuff happens.

 

Anyway, here are pictures that I promised. Like Ohio Farmer said, check the seat and seat pan integrity.