Modifying seat on a BX ?

[ve9aa]

I think it's only my 2nd post here and I have not yet rec'd my BX2380....waiting on a couple implements to complete the deal....snowblower, mower and rear scraper blade. I didn't buy the loader yet. Ran out of nickels. Maybe next year.

Anyways....I mow 2 acres of old farm field (ie: not a 'real' lawn, but what passes for my lawn) and for a couple years I used a Murray ride-on. Killed my back...and that was 15+ years ago when I was younger. For the past 15yrs, I've been using a Kubota TG1860 (diesel) and not only do I use less fuel, which is real nice not having to fuel up 2/3 of the way through but the ride is smoother. It's not perfect of course, but the Murry/Murray only had the 2 springs in the seat and I swear my spine and kidneys were gonna explode.

The TG1860 has springs, but also the entire rear 1/3 of the mower is on kindof a clamshell suspended on 2 (what look like) mini-bike or mountain bike shock absorbers.

Fast forward to today (or soon).....when I mow my lumpy/bumpy 2 acres I fear I am going to be back into my Murray days.

So..finally, I get to my question.

Has anyone put an air bladder or shock absorber(s) under the seat in a Bx?

I can keep mowing with my TG1860 for now, but it's long in the tooth and not w/o it's problems....hence the '2380 purchase

No way in HE-double hockey sticks I am paying $1200 for an air ride seat. (or even $650 for a spring suspension seat-lol)

Ideas? I haven't seen much on the internet or youtube, but I know a lot of fabricators keep to themselves and don't feel a need to post all their stuff online.

Not looking for plans. Just whether you've ever done it, seen it or common pitfalls.

Thanks fellas !

I hope the BX2380 arrives soon. Been about a month now, but implements are hard to get here in NB Canada

-Mike in NB

 

[85Hokie]

Only think I can tell you is, let some of the air out of the tires, front and back and see how the ride goes.

I have thrown my back out-of-whack hitting holes and riding the BH like a bronco sometimes - it aint fun at all !!!!

You might be able to modify the bottom of the seat a bit - but make sure those #$#@## safety switches are still in proper alignment!

 

[xrocketengineer]

Has anybody tried this on the BX?

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200487876_200487876

 

[ve9aa]

Has anybody tried this on the BX?

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200487876_200487876

Interesting. I'll consider this my back up plan. Shipping to Canada will be expensive, but not $1200 expensive like a new seat.

Thanks

 

[xrocketengineer]

Interesting. I'll consider this my back up plan. Shipping to Canada will be expensive, but not $1200 expensive like a new seat.

Thanks

Check out Amazon and Ebay too.

 

[ve9aa]

Check out Amazon and Ebay too.

I may...if it comes to that. I like to build stuff, but don't necessarily like to reinvent the wheel, hence my original question:
Has anyone put an air bladder or shock absorber(s) under the seat in a Bx?

Tnx

 

[leveraddict]

Has anybody tried this on the BX?

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200487876_200487876

One inch of travel aint much!

 

[ve9aa]

One inch of travel aint much!

That's was she said ! LOL!
;-)

 

[mikester]

I'd lean towards a whole new suspension seat system, air ride if you can swing it. K OEM seats suck on a good day. I did it on my ZTR and wish I did it sooner. The tractor is next on the list.

 

[thirdroc17]

When I ditched the R-4's and put on turf tires, the ride improved 1000%.

 

[ve9aa]

OK, so what I'm hearing is nobody (reading this) has done it.

Maybe a good opportunity to make this a business for myself and become a billionaire ~!

(LOL, J/K)

Just got an email from Kubota 10mins ago. My tractor COULD be in as early as next weekend...fingers crossed.

Thanks fellas.

 

[xrocketengineer]

OK, so what I'm hearing is nobody (reading this) has done it.

Maybe a good opportunity to make this a business for myself and become a billionaire ~!

(LOL, J/K)

Just got an email from Kubota 10mins ago. My tractor COULD be in as early as next weekend...fingers crossed.

Thanks fellas.

I guess that nobody has done it since they don't want their butts as "test pilots".
My old Husqvarna 38 inch tractor had the typical two coil springs in the back and hinged at the front.
The damn springs were so weak that they were not fully collapsed with my weight, but when I would hit a bump or fall in rut, the springs would bottom out on the coils and would send a hell of a shock up my spine. I tried using pieces of rubber or foam inside the coils to use as dampers to no avail. I ended up going to local lawn mower shop to get longer/stronger springs. I went through the usual "brand and model" and the lady could not figure what I was looking for. Another older lady finally figure it out and said "Oh your butt is too heavy and you need stronger springs for your seat". After they had some laughs, the older lady found me a set of suitable longer springs from another tractor brand that helped a lot.
Fortunately, with the BX1880, it has not been that bad. And the ride has gotten even better with the larger BX2380 size tires I just put on. So, I am not in a hurry for a "Cadillac ride".

 

[ravensview]

What about an air bladder seat cushion to help smooth the ride, my wife uses one for her motorcycle and it has increased her comfort on longer rides immensely,

 

[skeets]

Look around and see if you can find a couple old valve springs set up inside the OEM springs,,, just a thought

 

[thirdroc17]

OK, so what I'm hearing is nobody (reading this) has done it.

Maybe a good opportunity to make this a business for myself and become a billionaire ~!

(LOL, J/K)

Just got an email from Kubota 10mins ago. My tractor COULD be in as early as next weekend...fingers crossed.

Thanks fellas.

Like you, and others, I did look into suspension seats. Those things are PRICEY. Plus they only go up and down. The BX's are narrow, and at least on my uneven "lawn", there is a lot of side to side influx. The wider, softer side wall, turfs softened this to an easy sway, as well as easing the straight up and down jolt.

Once I changed the tires, which cost less than a suspension seat, with the aforementioned improvement, I haven't looked further, though the thought hasn't entirely left my mind. It's just not in the pocketbook.

To put it shorter, no.

 

[ve9aa]

Like you, and others, I did look into suspension seats. Those things are PRICEY. Plus they only go up and down. The BX's are narrow, and at least on my uneven "lawn", there is a lot of side to side influx. The wider, softer side wall, turfs softened this to an easy sway, as well as easing the straight up and down jolt.

Once I changed the tires, which cost less than a suspension seat, with the aforementioned improvement, I haven't looked further, though the thought hasn't entirely left my mind. It's just not in the pocketbook.

To put it shorter, no.

Thanks Dale. I've ordered the BX2380 with turf tires. Who knows....maybe it won't be too bad. I am still waiting on delivery.

My land (2.2ac) is pretty flat in most areas I mow and I am sure I could run them 2 or 3psi lower than spec to help cushion the blow to my kidney's.

I also have an air bladder & a separate gel insert I installed inside my Harley's seat,(for those long days on secondary roads...highways I don't need the air bladder) so I could always try those 2 tricks before attacking the seat.

 

[thirdroc17]

Thanks Dale. I've ordered the BX2380 with turf tires. Who knows....maybe it won't be too bad. I am still waiting on delivery.

My land (2.2ac) is pretty flat in most areas I mow and I am sure I could run them 2 or 3psi lower than spec to help cushion the blow to my kidney's.

I also have an air bladder & a separate gel insert I installed inside my Harley's seat,(for those long days on secondary roads...highways I don't need the air bladder) so I could always try those 2 tricks before attacking the seat.

My biggest complaint with my BX2670 when I first got it was the rough ride. I was "told" everyone likes R-4's, R-4's is all they had, so I took the R-4's and regretted it from day 1.

Since I have a 60" deck, there is room for 14" wide tires, so I made that change with the switch to turfs, the extra footprint also helps. I set the pressure so the full width of the tread rests on the ground. I've seen a lot of turf tires run so hard only the center half the tread actually makes ground contact, this is evident by the gray stripe on the tire when they are driven onto concrete.

When I put an attachment on the back, I adjust the tire pressure accordingly, lower it again when the extra weight comes off. So no matter the load, the true rolling radius never changes.

I've run a lot of different tires, on different machines, and this has proven to work the best for me. Do your own experiments, see what works best for you.

 

[xrocketengineer]

Like you, and others, I did look into suspension seats. Those things are PRICEY. Plus they only go up and down. The BX's are narrow, and at least on my uneven "lawn", there is a lot of side to side influx. The wider, softer side wall, turfs softened this to an easy sway, as well as easing the straight up and down jolt.

Once I changed the tires, which cost less than a suspension seat, with the aforementioned improvement, I haven't looked further, though the thought hasn't entirely left my mind. It's just not in the pocketbook.

To put it shorter, no.

In my case with the BX1880 and the original small R1 tires, the ride was not good. Not a direct shock to my spine but the ride was rough and on concrete the front tires felt like if they were square. I replaced the tires with "off road tread tires" in the BX2380 sizes to try to revive my grass that was pretty much destroyed by the R1's. The ride improved a lot and even though the rear tires are 6 ply rating, the ride is much, much better. Even with my cheaper BX1880 seat, the springs never bottom out and I feel no jolts in the up and down direction. However, like he said, the side to side motion and the swaying can be annoying but not painful, so I slow down for that.

 

[dirtydeed]

Amazon.com

tongue in cheek....sort of.

 

[dlsmith]

I replaced the seat on my BX with a much better and more comfortable seat I got on sale at Rural King. I had to fab an adapter out of some 2" X 1/4" strap and some bar stock, and I made the seat set level instead of tilted up in the back. Is way more comfortable than the original seat. It also has adjustable armrests that aren't shown in the picture.
One of the best mods I made to my BX.