BX seat modification

[steve.wess.9]

I, like a lot of kubota owners did not care for the factory BX seat on my 1850. It was an odd angle and seemed to push you out of the seat more than hold you in it.
I thought about purchasing a new seat, but the wife disagreed with that so I’m left with modifying the fracture seat.

I started by hooking a large ratchet strap on the top and bottom and started cranking to bend the metal bucket to a near 90 degree angle.
Next i purchased two 4” long metric bolts for the front of the seat and two 3” long metric bolts for the rear. I pulled a couple of old yz125 clutch basket springs out of the drawer. I stacked 2 on each bolt in the front and 1 in the rear (6 springs total).
Now I have a suspension seat at the correct angle! It may not be the prettiest, but works.
I’ve used it a few times plowing snow and it works great!

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[North Idaho Wolfman]

Wrote this on your other post...worth repeating

OMG

I can't believe you actually wrote this, let alone do it, and now photo proof even!

That is got to be one of the most dangerous scenarios that I can think of!

I'm just shocked!

What happens when one of those tiny bolts that you have the seat sitting on decides to strip it threads and goes through the seat and into your leg or A$$?

What happens when one of those tiny bolts breaks and you shift and toss a knee held kid under the tires, or just on their head?

Your doing some very dangerous things!

BAD Design, BAD Operation!

Sorry not going to give you one MM of room on this!

 

[steve.wess.9]

I edited the post for ya wolfman, plowing snow in my driveway or mowing my yard has very little grade. It’s much safer for them to be on my lap than running behind the tractor trying to climb on. But this post is not about parenting, it’s about what I did to modify my seat and what others may have done besides having the dealer replace it. FYI, my boys also water ski, snow ski, ride quads, dirt bikes and snowmobiles [emoji6]


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[atitus]

I have to agree with wolf here. I don't think the material the seat is made of is designed to be supported by very small amount of material where the bolts attach. Its designed to support weight with the steel cross members you see underneath. While I can appreciate your ingenuity in solving your problem, I think the result is unsafe. I would recommend you (and anyone else with the same issue who reads this thread) to find another solution which does not put the operator in harms way.

 

[steve.wess.9]

The bolts work mostly as a guide and keep the seat from falling off. There is no axial load applied to them so no concern with the bolt pushing up through the seat. I was concerned about oblique/transverse shearing initially but the rest of the seat frame and seat belt uprights hold the seat from shifting side to side. The only slightly different force on seat “bucket” is a smaller area of contact from the springs, but could be rectified by adding a piece of steel channel if the seat seems to be bending but it is fairly heavy gauge and I could not bend the seat with my body weight when I tried.
Either way, the mod is done and I will test it long term and report back.


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[William1]

Yeah... while I understand and feel similarly to the sensation that the BX seat wants you to fall forward, that method of a fix is not a good one. I'll also say I have not looked into a proper solution yet either. I suspect it needs to be done in steel below the seats frame.For those with a BH, the solution has to keep in mind the seat being flipped 180 degrees. This means that ideally, the seat should be set to be square to the chassis/frame of the tractor.
At the very least, I'd loose the springs and replace with stout spacers to raise and fully support the bottom of the seat.