Sun Treader
Member
Group,
I posted a question about whether anyone had tried this particular seat:
Amazon.com: VEVOR Suspension Seat Adjustable Backrest Headrest and Slide Rails Mechanical Suspension Seat Foldable Heavy Duty for Tractor Forklift Excavator: Home Improvement
No one had so I went ahead and gave it a shot. This is a replacement for the stock seat on my B2601. The stock seat is terrible. Hinged at the front with a couple of uneven springs on the rear so its always trying to bounce you forward. The retractable seat belt is mounted to the seat frame so every time you bounce it tightens on you meaning you've got to unbuckle all the time to get some slack. I didn't find the seat itself too uncomfortable, hard vinyl works for me, but everything else was terrible. Suspension seat was called for. Air would be ideal, but too expensive for my hobby tractor. I put about 100 hours a year on it.
I did all the research I could on what was out there. Grammer is the gold standard, but over a grand, too much. The Black Talon seat at Northern Tool looks to be identical to the generic one I ordered but with a different suspension, upgraded arm rests and a retractable seat belt. eBay has many versions of this seat with different options. I even saw a few stock Kubota models that look to have this identical seat. This all led me to believe its a pretty generic seat that can be speced for different customers. Even on Amazon there are half a dozen vendors.
One concern brought up was the height of the seat. The seat on the B series is deceptively high up. I measured 10" from the base to the top of the seat bottom. The new seat has three adjustable basic heights with 4" or so of suspension travel. The dimensions all worked out. Its a fairly narrow mounting area on the tractor and the dimensions fit there as well.
The seat came quickly and weighs in at 80 lbs. Its a substantial piece of kit! the stock seat came out easily enough. Its just two brackets bolted to the tractor.
As always not a single bolt and hole form the old lined up with the new. I retained the stock brackets because they lined up with the threaded holes in the tractor and gave a level mounting area. The rear bracket only needed to have two holes elongated to line up with the sliders in the new seat.
The forward bracket needed a plate fabricated to get from the brackets connection to the new seat's mounting holes. No problem, scrap piece of steel lying around, drilled some holes. Its not pretty and took a couple of tries from some mismeasuring but its hidden by the suspension skirt. No big deal. Gave the plate some primer and black paint. The longest part of the install was waiting for the paint to dry.
The only interference issue was the PTO engagement lever was just scraping the side of the new seat sliders. A Couple of washers between the brackets and the seat solved that. I also could have ground a little half circle into the lever edge.
The initial concern about the seat being too high was increased because I reused the original brackets which brought the mounting base up then added additional thick washers to clear the PTO lever. Even with that the seat height is just fine. At rest with the seat in its lowest setting its at about 12" above base, so about 2" higher than before. With me in the seat it settles right down to 10", same height as before. With the suspension travel (of which the stock seat had none) I move up and down from about 2" below stock seat height to about 2" above when really hitting the bumps. That's with the seat set at its lowest setting. Going to the higher settings still feels good. With the original seat I kept the tilt steering wheel at its lowest setting, with the new seat I keep it at the lowest with the lowest setting of the seat, with the higher settings I put the wheel in the middle of its tilt.
Final verdict is a night and day difference in riding around. I don't have to brace myself when I know I'm coming to a bump, I feel like I'm gliding along rather than pounding along. With all the adjustments I can position myself right where I used to sit, closer to the dash, higher than before, can recline the seat a bit. Its all very comfortable and completely different than stock. That stock seat, wow, its terrible. It'll install it to replace the even worse seat on my 3-point backhoe that goes on the big Case. Instead of each bump trying to toss me off forward and compressing my back, now I just float up and down.
For the seat comfort I'm not finding myself slumping forward anymore, being a little higher is letting the controls fall to hand easier, the loader level was a reach up before. This isn't a plush seat, a little cushier than the stock one, softer vinyl, more padding, but no one would call it plush but I like a firm vinyl seat so its good for me.
The big test will be how it holds up, it strikes me as pretty robust and I'm a light-duty user so hopefully for a very long time. I think its a good fit for the SCUT and CUTs, would fit on my Case 495 great, might start feeling a little small on the larger utility tractors.
So for a little less than $300 I'm more than pleased; similar seats with a few upgrades seem to go for $500-$600; with the really nice stuff starting at about $800-$1200. For the cost its a huge upgrade.
David
I posted a question about whether anyone had tried this particular seat:
Amazon.com: VEVOR Suspension Seat Adjustable Backrest Headrest and Slide Rails Mechanical Suspension Seat Foldable Heavy Duty for Tractor Forklift Excavator: Home Improvement
No one had so I went ahead and gave it a shot. This is a replacement for the stock seat on my B2601. The stock seat is terrible. Hinged at the front with a couple of uneven springs on the rear so its always trying to bounce you forward. The retractable seat belt is mounted to the seat frame so every time you bounce it tightens on you meaning you've got to unbuckle all the time to get some slack. I didn't find the seat itself too uncomfortable, hard vinyl works for me, but everything else was terrible. Suspension seat was called for. Air would be ideal, but too expensive for my hobby tractor. I put about 100 hours a year on it.
I did all the research I could on what was out there. Grammer is the gold standard, but over a grand, too much. The Black Talon seat at Northern Tool looks to be identical to the generic one I ordered but with a different suspension, upgraded arm rests and a retractable seat belt. eBay has many versions of this seat with different options. I even saw a few stock Kubota models that look to have this identical seat. This all led me to believe its a pretty generic seat that can be speced for different customers. Even on Amazon there are half a dozen vendors.
One concern brought up was the height of the seat. The seat on the B series is deceptively high up. I measured 10" from the base to the top of the seat bottom. The new seat has three adjustable basic heights with 4" or so of suspension travel. The dimensions all worked out. Its a fairly narrow mounting area on the tractor and the dimensions fit there as well.
The seat came quickly and weighs in at 80 lbs. Its a substantial piece of kit! the stock seat came out easily enough. Its just two brackets bolted to the tractor.
As always not a single bolt and hole form the old lined up with the new. I retained the stock brackets because they lined up with the threaded holes in the tractor and gave a level mounting area. The rear bracket only needed to have two holes elongated to line up with the sliders in the new seat.
The forward bracket needed a plate fabricated to get from the brackets connection to the new seat's mounting holes. No problem, scrap piece of steel lying around, drilled some holes. Its not pretty and took a couple of tries from some mismeasuring but its hidden by the suspension skirt. No big deal. Gave the plate some primer and black paint. The longest part of the install was waiting for the paint to dry.
The only interference issue was the PTO engagement lever was just scraping the side of the new seat sliders. A Couple of washers between the brackets and the seat solved that. I also could have ground a little half circle into the lever edge.
The initial concern about the seat being too high was increased because I reused the original brackets which brought the mounting base up then added additional thick washers to clear the PTO lever. Even with that the seat height is just fine. At rest with the seat in its lowest setting its at about 12" above base, so about 2" higher than before. With me in the seat it settles right down to 10", same height as before. With the suspension travel (of which the stock seat had none) I move up and down from about 2" below stock seat height to about 2" above when really hitting the bumps. That's with the seat set at its lowest setting. Going to the higher settings still feels good. With the original seat I kept the tilt steering wheel at its lowest setting, with the new seat I keep it at the lowest with the lowest setting of the seat, with the higher settings I put the wheel in the middle of its tilt.
Final verdict is a night and day difference in riding around. I don't have to brace myself when I know I'm coming to a bump, I feel like I'm gliding along rather than pounding along. With all the adjustments I can position myself right where I used to sit, closer to the dash, higher than before, can recline the seat a bit. Its all very comfortable and completely different than stock. That stock seat, wow, its terrible. It'll install it to replace the even worse seat on my 3-point backhoe that goes on the big Case. Instead of each bump trying to toss me off forward and compressing my back, now I just float up and down.
For the seat comfort I'm not finding myself slumping forward anymore, being a little higher is letting the controls fall to hand easier, the loader level was a reach up before. This isn't a plush seat, a little cushier than the stock one, softer vinyl, more padding, but no one would call it plush but I like a firm vinyl seat so its good for me.
The big test will be how it holds up, it strikes me as pretty robust and I'm a light-duty user so hopefully for a very long time. I think its a good fit for the SCUT and CUTs, would fit on my Case 495 great, might start feeling a little small on the larger utility tractors.
So for a little less than $300 I'm more than pleased; similar seats with a few upgrades seem to go for $500-$600; with the really nice stuff starting at about $800-$1200. For the cost its a huge upgrade.
David
) and as standard seat on my F2690e Kubota mower. Fine seat and compact, but neither of two Kubota dealerships were willing to try to install it in my L. 
