Smoother ride ???

[tsavoy01]

I have a 4530, just bough it and while mowing grass on a semi smooth field, it bounces around and the seat springs up and down, but when it goes up it jerks to a stop as it maxes out, which causes a very uncomfortable ride. Any way to get a smoother ride out of this thing? Does water in tires help?

 

[RoyJackson]

No suspension under a tractor, so you can either get a suspension seat (air ride) or go slower.
My choice was to go slower to ease the wear and tear on the tractor.

 

[tsavoy01]

Yea that's what I have to do too.. But it kills me to know that I can knock out a job an hour faster if I can just put up with the discomfort. What's an air ride seat?

 

[seaneastok]

Dont know how much you weigh.. But on the front of the seat there is a seat spring adjustment knob to set for different weights of operators. Play around with that until you find the setting that suits you..:thumbsup:
Regard's
Sean

 

[RoyJackson]

Yea that's what I have to do too.. But it kills me to know that I can knock out a job an hour faster if I can just put up with the discomfort. What's an air ride seat?

I may have used the wrong nomenclature..."air ride" seat are used on some over-the-road trucks. I thought they were used in some tractors (being optional), but maybe I was wrong..
If you seat has the adjustment Sean wrote about, try that first...if not, contact your dealer and see what they have available. Also, if you use this query:
"air suspension seat for tractors" (drop the quote marks)
on Google or other search engine, you'll see quite a few listings...most around a thousand bucks though. Maybe you ought to get a pillow.

 

[kneedeep]

Use the tractor to smooth the field then the seat won't bounce around!! :cool2:

 

[thatguy]

You may also try lowering the tire pressure.. I read on here that ppl were running their rear tires at 20-25 psi - I was running mine at 10ish.. I upped the psi to 16ish and could tell immediately that it was bouncing more..

I lowered it back down to 13psi yesterday and that seemed to help a LOT smoothing out the ride..

just an idea

brian

 

[tsavoy01]

Yea, I played with the seat adjustment, it almost felt better in the "stiff" position. I was thinking about the tire pressure too ! I need to give that a try. Any one else have any input on tire pressure and what's the safest lowest pressure? How hard is it to add water to tires?

 

[Sysop]

Most tractors have the tires overinflated during shipping so they don't bounce as much while being hauled. All the manuals I've read stated to lower the air pressure upon delivery. I generally run about 15 in my liquid filled rears and 20 in the front when using the FEL, 15 for field work. Having the seat adjusted "firm" does help, the foam takes the shock off the little bumps and the big bumps don't bottom the seat's suspension out. As to adding fluid, it doesn't really change the ride much other than crushing some things that would otherwise be bumps. I'd call a tire service to come do it, your dealer can likely tell you who does it locally in your area and it's generally worth the money.

 

[AchingBack]

Yea, I played with the seat adjustment, it almost felt better in the "stiff" position. I was thinking about the tire pressure too ! I need to give that a try. Any one else have any input on tire pressure and what's the safest lowest pressure? How hard is it to add water to tires?

tsavoy, I am being serious here when I suggest this inexpensive, inflatable doughnut. You can cover it with the fabric of your choice, and you can easily adjust the air pressure to your comfort zone. Kind of like a sleep number doughnut. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81lu-B9xBEL._SL1500_.jpg Amazon.com: Carex Inflatable Ring Cushion, Rubber: Health & Personal Care