Before I start dismantling things, could someone tell me how the seat bar mechanism is supposed to latch in the up position when the machine is not in use. Mine had been working, but now it won't stay up. I'm wondering if something is worn too far. I see the parts in the parts manual but can't find any mention of it in the service manual, although maybe I'm missing that section. Not sure how that flat triangular piece of metal is supposed to move. Thanks.
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OldMachinist
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- May 24, 2006
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I looked at several of the older model service manuals and none of them say anything about the seat bar. By looking at the parts diagram it looks like there's a compression spring on both sides that puts tension on it to hold it. You might just need to tighten the bolt that goes thru the spring a little.
wings5j
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- Jan 7, 2008
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My rig is a 742B and when I got it, I had the same problem. It drove me nuts and it didn't take long for me to decide it was a "must fix" item.
I am away from home so I don't have access to my service manual but here is what I recall from memory.
After taking both sides apart, I found that one of the springs were broken. I decided to get new springs for both sides (not very expensive anyway). When I brought home the new parts and compared them to the old, it was nice to see that they were now using a heavier duty spring. Anyway, that cured my problem and I haven't had to do anything else since.
Good luck,
John
This is a very common issue.
If the psrings are good, you have worn plates. If you look at the weird shaped plate that has a hole that the main mounting bolt to the ROPS goes through with a flat to hold it against the front of the ROPS. It has two ears that rub on the seat bar. If they wear the seat bar will not hold up. Another option is to take them off and switch sides, you then will be running on the non worn side of the plate. The sides of the seat bar will wear flats on to it too, you may want to build it up with a little weld and grind it back to round.
I hope that makes at lease a little sense.
99% of the time new springs are all that is needed.
Thanks so much for these details and the idea of changing sides.
stupadazole
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- Dec 11, 2009
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- 8
I use a bungee cord.
bobcat also sold a retro fit kit with a nitrogen cylinder /shock that held the bar up worked fine for me
I put a couple beads of weld on my funny shaped plates and it holds up fine now.