well i was wondering if anyone else shared a machine with another operator that adjusted the seat in really wierd ways? me and dad both run the 312, well that seat adjust about 10 differant ways. and me and dad have to have each one set differant. and this drives us crazy cause it seems to take half the day to get it back where it is contferable. some times we are running two or three machines off and on on the same site, and we almost fight over it. is it just me or does any one else think that the equipment designers need to put a system in them like my jeep has. (where you have 2 presets that you can choose that automaticly goes back to your postion)??
Yep, me and my dad do that as well. On our backhoe, he always leaves just one armrest half up and it stabs me when I sit down. Also he seems to leave it in third gear even when not doing fast travel. And of course third puts the stick in a similar position to first, so I don't notice until I can't even push a handful of dirt. Other than that it isn't too bad.
I know the feeling. Even this week one of my mechanics just moved my pickup about fifty feet and so he adjusts the seat forward (short-legged devil). But does he put it back after he moves it, Noooo!!!!! I have enough trouble getting into this HD 2500 Chev, seems like it's about 12 feet up and I don't jump so good anymore. Even with the seat all the way back I have difficulty sliding in. On heavy equipment the adjustment was always a problem. Adjusters stuck, frozen with dirt and rust. Blocked with the last ten years worth of sandwich bags, old hats, rags, coats, shirts, pop cans and bottles, old coolers and thermos's. Then there were the ones that the one side would work, but not the other. Some had the seat back broken or bent, or the air ride didn't work or the shock was gone or busted. Some had the seat cover all tore to hell or it was slick with dirt and grease or tobacco slobber. You wish sometimes that you could haul your own seat with you like a horse saddle and just plop it into place and go for it. I know some operators that always carry a springy like cushion assembly with them and they put that in. I usually flatten one of those in an hour or so. That's the trouble with heavy equipment, any given piece may have a hundred or more operators of all sizes and shapes sitting in it over a period of time. Manufacturers can't please everyone.
Problem Solved Last year I kept telling the hired man to leave my truck seat alone every time I got in MY truck the seat was in some goofy position and the rear view was always messed up. So one day after I had all I could take :Banghead I pulled MY truck in the shop and welded the seat so it couldn't be moved then super glued the mirror. Should of seen the look on his face when I told him I welded MY seat in MY truck.
I took over my current job from my elder brother, for a while he`d return to do some work there. Despite us being a similar hieght, he`d screw the seats of everything into bizarre positions. I wondered if it was pay back for all the ` lil brother` stuff I did to him all those years ago. There is NOTHING, worse than a mal adjusted seat. Well, not much anyway.
surfer-joe You hit the nail on the head with all the stuff left in a machine, I cant stand it. When ever I have to run one of the different machine in our yard I have to clean it out before I can operate it. That includes cloths, coats, hats, pants, coffee cups, food bags and food, and ump teen bottles of water or pop I’m a big guy and tall to boot. I like the seat all the way back and a little tilt back on the back. After years of driving truck with no air in the seat , seat bounce don’t bother me. Even if it dose work I usually let it all out so I sit low. I don’t like having to bend over or scrunch over to look out the top of the window.
Seems like everyone agrees, leave the darn seat alone! The company I work for has a general rule that you run the same machine all the time. However when your machine needs service or something you wind up on something else, and find the water bottles and trash. When you get yours back the seat is moved and there is usually grease all over everything.
Yup. This seat thing is of epidemic proportions.:iagree :thumbdown
I was just a lil kid when I started out running our 312 CAT and of course had the seat slid way ahead and I like to have my back rest bout straight up. Dad, he has seat all the way back and back rest reclined a bit. Sames goes for his truck, when i dirve it seat is slid ahead a bit and rest up. He always bitches when he gets in, "That short ****" That is not as bad as one guy that once and a blue moon runs MY excavator at work, he could only be going to be in it for 2 mins and has to move the seat all over heck and has even gone as far as reprograming the radio presets. That really drives me nuts(the seat more than the radio, cause I don't listen to it much when I am digging) Trbo
I like to keep the seat back at almost a 90. That way I can stretch out my legs and just sort of sit there really comfortable. Dad freeks on me. He moves the seat back and reclines it, I'm surprised he doesnt fall assleep. He says he feels like he going to fall out of the machine the way I run the seat. Usually to keep the peace I leave it where he likes it cuz he's been there 40 years and owns all the iron...LOL
Try 3 or 4 operators I am working for a company in Louisiana doing a refinery expansion project and we may swap operators around on about 15 different hoes in a days time. That is what I call a pain in the ***.
Ever drop a Cat air ride seat down to the floorboard? We're talking Chicken Hauler Low. Like sitting on a milk crate low. Then watching a new operator try to figure out why he can't see over the steering wheel? Not like I'd ever do anything as childish as this..... But I've seen it happen once or twice....
Same here, I think Volvo had an option a while back with the electronic seats that had user programmed memory into it, sit in the seat punch in your number (1-10) and it adjusted to where you last had it.
That's the only good thing about our old excavator, seat only slide back and forth, and the back tilts. Now on the new volvo excavator the seat moves about 20 flippin ways. Now my boss is about 6'5" and I'm about 5'11". I operate the volvo excavator about 90% of the time, have the seat set just perfect. He gets in there to work when I'm not there and screws up the way I had it, when I get back the next day and sit it the seat my feet don't touch the floor and I'm staring at the ceiling of the machine. For some reason he has to move the seat all the way back, then move the contols all the way back, tilt the seat cushion, tilt the back of seat, adjust the weight control, and jack up the air seat. sometimes it take me two days before it back the way I like it. I have finally got him to just move the seat back, instead of doing everything else. As far as the seat in my truck, I have made it very clear that it stays the way I have it or you can use your own damn truck!
Neat thing about the Cat cabs I spend time in, I will have the seat in the lunch box compartment and the controls all the way ahead, but when I'm ditch diggin' I can slide the whole works 12" forward and still have lots of leg room and have my lips on the front window.
ya it bugs me when someone jumps into my hoe for a minute and changes the seat.