Another of the items of things to do on my bucket list of repairs on the 941 was improving the improvised seat system instituted by one of the previous owners. It looks like a John Deer mower seat that was put on at some point & it was welded to a 3/16" plate which weighed a ton to remove every time I needed to get to the bevel gear compartment, to check oil or change filters/screens etc. Anyhow I came up with some sizes & after some trial & error fitting came up with this solution which looks much more like Cat! 16 Ga bent brackets that hold the armrests in place have some nuts welded to the inside of the gauge material & then counter sunk bolts that come through the U-frame attach to the armrests. There was nothing left on the machine for a backrest support so I just welded a piece of plate to the U-Frame that the armrests bolt onto. Had a local upholstery shop do the fabric work for me. I am looking forward to a few hours of seat time now!
You will hate when I say it but you need to get a seat belt in there as well. My old Allis almost threw me like a bronco one day, seat belt in the next visit to the bone yard! I know of at least one crippled and one died from a throw out roll over incident. Does look real nice and comfy tho'.
Nice job on the throne Metalman, my ass is jealous! I agree on the seat belt. Salvage yard is your best bet. Be on the lookout for rear view mirrors while you are there.
Looks VERY comfy.. nice job.
please get that seat belt. one ride over the dash and very lucky not to hug a HOT exhaust opened this old mans eyes. never move mine with out the belt on.
My old Allis is a work in progress, did manage to get the seat base cushion made(similar to your set up, and one armrest on my battery box cover, still working the rest of it as can get there, seat back is next.
Followed everyone's advice......... a co-worker scrounged me a seat belt out of a scapper which I hope to put in the 941 next week. It is not a color match though.
Nice looking work there. I spent a lot of hours, back in the day, bouncing around on a 941 and a 955, and I don't recall ever having any complaints about the comfort of the seat. (Of course, my butt was a lot younger then too.) It's funny, I was browsing Craigslist, and found a 931 with a replacement seat that looks very similar to your first picture. Obviously that's an easy fix, but it sure looks less than ideal.
My old seat My old seat isn't much to brag about but it is comfortable believe it or not. My arm rest are really good and they are large enough to do the job. I just might take the picture of your fancy seat to a local upholstery shop and see if I can get one for a reasonable price if I furnish the frames. I just need the bottom and back, my armrest are fine. I will wait until I can get the machine under roof in the new shop before I do that. Did you cut the seat bottom from plywood? The seat was pretty good shape until I sat down in it on a extremely cold day. It will just have to do for now!
Yes Nitelite, plywood base on the seat. On my 941 there are 2 locating pins that face up that hold the seat in place & keep it from shifting. Holes drilled in the plywood to the exact centers of the pins keep things where they should be.
Seat belt installed!!
Looks plenty strong enough, I was hesitant to put mine in but a little history locally as to the death of a well skilled dozer operator and mine is used all the time!
Unfortunately, as many safety people will tell you most safety rules are written in BLOOD. Not saying some do not go too far at times but 90% or more of them have some good points to them. If we could get everyone working around this equipment to take time to think before jumping into a job we would need lots fewer rules. As they say regrettably: "Common sense is not all that common!"
My seat sits on a metal plate just like your old seat sat on. It, together with the seat weight is really heavy. I also have the two seat pins sticking up that hold the seat plate in place. I was carrying a bucket full of dirt one day before I installed the seat belts and drove over a hump, when the machine broke over the hump it threw the seat with me in it up against the dash. I removed the two pins and drilled them for tractor clevis pins and re installed the pins and seat. It can't come out now without removing the clevis pins. I would check fluids under the seat more often if the seat was lighter. I have to remove the seat now using the ag tractor lift. That screen behind my seat in the picture has protected my backside more than once. The D4 came with the full forestry package screens but I just run with the back screen for better visibility. If I can ask, what did you have to pay the upholstery people? Whoever did that quality job knew what they were doing, no doubt. I really envy that seat, I was thinking that I needed to wait, but I think that I could cover the new seat until I got inside parking when the new shop is built. If you do any more upgrades don't post pictures until you get them plenty dirty, your ideas are costing me money now. My wife just saw your pictures and offered that I should do that for my Christmas. Tempting! I just thought I'd pay you back, I'll bet that you are looking for a rear screen now!
Just the base assembly for mine was close to $200, materials and labor where I supplied the plywood base to start the form. I used a local furniture shop that does repairs where he used a exterior grade heavy black vinyl, three layers of differed compression rate foam also exterior rated. The seat base in my old AC pivots upon two pins to roll forward then slip an inch sideways and then lift out. I need to replace both side arm rests on mine as well where the funny bone is not so fun when it finds the battery box lid.
Nitelite, so far I have not received an invoice for the seat rebuild, but expect it very soon. I can advise the amount when it comes in. Re the seat project, I made some sketches up for the upholstery people & my metal work brackets. For the backrest, I pilfered one from my old D4D (machine is not running) to use as a sample one, for them to build new. If you would like some sketches of what I drew up, I could send you what I have for armrest brackets, back rest bracket & the seat base etc if that helps? Perhaps one of the other members could verify that the operator's compartments carry the same dims on both the 941 & 951? Do you still have the "C-Frame" assembly in place on your loader that holds the arm rests & the back rest? If you look on some of my pictures you will be able to see parts of it. It may be important to have that frame. Re the back screen..........that would be a great idea! However I think I should look for a ROPS first. I have spent most of my time working on this machine, not running it much since owning it. I want to make sure all main components are ok, after working it for a while before investing in a ROPS.
Don't sweat it Metalman, if the main components don't work out, at least you know where you can recover the money spent on the new seat. HaHa I have a feeling that Santa might be coming to see Nitelite this year so yes, if you have drawings that would be helpful. I won't need armrest as mine are perfect and I think a little larger than the original armrest. I think if I cut the plywood back and bottom and take them, along with your pictures to the upholstery shop, they should be able to reproduce the back and bottom for me. I have some high dollar marine grade exterior 3/4 plywood that was left off of another project. I also have some 5/8 marine grade. Did you come up with a way to lock your seat bottom in place or did you drill the bottom and it is sitting in the original two pins? I'll just need to look at my machine to see if there is a way to mount the back rest. I may need to fab up something. I am thinking that the seat back needs a little back lean rather than 90 degrees to the seat bottom. I can't tell from the pictures if, or not, your set up has any back lean or if it is 90 degrees.
Check out Finney Equipment. They have a lot of seats and armrests. I ordered armrests for 931B from them.
Nitelite, does your loader still have the original "C-Frame" in place that goes around the back & up the two sides of the operators compartment? If so the back rest plate can be welded to that, as that is how I did it. Also, I did lean mine back a few degrees. I will try to attach the sketch for the seat base & the back rest plate that I made up. On mine, only the two bottom pins come up into the bottom of the seat (2 holes) to lock it in place. I actually have piece of 11 ga aluminum that is fastened to the plywood & the seat is exactly the size as the aluminum sheet. See picture of the aluminum sheet & the pins that hold the seat in place. Is yours similar?
These are the sketches that I made up for the seat back support plate with the slight bend on it & the aluminum sheet under the plywood for the seat. Actually the bend could have been a little more even, say 7 deg. I believe I welded the backrest bracket to the inside of the "C-Frame" & kept the bend line just above the frame. The seat sketch has details for the armrest gage mat'l as well, but I ended up using 16 ga mild steel with nuts welded to the inside of the sheet metal, in order to fasten the armrests to the "C-Frame".
Thanks for the sketch, i will look at my machine tomorrow and see if it is the same. From memory, i think it is the same setup with the c frame and two pins.
Not trying to take anything away from metalman.. cuz his work is NICE!! but have you checked out Northern Tool?? They have a lot of seats cheap.. If nuthin else, it'll give you a base to work with.. then maybe all you have to do is get some arm rests..?
Just got the bill for all the upholstery work for my 2 armrests, seat & backrest. Anyone want to venture a guess how much it was? I supplied all of the sheet metal & they supplied the rest.
Well if you are smiling, I guess at $250.00
I will guess high at $400
I concur with kshansen at $250.00
$280 CDN + taxes. In USD perhaps you could deduct 25%? I thought that was a reasonable amount for a custom job.
That is a reasonable price considering the custom quality job that was done. Due to the advice of thepumpguys I did look at the seats that Northern tools carry. I think when I get the time I will pay them a visit and check out the quality of their seats. Keep in mind, that is where my existing seat came from. It cracked, as you can see in the upstream pictures, the first time that I sat down in it in cold weather. Little doubt that I will choose the custom seat like metalman has. I just like that seat and I'll bet that my seat will like that seat too. metalman, I do have the seat frame in place along with the two pins that the seat sits on.