Looking for thoughts on how to fix the vertical adjustment for my seat. It seems that someone found the surprising 4-5 spring in the seat post of my 580C backhoe. Wish I had the video of that moment. It must have been a fun day. So now to my problem. Is it worth the 70-80 dollars to get a spring or do I just put up with a seat that is all the way down unless I do the four hand hold the release, lift the seat, and line up the hole game. Thought about putting in a gas shock from and office chair... 70-80 dollars to fix an old seat or is there a replacement for the post? Is there a source for the spring that isn't so proud of their fine workmanship? Is there a easier solution, from what I've read, the 4-5 spring is a life changing experience putting it back in? The part number for the spring: D84284 Thanks for the help
Hey outlawspeeder, Man i am going through that same exact problem.... that is the part number for the spring I need for my 480E case backhoe loader. I can find no specs on this spring either. I am thinking I am going to bite the bullet on this and just buy it... and like you, I cannot imagine why anyone would take this out... unless it was all rusty or broke etc... What did you end up doing? Thanks!
Mine was broken in two, tried to zip tie then welded both pieces together, but couldn't make it work back in the base..I'm not 6 ft. so it works for me in hardtail mode, still swivels, just put a thicker piece of closed cell foam and made a custom seat cover out of an old camo lawn chair..
I found a yard that had about 20 - 30 case backhoes. They let me look though them to find one. It was rusted and was about 4 foot long. Still looking for a better one. I have to get off the seat for it to come up but I don't have to lift it. I am still looking for better but I have something working.
One thought... I have not tested this but if someone does, let us all know if it works. https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Replacement-Hydraulic-Pneumatic-Universal/dp/B08F22VM99 14"to 22" Long (8" Stroke) Adjustable Gas Lift Cylinder Tube for Office Chair Stool Replacement Parts, Hydraulic Pneumatic Cylinder Shock Piston, Universal Size Heavy Duty (450 lbs): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Looking at this video, you would need the top part of the chair with the little lever, and it would give you a place to put your seat in place. On the bottom looks like you would have to fabricate some sort of pipe or sleeve that would hold the bottom of the cylinder, and let you be able to fasten it to the backhoe.
The button on the top would be pushed in by the seat and the whole thing seats inside the tube where the spring was. Just thinking.
Well thanks for the reply, currently I got nothing and it is a fight to get the seat to the correct level. My seat pan it toast and the front to back adjuster was rusted badly... I got those working but they are still in bad shape. Thanks for your comment!
Well that was a good idea to go to a yard. I live in Southern MD not a lot of those around. Glad ya got something working for you. I am hoping to find a universal seat and get a spring and make it workable. Thanks the reply! Using a hydraulic cylinder from a chair is a good idea, but I am not sure how well they would hold up. If someone does do that, I would be interested in the results. Good idea actually. Still thinking about going for the original part. Thanks again.
Contact Dale Weiss at Tractor Stuff. He’ll have 1 for sure.
The seat spring in my 580c is wore out as well so what i ended up doing is figuring out the correct height I needed when I was driving the machine and putting a muffler clamp around the tube to hold it in place. When I spin the seat around to dig with it the latch mechanism still holds it into the correct spot it needs to be for digging
Exactly what I did with my 580D. Been that way for 20 years. Works Great. Tom
Thanks I will ck them out and report back!
Thats a good idea. For me seat needs to be higher when digging I feel... and my seat did not move back and forth... seat was toast... really need something different... Thinking about putting and old Subaru seat on it, but it may be too big....Thanks for the idea, I do like it!
Good that you had something to work with... all I had was rust.... Thanks for the reply!
@thepumpguysc : Thanks for the suggestion. I think I called the place you were talking about in SC. He said (It was not Dale) I would have to go to Case. I just ordered it. So its on the way. Sometimes ya gotta do that I guess.
Tractor stuff is in Indiana..
Dale Wiess is the owner. http://e-backhoeparts.com/
Well I never saw when I did a search, I found JD Tractor stuff... I did call, Dale was out sick and his sister said she thought that was a dealer part, (Moot point as I ordered one anyway) but I can tell that that pace is going to be a good source for parts! Thanks for that link! Have a good one!
Ok Hope I am not hijackings this thread, not my intent,,, I have my spring. It is 37" long and about 1/8" thick coil. I have the new seat on the post, and have attempted to put this all together.... I gatta say its like putting a wet noodle up a wild cast *** ! I saw a post by goose in this thread HeavyEquipmentForums that said to remove the seat post and that there is a retaining clip (Which on mine is long gone) that keeps the two seat posts together so the spring does not push them apart. Well that made sense. I knew there must be some way to keep that thing together. So now for safety I almost have to take that seat post apart, buy the clip and go that route. Any one got any other suggestions? I know I am going snap off all of those bolts or nuts... OH from the manual I have, the clip is part D49776, snap ring #187 2.008 Int, Spiral. Search for that is on now...
Couple more pics that go with the above post..... No matter what I sure think this is going to be hard....
I was able to set the top part of my seat in the corner by the foot controls for the back hoe swing and feed the top part of the spring into the the top part of the spring while leaving the bottom part of the spring in the base then picked up the seat and kind of guide it all back together. With that being said my spring may be shot but that is what worked for me. Would probably be much easier with two people.
Roger two people... lol, ,more people to drink with when you are all beat up from the spring hitting you! But seriously folks, in the assembly pic, it looks like it would work to put the seat on the post, put the spring in the bottom and put it back on the machine... I ordered the #3 part, the D49776, new number 0102-21187 spiral retaining spring, (NOT SURE WHERE THIS GOES) it was pretty cheap and the guy said not very substantial .. So we shall see.... now to get the bottom part of the seat post off the machine... thanks for your comment/reply..... I was thinking the pvc route someone else suggested, but how do you keep this snake in the can once you get it back together... it could come off if you stood up too tall when you are adjusting it?
Ok, a quick post before I am off to help friend. So happily the bolts all came out no problem! Got the bottom part of the seat post on the bench in the vice. Cleaned it all up... interesting hole in side of the cylinder near bottom... water letter outter hole? SO I think I understand what Goose posted as I can see it all now.... So in the one pic you are looking into the bottom of the lower seat post.... you can see a step up near the upper end... and when I put the lower post on the upper one, you can see a place for a snap ring to keep the top from coming out of the bottom... and in the bottom of the lower post were remnants of what I think was the clip I just bought... guy even said it was slight and was not sure where it goes... well I am pretty sure it goes in the slot on the end of the top half of the seat post. Clear as mud? May see about some new bolts for that bottom bracket to attach in... got lucky for sure... Have a great day!
I know very little but wouldn't it be possible to start your spring in the bottom, then put a post/bolt of some variety in that hole to stop the spring springing, then basically screw the spring into the bottom post, until it's all the way in there? Maybe the spring doesn't squish down enough to fit?
There is a trick to putting that spring back in the pedestal, one thing is is to make sure the snap ring groove is good that holds the spring in. Another trick is to get someone else to do the job.
AIghead; I thought the same thing, but did not want to drill holes in the seat post. Also I just dont see that working enough to get that snaky spring far enough into the bottom post. The spring it 37" long, bottom post about 10, top post about 11, so you would still have some 15" of spring to compress, so thats about 10 to 15" to just have the 11 hanging out for the top seat post... but it could work, I was just not willing to try it. With the spiral snap spring in place, you have a way to keep the top part from shooting off the bottom. That was my concern from the start, Goose talked about that and I found the part etc... The way I think this is going to work is putting the bottom post on the top, the base of the bottom post is two pieces. On the part that comes off, is a 8 or so inch tube that the spring goes around. ( This gives a little more length to the whole thing, and I hope it will be enough to compress it all back together. ) Next put the spiral snap ring on the grove at the end of the top post and attempt to get it all together. Still 8 or 10" of spring may be harder to get to together than I am thinking... once the base with the tube meets the base two bolts go through and the nuts go on to hold it all together under compression, I hope! Then back on the backhoe and test it all out! I got my spiral snap ring in the mail yesterday. SO I am going to try all this today! I will report back on my progress. Thanks for the suggestion and the reply! Helps to hear different ideas/methods. Schaeff58
Cory, Yes someone else to do it is a great idea! But it will be me, I hope to get it done. I got my spiral snap ring yesterday, and yes I hope to get that spring in there correctly....My concern is that the one part part of the slot is compressed due to the seat post being peened over because of use I suspect. I used a hack saw to open it all back up. I think it will be ok, but time will tell. Ill report back with my progress. Thanks for the reply! Schaeff58
Put the top part on the floor and put spring in tube take the base and put in spring and compress it all together then lock together with position pin and put spiral ring onto top tube. May want to clean spring and tube up so it won't be greasy and nasty cause it's gonna jump out a time or two. Good luck!
Well thanks for all the sage advice @Cory Lancaster and @aighead , and all the other posts I read. Thanks Cory, for the additional suggestion. I sorta did a version of that. And not having the seat on the post would have been smarter, but I have not been accused of being smart in a while! LOL . In the scope of things replacing the seat spring and seat is not that big a deal and not as hard as rebuilding the transaxle, or doing the brakes or any of the myriad of other projects on old machines like this. BUT.... It sure helps to see it, at least it does for me. Also I am sorta hijackings this thread, as My backhoe is a 1986 Case Construction King 480E. So for this machine this is how I put the seat spring back into the seat post. So I put the circle clip on, put in on the cylinder then slid it into the slot. I tested it a few times hard, and it seemed set and good to go. I tried to do what Corey suggested, it was not working well for me, so I thought about some way to compress it. Trip to Lowes and some all 3/8" thread, nuts and washers and I was in business.....
I used my air ratchet and slowly tightened the plates together. I double nutted one end of the threaded rod and a single nut and washers on both ends. Ratchet on the double nut end and a wrench on the other, just held it the single nut most of the time. Tighten up as you see fit, evenly is good.... guide the spring into the top post as you go. Corey and Goose are correct it could be be done with out all this... as when it got close I was able to just push it the rest of the way together and bolt the two parts together. Installed assembly in the machine and shot some grease into it. Works ok, I still have to get off of the seat to adjust it. And as an FYI the seat I bought, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XZLJKXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 is too big (I think) but it still will work. It hits the steering wheel even all the way forward when you turn it around.... plus that seat I bought had to have new holes drilled to reattach the slides to fit the holes on the seat post pad. (Holes are 11" x 11" on mine) I am going to go with it, but I am a little disappointed in the final outcome, but it does go up and down and it spins easer so it is a vast improvement. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. The spring is scary, but it is doable in several different ways. Two people would help for sure. Corey said it best, get someone else to do it! LOL but if you are like me, you can give it a try and succeed! Schaeff58
Slick little jig @Schaeff58 !
thanks @aighead , it worked great!
Looks like it worked great.
Yes sir Cory, I am back in the saddle now! so to speak...
is that snap ring for inner and outer tube
Hi Guys, for anyone having trouble getting that seat spring back in, I would like to share how I did it. It took me 10 minutes using some info I read on this forum. I did not have the snap ring so that part is left out. With the seat out of the machine and the cushion removed, separate the base post (#8)from the spacer (#17).2 nuts hold them together. Lay the spacer horizontal on a bench with the bottom of it against something stable. I used my bench vice. Slide the spring onto the spacer post. Insert the seat mounting post (#1) into the base post (#8) until it locks into one of the height adjustment holes.I didn't do this the first time and it shot across my workbench like a rocket! Then slide the spring into the base post. I then pushed the top seat mounting post (#1) against the spacer using the vice as an anchor and compressed the spring. It did not take much force and the length of each section kept the spring guided and did not bend outward. Once I had a few threads of the studs showing, I threaded on a nut to hold it in place and then threaded on the other one.I would assume if you are installing a snap ring, it would have to be inserted when you push the top post through the base post, and then pulled back to lock it in place with the height adjustment. Hopefully this helps someone, as I have found valuable information on here, and would like to contribute if I can.
forgot one thing, I did find a ring laying at the bottom of the base. it was not a typical snap ring but a spiral retaining ring.I cleaned out the grease on the bottom of the seat mounting post #1 and found the groove it goes into. It was stretched so it did not stay in when I moved the seat height. I just make sure when I raise the seat it do not let it come too far up in order to keep the spring from flying out.