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I am wondering if anyone has installed an aftermarket seat on their Grasshopper? I put a very nice cordura fabric seat on my amphibious ATV a couple of years ago that I picked up from Tractor Supply and it is super comfy: Premium High-Back Seat, Cordura - 0278239 | Tractor Supply Company

To me, that aftermarket seat looks a lot nicer than the vinyl "Premier Suspension Seat" GH sells. I don't know what the GH high-end seat price runs, but the aftermarket unit from Kodiac at Tractor Supply is $250. My main question for anyone who has swapped their seat out is... what kind of headaches will I encounter trying to transfer the operator presence safety switch from the old seat to the new??? Can it even be transferred or is it easier to just bypass the switch? How do I do that? I don't want to, but I really need more support for my back. (Sadly, 3 back injuries over the years practically demand extra cushion whenever possible now!)

Hi,
I don't have any experience so far in replacing the OE seat on my unit but I would like to. Its comfortable enough for me, and a lot better than some other tractor seats I have had on other machines, but some of the fabric on my arm rests is torn and I am at the point of considering replacing it.

Regarding the seat switch.... I have only had my machine a few weeks and am learning about it as fast as I can but I have investigated the safety switch attached to the seat. Others may correct me on this, but my understanding of this is that the safety switch will only turn off the machine if you, the operator get off the seat while the blade clutch switch is engaged. At least on my machine, as long as the blades are not engaged I can get off the machine and the engine will still run. The switch is a simple pressure switch that when depressed connects two wires so that the electrical connection is complete. Get off the machine, with the blades engaged, and the connection is broken and the machine is stopped. I would kindly recommend that if that is how your machine works, that you leave that switch intact and functional. I had an incident not that long ago when I got tossed from another machine, not a GH and was literally thrown off and landed with my left leg next to the mowing deck. Had the safety interlock not been working, well I don't have to paint that detailed a picture for you, but it wouldn't have been pretty... just a thought...On the other hand adapting it to a new seat should not be a big problem...

geoff

geoff is right about the switch, and for an open station mower may be worth keeping, who knows who you may let operate it in the future...

See if you can remove the switch from your old seat, they are replaceable so it should be possible to do...
If the new seat will not readily bolt up you can make an adapter plate to bolt to your mower and then bolt the new seat to it... anything that can be done to make mowing MORE enjoyable is going to be worth the effort... :smile:KennyV

I recently bought a new JD EZ Trak and I plan on changing the seat on it.

I have had 2 back surgery's and I need a better seat but the one you linked to is too narrow for me I'm a BIG guy. :biggrin:

Here is what I plan on buying it is a little more $$$$$$$$ but a much nicer seat.

Michigan Seat Highback Suspension Seat, Model# V-5300 | Suspension Seats | Northern Tool + Equipment

Bart,
That is the exact suspension seat that is on the Ventrac. It is a great seat and very comfortable - It should work well for you ! :thumbsup:

Seat Belt solves the being thrown off. :biggrin:

BKBrown said:

Bart,
That is the exact suspension seat that is on the Ventrac. It is a great seat and very comfortable - It should work well for you ! :thumbsup:

Seat Belt solves the being thrown off. :biggrin:

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info BK the web sites has 35 reviews of it and all of then are positive.
I have artificial disks in my back with titanium rods running up my spine I need a good seat with back
support.

The first Ventrac I owned had a non-suspension seat (until my better half got me the suspension seat) BIG difference in the ride. This new machine was ordered with the Suspension Seat and I love it. Ventrac also has the mounting plate riding on springs - so you get the seat suspension as well as springs under the seat mount.

A strange thing just popped into my head :biggrin: .... wondering if a 5 point (like a racing harness) could be mounted on this seat to keep your back against the seat back ?????

BKBrown said:

The first Ventrac I owned had a non-suspension seat (until my better half got me the suspension seat) BIG difference in the ride. This new machine was ordered with the Suspension Seat and I love it. Ventrac also has the mounting plate riding on springs - so you get the seat suspension as well as springs under the seat mount.

A strange thing just popped into my head :biggrin: .... wondering if a 5 point (like a racing harness) could be mounted on this seat to keep your back against the seat back ?????

Click to expand...

My JD has the seat mounted to a plate and the plate sits on springs but the lean back is too short and it leans me back to much.

I have a 3" competition 5 way harness that I removed from my Corvette.
It is still good but the sanctioning body will not allow you to race with a belt more than 2 years old.
Expensive buying this harness every 2 years.:confused2: :frown:


I have a vette with a 1200 HP engine in it and it is pure bliss to take it onto a road-race course :thumbsup:

BKBrown said:

Bart,
That is the exact suspension seat that is on the Ventrac. It is a great seat and very comfortable - It should work well for you ! :thumbsup:

Seat Belt solves the being thrown off. :biggrin:

Click to expand...

of course you are correct about the seat belt but unfortunately, the zero turn mower I was using at the time, a Dixon didn't have a seatbelt..(http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

KennyV said:

geoff is right about the switch, and for an open station mower may be worth keeping, who knows who you may let operate it in the future...

See if you can remove the switch from your old seat, they are replaceable so it should be possible to do... If the new seat will not readily bolt up you can make an adapter plate to bolt to your mower and then bolt the new seat to it... anything that can be done to make mowing MORE enjoyable is going to be worth the effort... :smile:KennyV

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Yes, Kenny. I do intend - if at all possible - to retain the GH operator presence switch. You're right... you never know who may run it in the years to come. Since the Tractor Supply site info indicates that it is designed for ZTR mowers, then it should have the ability to incorporate the switch underneath somewhere. I'll rig something up regardless. The Kodiac seat I linked to has a LOT of adjustability to hook up to a variety of mounting plates. It really is a nice seat. I know it took most of the bumps out of my amphibious ATV, and those are just like a mower; only the tires offer suspension. That's why I am buying one to put on the 'Hopper.

Bart - the Kodiac seat is actually wider than the Michigan High-Back seat you linked to. The Kodiac I have is just under 20.5" wide; the Michigan High-Back is 19.5" according to Northern Tool's webpage. Also, any seat can only be a maximum width of 21" or it would interfere with the Throttle & Parking Brake levers. So the Kodiac will should be a perfect fit. I also wanted a cordura fabric seat - NOT rubber or vinyl. Too damn hot on my tender behind. LOL I'll Scotch-Guard it to protect against rain & stains before I instal it. I'll post pics when it happens. It'll be a while though. That Kodiac seat is $100 cheaper than the one you linked to, but that's still $250 and I need a little time to re-charge my depleted fun money account! LOL

That Harness should work great if you can mount it !

Black Bart said:

My JD has the seat mounted to a plate and the plate sits on springs but the lean back is too short and it leans me back to much. How about stiffer springs ?

I have a 3" competition 5 way harness that I removed from my Corvette.
It is still good but the sanctioning body will not allow you to race with a belt more than 2 years old. Expensive buying this harness every 2 years.:confused2: :frown: Wonder who paid the sanction people ?

I have a vette with a 1200 HP engine in it and it is pure bliss to take it onto a road-race course :thumbsup:NICE !

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Grasshopper sells an optional air ride seat,don't know the price but it may be worth looking into.Black Bart that Vett. sounds like a mean machine. russ

173abn said:

Grasshopper sells an optional air ride seat,don't know the price but it may be worth looking into.Black Bart that Vett. sounds like a mean machine. russ

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I looked at the Premier Suspension Seat that GH sells, but regardless of price, (and I'm sure it isn't cheap), it's got a vinyl / polypropylene cover material, and that = a smokin' hot backside on sunny days. Cordura is more forgiving about temps, breathes, and with the seat I'm getting the covering can be zipped off and washed, (although you have to unbolt the mounting rails to get the bottom section off).

173abn said:

Grasshopper sells an optional air ride seat,don't know the price but it may be worth looking into.Black Bart that Vett. sounds like a mean machine. russ

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I was looking at a new GH last week with a fancy seat on it but the dealer wanted over $800.00 for it.

That is more than some pay for the whole mower.:laughing:

The vette has a built small block 406 that is Supercharged with Nitrous Oxide coupled to a manual 6 speed.

Modified suspension wider wheels and soft sticky tires and a set of killer brakes.

I usually just drive it on the street but do some track days, LOADS of fun to drive.

wow,double wow!That is some serious money for a seat.I had no idea they were that much.My first car when I got back from Nam was a 69 SS convertable Camaro,white with orange racing stripes.I built the little 350 to about 500hp.I sure wish I still had that car,your vett. sounds really nice. russ

I've decided to go ahead and swap out the standard stock GH seat with the aftermarket Kodiac suspension seat that I currently have mounted in my AATV. I removed both yesterday afternoon. I'll have to pick up some new, shorter bolts to mount the Kodiac's adjustable slider brackets on the GH seat pan. Also, when I removed the 'Hopper seat I discovered that the area on the mounting pan underneath the seat had lots of corrosion/rusty scale on it. I hit it with rough grit sandpaper to take off the harsh stuff, then swtiched to fine grain to smooth everything out. I'll pick up a little can of Rustoleum satin black and brush on a couple of coats this afternoon, then reassemble everything tomorrow. I have to remove the zip-off cordura seat covering to be sure, but it feels like there's a recess built into in the underside of the Kodiac seat bottom for mounting in a safety operator presence switch. I may have to do some cobbling to get the mounting holes & wiring to make the transition from the GH switch bracket into the Kodiac seat bottom. I'll dig into that this evening and hopefully get it all sorted out before this weekend's over.

I'll post before, during & after pics,- if anyone's interested.

pics. are always nice...russ

Well, I finished the switch from the stock standard GH seat to my Kodiac high-back aftermarket unit and generally speaking, it went fairly smooth. It certainly has better lumbar support and lateral stability. Overall firmer, but I think that will work to my advantage in the long run.

I hope to have photos and a brief play-by-play put together here in the next day or two for those interested in doing a swap of their own.:thumbsup:

Well, here's the story...

I first removed the stock GH seat. Pretty simple & straightforward. A few bolts to remove and disconnecting the 2 operator presence safety switch wires. I then removed the OPS switch from the plywood base of the stock seat. The two little bolts that held the OPS switch in the base were pretty scuzzy looking so I replaced them with new stainless steel hardware (1/4" panhead bolts, washers & nylock nuts) from Lowe's.

I put together a small 4 picture collage of the "nut & bolts" of the basic install:


I sanded the base of the seat platform with coarse sandpaper to remove corrosion, rust, etc., then went over it again with a fine grit to smooth everything out. I used 4 coats of Krylon satin black spray paint; 15 min between coats 1 & 2, then let it dry overnight. Rubbed the surface down with "0000" steel wool to give the paint a little bite and then put down coats 3 & 4 with 15 mins between. Let it dry completely (2 days in 90+ temps did a good job. LOL). The upper left photo shows the GH seat mount base after all 4 coats were put on. Turned out pretty nice, but looks wasn't that big a factor since 95% of it will be covered by the seat. Just wanted to remove all rust and protect against future incursion of corrosion or rust.

Upper right pic shows the adjustable slide mounting rails from the Kodiac seat. Kind of a pain to get everything lined up "just so" but it has to be done to prevent the seat from binding when you try to move it back & forth. Mainly the gawd-awful temps were the worst part of the install - I think I sweat off 5 lbs during this project! LOL. After bolting the base rails in place (used grade 8 hardware throughout) I had to remove the top slider rails from the seat bottom and loosen them to line them up to the base rails. Once everything was in line I tightened it all down and set about transferring the GH seat OPS switch to the Kodiac seat base.

Once I got the slider brackets off, the cordura fabric bottom section unzips to allow access to the bottom of the seat mount area. As you can see in the lower left picture, it already had a cut out in the metal base pan made to fit an OPS switch. (Either I got lucky or they are all the same basic size?) I only had to enlarge the mounting bolt holes to 1/4" and it was literally a perfect fit. In the lower right photo you'll see where I took some 16ga wire and made a "jumper" wire harness to connect the OPS switch from my new seat outside to the tractor's OPS wire harness. (I wanted to still be able to completely remove the seat later on if I had to without dis-assembling the seat brackets from the seat base. Now all I have to do is lift the cloth flap and unhook the GH wire harness from my "jumper harness" and it's done; reassembly is done in reverse.) I measured the amount of wire needed to bridge the gap between the seat base and the back of the seat where the two cordura fabric sections join together. Then I took a Sharpie permanent black marker and drew a thick line on one of the wires to give me an easy visual aid for which was positive and which was negative - less confusion when hooking things up! With the switch wired into place and plugged in, I re-fit the slider bracket onto the bottom of the seat and re-attached it.

I brushed some grease onto the base rails to make re-assembly easier and to allow the seat itself to slide back & forth with less effort as well. The seat arms are adjustable also. There are knurled dials recessed under each armrest that you can spin to set the height/angle: high, level, low... whatever you want. The headrest is also adjustable, but unfortunately has no locking mechanism. I adjusted it to my fit the base of my neck comfortably and "locked" it into place by slipping a couple of 3" pieces of 1/2" air hose over the slider posts to keep the headrest from sinking back down to the top of the seat back.

Anyhow, it took maybe a couple of hours TOTAL for all aspects of the install and after the first mowing I can happily state that all that work was well worth it! Much better lateral stability and more lumbar support for my tender lower back. I was able to slide the seat forward far enough that I no longer have to stretch way out to push the steering levers fully forward. I can literally steer now just by nudging the levers with my hands only; no arm movement required! It looks pretty sharp, too. All that's left now is to apply some Scotch Guard to the seat to help prevent grass stains and minimize water soaking.

You'll also notice that I modified the original grass discharge guard mounts to fit a newer style flexible guard. The old steel guard was completely unforgiving (no good for my trees & shrubs and the GF's flower beds) and it weighed about a ton to boot! LOL The new one looks slick and works great!

nice work,the seat looks great.if I ever ware mine out I might do the same mod. question:how do you adjust deck height on your machine? russ

Thanks for the kind words, Russ. As I said, it took some effort, but not too much, and the extra level of comfort certainly makes the job of mowing much more pleasant.

As to the HOW of adjusting my deck, I must confess I haven't a clue. As I mentioned elsewhere, I am still waiting on receiving the various manuals, receipts and other documentation from the previous owner. Until then I am forced to ask for help here on this board. From my preliminary examination of the deck though, it appears to me that adjustments are made at 3 points. You can see in the pics I uploaded just above the anti-scalping wheels at front center, there's a section with several holes and a ringed pin of some sort. There are 2 other similar multi-hole & pin areas at the rear of the deck on either side, beneath and towards the front of the foot rest platform. However, I cannot locate any stamped numbers or a ruler of any sort, so I'm not sure how to tell what height a deck is set at. Surely the GH manual(s) must give the height increments. The guy I bought the 721 from says it's set at 3.5" and judging from my 2 runs with it, that would appear correct, as I have the 54" deck on my Deere GT235 also set at 3.5" and the GH looks to be cutting at the same height.

the manuel I have for my 928d is for the tractor only so I would'nt expect yours to be any differant.If I go to town tomorrow I'll take a pic. of yours and ask my dealer.It seems strange that there isn't a way to raise that deck ...russ

I was'nt able to get to town yesterday but will sometime this week,looking at your pics. it sure looks like those pins are the only way to raise or lower your deck.sure seems inconvenient having to do it that way.my deck is a 96-61"and has a handle to raise and lower which I thought was old school but it isn'nt as bad as I thought as far as getting hung up on branches and such and with my terrain I use it many times during the course of a mowing.I feel for you if that's the only way you can adjust your deck...russ

I very rarely adjust my JD's deck, with regards to cutting height. The only time I do it is when crossing roads, taking it into the garage afterwards... that kind of stuff. I just wish this GH tractor had one of those new PowerFold decks. I really like the idea of being able to just push a switch to flip the deck into an almost vertical position; that would be so awesome for cleaning & servicing! I am sure the lawn pro guys really love the option because besides making service & cleaning much easier, shortening the tractor's overall length also allows them to put additional machines/equipment on their trailers. I honestly don't mind not being able to auto-lift my 72" deck. It's only a minor inconvenience every once in awhile. All the other pluses/benefits that this Grasshopper 721D has over my JD GT235 more than make up for that one shortcoming!:thumbsup:

is there a website for the Kodiac suspension seat for more informaiton?

landpride said:

is there a website for the Kodiac suspension seat for more informaiton?

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Premium High-Back Seat, Cordura - 0278239 | Tractor Supply Company

As I said in my initial post in this thread, I ordered mine from Tractor Supply Co. If there's a TSC store near you just order it online and have it shipped to your local store; you can pick it up there yourself and save some $$$ on shipping costs.