super z seat

[2TALLKCMO]

I had an issue with my suspension seat over a month ago on my employer's super z which is a 07 that just turned 1000 hours, has been a very trustworthy machine to date, have 2 old Ferris 1500 Z's that my team pretty much refuse to use!

Anyway, to the point! I have had the same 2 operators running this machine off and on since she was brand new and they are both well under 200 pounds, they came to me and told me that the seat had busted so I took it apart to discover that the suspension springs had pulled through a piece of aluminum that they hooked into for support. I called my dealer to find out if I could get the bracket along with the shock absorber since it was leaking and was told that the only parts available were the cushions,cables,armrests,etc, other than that we would have to purchase a new seat, luckily I have an AWESOME mechanic in house that was able to make a piece out of steel to get the old seat back to working again. I realize that you guys don't make the seats but it's just very frustrating that a very nice machine such as this would have such a flimsy part on it, I would at least think that if Michigan seat is going to build this out of aluminum, you should be able to buy the parts to fix it, because after all this isn't a cheap seat by any means!

Also, I had sent an email to the hustlerturf website on 7/21 just asking if possibly these parts could be made available in the future because i know that other people have probably experienced the same issues that we have and I never even got a "we will look into this" response! Also, just fyi, my dealer is great!! he would be Jack at Landscaper's Choice

[SPENCER HUNTER]

Ever checked out northern tools they sell mich. Type seat's one of my friends went there got a seat for about $100 dollars less than the dealership wanted,,he did a total replacement

[2TALLKCMO]

the way my mechanic beefed this up, it will probably last longer than the machine does! I will take the seat apart this fall and take some pics of the repair if anyone is interested, about $5 or less in materials and around 4 hours of labor had it back in business, lot easier to swallow this pill than spending $600-700 on a new seat that will do the same thing down the road!

[treemeat]

I had the same thing happen on mine at 500 hrs. fixed it with two steel eye-bolts and got another one ready to bust. those seats should be much more reliable. replacement cost from Hustler is $500. plus they don't sell parts imagine that--not even a new cover. What a racket!

[bob]

My Gravely has the same seat, and the same piece of aluminum wore out on mine. This was about 3 years ago. I cried to Michigan Seat & they sent me 2 new aluminum pieces. My seat just broke again a couple of days ago, so I'll guess tis weekend I'll be fixing it.

[2TALLKCMO]

to fix our old seat we took a short piece of 1" or maybe 1 1/4" square tube and made a collar to slip over the aluminum piece (we did have to shave off a little bit of aluminum off the top and bottom of the piece that broke) and then welded some old 1/4" Chain link to the tube to tie the springs back into the seat. We left the square tube short enough on each end to still attach the tension cables on the seat.

We had thought about ordering a new seat or crying to Michigan also but we figured it would just break again down the road and with this repair it is pretty much guaranteed not to break.

[bob]

I've got all the seat parts, but I can't remember where the big springs go. I know they hook on the ends of the aluminum piece, but where on the seat do they attach?

[2TALLKCMO]

Bob, my dealer went to bat for me and called the distributor and got me a new seat under warranty as I was only a couple days out of warranty when it broke. HOPEFULLY the new seat will be in next week, the first plan is to take it apart and replace the aluminum piece with the steel sleeve that my mechanic built so that I don't have to worry about it breaking EVER AGAIN!!! when I do I will take some photos of it and post so that other people can save a few bucks, $10 in steel is alot cheaper than a $600 seat the way I look at it.

If you IM me your email address I will send them straight to you

[MOHUSTLER]

Yes that peice of aluminum is a verry week part in the Michigan seat. And its not just hustler, scag, exmark, bad boy, gravley, ext... all run the same seat with the same problems. And im sure that michigan is addressing the problem, we have warrantied many seats and its all money out of thier pocket.

[bob]

I had the new aluminum bracket to fix my seat, but my adjustment cables were broke & frayed. I called Michigan Seat ( its not called Michigan Seat anymore another company bought them out) and ask about getting new cables for my Gravely seat. The rep gave me a Gravely/Ariens part # for the cables. I called my dealer & they wanted $49 + shipping for the cables and the round bracket ( its a kit) that they loop over. - ouch! I got some heavy duty zip ties & tied the aluminum backet close to the seat cross over bar. I haven't mowed with it yet , but it seems to be sturdy. Those 2 heavy zip ties must be stronger than those thin cables.