Looking for ideas on a Cat Seat Shock, no longer offered from Cat

[kshansen]

We have a few Cat machines with suspension seats. Suspension assembly for, say a 980GII is 172-9444. For the most part these seats give good service and ride. However after a few years they start getting "bouncy" due to weak shocks. Should be a simple fix, just order a 123-9131 shock for $56.00. Problem is Cat decided to discontinue this part. The replacement part is a complete suspension assembly part number 191-2933 for $926.53.

$56.00 shock won't even be noticed by management but the $926.53 part will cause shock waves all across the USA in management. Now if it was a seat for the CEO's desk we know that it would be fine and dandy.

I'm not at work so I don't have the dimensions handy. I have tried emailing the company whose name on the shock but so far no luck. Have a feeling they have signed something with Cat to prevent one from getting around them. One thing I am working on right now is having the working group leader at work take one to his brother-in-law who is big into snow mobiles, shock looks very close to ones used on some of those front skies.

If anyone else has been down this road and can offer a suggestion let me know.

 

[Dad5]

I don't know what the dimensions are, but 192-7848 absorber kit for a haul truck is still available. Might be worth a shot.

 

[kshansen]

I don't know what the dimensions are, but 192-7848 absorber kit for a haul truck is still available. Might be worth a shot.

That was the thought I had a couple years ago looked like the part I needed but it is a much shorter shock, actually it is sold as a second shock for the 191-2933 suspension that Cat has replaced the ones we have.

Thanks for looking into it for me.

I believe the shock and possibly the complete seat is made by a company called Milsco. I have tried looking at their web sites but not much help as they seem more aimed at selling seats to companies making equipment like Cat, John Deere and so on.

 

[caterpillarmech]

Yep, Just had to replace the whole suspension in a 627. Cat no longer offers the rebuild kit for the seat. I want to say it was $2900 for the group. I thought no way but the bosses approved it. Wow!

 

[Nige]

We had some issues on D10 suspension seats and we got a kit under a Part Number I'll need to look up. Let me get back on that one.

Our "permanent" fix was to move to air-suspended seats when we overhauled our equipment. The air-suspended ones seem to have good parts availability too.

 

[Nige]

Sorry, didn't realise that you already had an air-suspended seat.

I HATE working with suspension seats, there are so many permutations it makes your head spin .................. however, I think I may have found what you are looking for. The bad news is that the 172-9444 Suspension Group was discontinued back in January 2002, so I'm amazed that parts have been serviced for it until now.

There is a Service Mag SEPD1010 from 2009 announcing the availability of a double-shock system for most Cat Toggle Link Vertical (TLV) suspension seats, including yours. Obviously increased pie consumption was causing over-fed operators to bounce too much. The Special Instruction for installing the twin shock system is REHS2761. There is also mention in the same Service Mag of the option of maintaining a single shock but going to a slightly more heavily damped one than standard. The heavier than standard shock is Part Number 150-1550, part of a 346-4360 Kit priced at about $65.

Let me know if you need any of the publications.

 

[watglen]

kshansen, I had the same scenario with a tractor seat one time.

I was able to determine the manufacturer was KAB. Contacted them and they sold me what I needed quick and easy.


Good luck, you may have to tear into the seat to find a manufacturer's mark.

Ken

 

[kshansen]

Sorry, didn't realise that you already had an air-suspended seat.

I HATE working with suspension seats, there are so many permutations it makes your head spin .................. however, I think I may have found what you are looking for. The bad news is that the 172-9444 Suspension Group was discontinued back in January 2002, so I'm amazed that parts have been serviced for it until now.

Must be we were lucky and got one of the left over seat, our build date for the 980 G II is 10/21/02.

Our seat suspension does not have the toggle design. Just has the X style support.

 

[Nige]

I'm fresh out of ideas then. The 172-9444 suspension group has been discontinued and replaced by 191-2933 which is now common across all air suspension seats, or at least the great majority of them. As you said above your only hope is to find a comparable shock somewhere else.

 

[Multiracer]

www.ToughSeats.com