Making a Bench Seat for the Row Maker

A nice and quick sunday project to help me out for the upcoming corn season.

Here in Oaxaca, Mexico, benches behind the farmers tractors are a common thing.

Usually they are held in place by rope or some mickey mouse way.

So I wanted to make one that would be safer and sturdier so it would last me a life time.

Step 1: Sizing Up the Bench

Since I want this bench to last, I opted for a sturdy piece of wood.

Cut it to the row makers width.

Step 2: Making the Bench Level

I made these wooden spacer to fit between the bench seat and the row makers arms.

Step 3: Securing the Wood to the Row Maker

Safety is always an issue when working with a tractor, more so when youre sitting behing one!

So I found these U-bolts that are usually used to secure the leaf springs on a truck.

Step 4:

Measured twice and drill.

Took some wood out of the bench so the ubolt will be floush with the seat and not bother anyone seating there.

Securely tightened the bolts and made sure everything was nice and tight.

Step 5: Back Support

Lastly, the back support of the bench.

More of a safety feature than a comfort feature.

It is a little offset so its not at a perfect 90 angle.

Step 6: Making the Guide Out of a 1" Hose.

To make sure the corn falls in the center of the row I had some 1" black poly hose lying around so I cut them to lenght.

Added some "c" clamps on the bench, and some hose clamps to secure the hose so its not bouncing everywhere.

Got out the handy dandy torch to heat up the hose to form it and also to make the opening a little more secure at for the funnel.

Also I ended up giving the row maker a fresh coat of red pain to go along with the tractors paint scheme.

Step 7: Finally ...

Finally taking it and testing out on the fields.