In case you didn’t know, John Deere is the brand name for Deere & Company. They are a popular brand, involved in manufacturing agricultural, construction, forestry, and other kinds of heavy machinery.
This roster includes other heavy equipment machinery used in forestry, diesel engines, lawn care, etc, as well as drivetrains.
And although John Deere creates a number of products, one of their biggest selling points is the high-quality build of their tractors. Their various models of modern tractors are the main reason of attraction towards customers.
While different tractors perform most of the same functions (albeit with different controls), there are some stand-out elements, like the Active seat.
John Deere Active Seat Problems
Many users have the active seat feature on their John Deere tractors. These seats utilize electrohydraulic or EH technology, along with air suspension. The combination of the two gives you the most sought-after, smoothest riding seat among agricultural and heavy-duty vehicles.
The EH system lowers the operator movement by noting the tractor’s vertical movement and positioning the driver’s seat actively such that the vertical movement of the seat is reduced.
A John Deere active seat can isolate the operator of around 90% of the vertical movement you find in a typical tractor usage. As such, active seats have a big edge over the standard seats (especially the new ones).
While the active seats by John Deere are loved by a lot of users, they can end up running into different kinds of mechanical problems while in operation. Knowing about these causes and simple fixes can help you keep the active seat working, or you can bring your tractor to a John Deere technician.
Issues with the active seat of John Deere tractors don’t come from a single model either, and even relatively new tractors can face some trouble. In this article, we’ll take a look at the most common problems related to the use of an active seat of John Deere tractors.
All of the problems, along with their solutions are mentioned right down below:
- Seat Suddenly Gives A Short Jerk While Moving
If you notice your seat giving a brief jerk while you are operating the tractor, don’t worry. This is actually a quite common issue that can be fixed by unplugging the active seat.
After you have unplugged the seat, you will get a few codes. However, you should be able to set the chair at different heights. Ultimately, this should also help stop the jerks or at least make them bearable. Apart from this, you can also get it checked through a professional or your dealer.
- Seat Jolts
What if the active seat jerks and rattling we talked about earlier grew stronger? Enter seat jolts. These are the unsafe version of seat jerks as they can move you around or throw you against something. Active tractor seats may also cycle up and down every few minutes, which can be annoying.
Seat jolts can happen for a variety of reasons. The most common is the suspension getting old. Suspension replacement usually fixes this error- just visit any licensed John Deere technician to get the suspension checked. Remember to unplug the seat if you’re not using it, to avoid damage.
Other than that, a leak in the air system of the seat or EH cylinder can also cause seats to jolt randomly. Try to have the cylinder checked and replaced for leagues. Sometimes the harness wiring on these active seats is shorter than required, which can also cause jolting.
- High Pitch Noise Coming from Active Seat
Here is another common issue faced while using an active seat. The good news is that it can be fixed pretty easily. You will have to check a few things, that includes your floor mat, hydraulics, as well as the valve.
We recommend you start with the center cab that is under the floor mat. Taking off the floor plate should allow you to unplug the valve.
Similarly, there could be an unplugged hook, or a bolt causing the seat to emit such high-pitched sounds. It could also be that the noise is coming from the hydraulic valve.
Many models also stop creating the noises when the idle is adjusted. For example, the 1023e does this but the high pitch noise goes away at 1600 pm.
When the hydraulic pump is making surging noises, the port pressure changes, creating these sounds. If you avoid operating the hydraulic pump at stall pressure, the surging sounds will have less intensity.
If the noise persists, take your tractor to a mechanic. He will get rid of the secondary hydraulic pump pressure line.
- Seat Won’t Go Up
Another weird issue that many users have reported facing is that their seats suddenly went down. Some users no longer raise the seat back to the normal height. For some users, the seat will keep going up and down in a cycle.
In case the active seat doesn’t budge at all and sits quite low, you can try using a stiffening damper setting. Initially, the seat seems to be quite low in the tractor, but as the vehicle moves, the height of the seat increases too.
The reason why you are experiencing this issue could be due to a variety of reasons. Usually, there is an airline that is loose, an unexpected leak, or a compressor’s fault. In either case, you will have to get it checked.
- Seat Keeps Moving Up
Have to constantly reset your active seat’s height? Are you tall and the seat is almost always maximum height? There are two probable causes of such an issue. The first one is a leak in the control valve, and the second one is a blow to the cylinder.
You can test both of these separately. To check if the control valve spool is faulty, hover to the ports right beside the valve and disconnect the A and B ports. Now turn on the system.
You can check for seepage from the disconnected port lines. You don’t need to move the levers. If there’s a leak, rebuilding the valve is of utmost importance.
As for the cylinder, to check whether or not it’s damaged, retract the cylinders of the active seat all the way. Now remove the hoses present on the non-rod or blind end of each cylinder.
Now pull the valve in the retract direction. If you see fluid still pouring outside, then the piston seal is considered damaged. The affected cylinder must be checked by a mechanic, repaired, or replaced.
How To Turn Off Active Seat?
If you feel like the active seat isn’t cutting it for you, you can always turn the seat off. John Deere features this in the form of a plug that’s found either right next to you or behind you. You can simply set the seat according to your highlight arena. Use that YouTube quality.
There is a plug behind and to the right of the seat as you sit in it that can be unplugged to disable the active seat. Set the seat to your desired height and unplug it.
The Bottom Line
And that’s it. The above-mentioned 5 problems are the ones most commonly faced by active seats in John Deere tractors. We’ve also attached the solutions and fixes to the said issues. You can also refer to the official John Deere website and read the various faqs and owner’s guide.
And remembers, if you ever feel like you don’t want the active seat’s functionality, you can always simply plug it out. Just be sure to adjust the seat according to your desired height before turning it off.
We have 7 new 8r’s 5 of them have active seats in them and they all raise you up, not so much with the air side but hyd. side and when you hit the down button they drop drastically all at once then start to raise you up again but not usually with the air pump. It’s very uncomfortable and annoying to constantly be readjusting the seat and not get comfortable . Our old 8000r active seats usually were a little too high because of air pumping you up but then would remain in a set position. CAN YOU HELP!!