Excavator seats · KL02 · YS2-8
KL02 and YS2-8 are the two models built for excavators, made on six automated lines at a 35,000 m² plant where stamping, welding, foaming and assembly all run under one roof. Send the mounting measurements off your machine and the answer names which models physically fit and which do not.
Who we build for
KL02 and YS2-8 are built on six automated assembly lines rated at 500,000 seats a year, at a 35,000 m² plant where stamping, welding, foaming and assembly all run in-house. The excavator seat you order is an assembly we make, not one bought in and badged.
Every suspension assembly crosses one of the fourteen machines in our own test centre before it ships, and the bench it crosses is the shock absorber fatigue bench described further down this page.
The choice
Two models in the range are built for excavators. The cab and the shift settle which one, and both routes start with the same four measurements.
The backrest folds forward 27.5°, clearing the space behind the seat for entry and for access to whatever sits under the rear glass.
Specify it where the belt is part of the machine’s configuration and where the operator sets seat height as well as reach.
A mechanical suspension seat with a high back giving full-body and head support, which carries the operator’s upper body through a swing and on the long slow cycles where the operator stays seated for the whole shift.
The published configuration is the high-back mechanical assembly. Anything else you need on it is confirmed against your machine before sampling rather than at the quotation stage.
For a distributor stocking against a mixed fleet, YS2-8 carries the widest adjustment range from a single part number, which covers a lot of cab layouts and a lot of operators without a second line item. KL02 is the one to hold for the machines that work in shifts. Both models also go onto loaders, dozers, rollers and cranes, and the side-by-side comparison across the whole construction range sits on construction machinery seats.
The cab and the shift decide the model. Tonnage does not, and neither does the badge on the boom.
Published figures
Both excavator seats, figure by figure. Cells marked with a dash are figures not published for KL02.
| Specification | KL02 | YS2-8 |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | Mechanical, high back | Mechanical |
| Backrest | High back, full-body and head support | Fold-forward, 27.5° |
| Operator weight adjustment | — | 50–130 kg |
| Suspension travel | — | 80 mm |
| Fore-and-aft adjustment | — | 150 mm |
| Height adjustment | — | 60 mm |
| Armrests | — | Adjustable |
| Seat belt | — | Retractable |
| Cover material | — | PVC |
| Warranty | 12 months | 12 months |
Send your measurements and the fitment answer covers KL02 alongside YS2-8, with the dimension that decided it named in the reply.
What settles it
Four measurements taken off the machine settle whether an excavator seat goes on, and none of them needs a model number from us.
What the seat sits on varies more on excavators than on any other machine we supply. Photograph the base from the side as well as from above, because the side view shows how much of your headroom figure the base itself is already using.
Measure the seat plate or pedestal the current seat sits on, centre to centre, front-to-back and side-to-side. A photograph with a tape measure laid square across the plate is a valid answer and is often faster than writing figures. This one measurement removes most of the range in a single step.
Measure from the base to the cab roof or canopy over the seating position, and say whether the current seat was installed or removed at the time. This figure decides how much suspension travel the cab can give back: YS2-8 carries 80 mm of travel and needs the headroom to use it.
Measure the space in front of the seat to the joystick consoles and behind it to the bulkhead or rear glass. On an excavator the consoles are frequently floor-mounted rather than seat-mounted, which changes how much of the 150 mm of fore-and-aft travel is usable and whether the fold-forward backrest has room to come down.
Say where the belt anchors today, on the machine structure or on the seat itself, and how many points. YS2-8 comes with a retractable belt; a floor-anchored belt has to be known before sampling rather than after the pallet lands.
Send those four items with the operator weight range, the quantity and the date you need it. First reply within 24 business hours.
Once the measurements are in, the answer comes back within 48 hours, naming the models that physically fit and the models that do not, along with the measurement that ruled a model out. Where nothing in the range fits your machine, that answer arrives at this stage rather than after sampling.
The general version of this process across every machine family is set out at seat fitment compatibility and at fitment.
The duty cycle
An excavator works from a standing position and turns. The operator sits off the slew axis, so every swing of the house feeds a lateral component into the seat on top of the vertical input from tracking, from the bucket meeting ground and from the machine settling on its tracks.
That combination drives four things in the way these excavator seats are built.
KL02 has a high back with full-body and head support, which gives the operator something to lean into through the acceleration and deceleration of the house. Head support matters most on the long cycles, where the operator is turned and looking down into the trench for hours and the neck is loaded off-centre for most of the shift.
On an excavator the forearms rest while the hands work the joysticks, so armrest support is continuous rather than occasional. YS2-8 carries adjustable armrests so the arm is supported at the height the console actually sits at, and the retractable belt keeps the operator in the seat through the swing.
The 50–130 kg operator weight adjustment on YS2-8 sets spring preload for the person in the seat. Set correctly the seat sits mid-stroke with travel available in both directions; set for the wrong weight it rides at one end of its 80 mm and the operator takes the vertical input through a suspension with nothing left to give.
On an excavator the seat position sets the sightline over the boom side of the machine. YS2-8 gives 150 mm of fore-and-aft travel and 60 mm of height to set it with, so the operator can put their eye where the cut is instead of leaning to find it.
A reaction bracket after machining, before it goes into the suspension.
A scissor pivot, the first of the three joints sectioned at the end of a run.
Where the swing lands
Lateral input from the swing ends up in three joints, and those three are the pass criterion on our suspension test.
Zero crack initiation at all three at the end of the run, confirmed by metallographic sectioning rather than by visual inspection. All three joints are stamped and welded in our own workshops, and the metallographic cutting, inlaying and polishing machines that sectioning requires are ours. All three machines are visible when you audit the plant.
Our premium suspension systems are developed jointly with East China Jiaotong University, a provincial key university in Jiangxi whose name you can check independently.
The bench
Suspension assemblies are tested as they will ship, frame and spring pack and damper together, on the shock absorber fatigue bench at the model’s full rated stroke. The bench runs at 1 Hz at room temperature, and the run is a hundred thousand cycles rather than a sample of the first few thousand, because the failures worth catching are the ones that appear late.
The batch is held, traced back to a specific weld cell or damper lot, corrected and re-tested. The hold lifts only on a pass, and the third criterion, zero crack initiation at the three joints, is read off a sectioned sample rather than off the surface.
The bench and the criteria are described in full at seat quality testing and at test bench.
A sample fitted on the real machine is the only fitment test that settles the question completely.
Suspension assemblies travel between stations on the overhead conveyor, one seat per carrier.
In our own plant
Stamping, welding, foaming and assembly all run in our own plant, on six automated lines. Nothing in the frame or the foam is subcontracted, which is what makes a finished excavator seat traceable back to the weld cell that built it.
The full process description is at four processes.
What ships on it
YS2-8 ships with a PVC cover, adjustable armrests and a retractable belt.
They matter where your base already carries rails and you want the seat to sit on them rather than bring its own.
If your excavator looks for a switch when the operator stands up, we need the connector type before sampling rather than after. Say so at enquiry and it goes onto the sample.
The same items are available as spare parts afterwards, which is what most aftermarket buyers come back for. Part numbers, minimums and part-level lead times are on seat spare parts.
Programme work
For excavator builders and private-label buyers, four things can change: dimensions, structure, cover material and colour, and marking. Our 22-person R&D team works from your drawing or from the envelope you can give us, and the four in-house processes mean a structural change goes through our own stamping and welding rather than a subcontractor’s queue.
Dedicated moulds and fixtures you pay for belong to you, are stored at our plant, and are used only for your orders.
Parts carrying your marking are not sold to any third party. Both points read the same way in a purchase agreement as they do here, so you can write them into your own contract and hold us to them.
Custom programmes run on the same 20–30 day production schedule as stock models once the sample is approved, so the schedule you plan against after approval is the schedule a stock model gets. Send marking artwork in a vector format with the placement dimensioned on the seat. The wider OEM and ODM process, including what can and cannot change on your drawing at each stage, is at custom OEM seat manufacturing.
Schedule and paperwork
Samples ship in 7 days and production runs 20–30 days, counted from order confirmation. Every excavator seat carries a 12-month warranty, and the sample stage is where fitment gets confirmed on the real machine, so build it into your schedule rather than around it.
| Order shape | Quantity | Lead time | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | 1 piece | 7 days | 12 months |
| Stock model | From 50 pieces per model | 20–30 days | 12 months |
| Custom or OEM | From 200 pieces per model | 20–30 days | 12 months |
Order shapes are set out in full at order shapes.
Quality management is certified to ISO 9001:2015 and the product range carries CE. Ask at qualification and both certificates go over by email. Both are described at certifications.
We ship regularly into Europe, North America, South America and Southeast Asia, so the paperwork your entry calls for is usually paperwork we have issued before. Tell us at order confirmation which documents your import requires and in whose name they should be issued: reissuing a Certificate of Origin after the container has sailed costs more time than getting it right at booking.
One round
Copy this list into your first email and it can be answered in one round.
A reply follows within 24 business hours, and the fitment answer within 48 hours of the measurements arriving, naming the models that fit and the ones that do not.
Where it runs wider
Where the question runs wider than an excavator.
The full model comparison across loaders, dozers, rollers and cranes, for a fleet that runs wider than excavators.
Open
Measuring and matching in more depth, across every machine family we supply.
Open
The test centre bench by bench, and what each one of the fourteen machines is for.
Open
What is available separately, with part-level minimums and lead times.
Open
Programme work from drawing to first shipment, stage by stage.
OpenStart here
Bolt spacing, the headroom above the seat base, the fore-and-aft room and the belt anchor points, with your machine model and quantity.
First reply within 24 business hours. Fitment answer within 48 hours of the measurements arriving, naming the models that fit your machine and the ones that do not.