My x595 joystick conversion

I've owned my '03 x595 for nearly four years and see no reason to ever part with it. It does everything I need with loads of power and more than adequate comfort & ergonomics. In short, I love it!

Even then, it has a few shortcomings. Chief among these are the two column-mounted hydraulic levers. I've always felt they were less than intuitive, and gave vague feedback (owing to the flex in the long connecting rods). I've wanted to eliminate them from the equation since the day I purchased a loader.

So, with the pioneering efforts of Roger (rlowe) and others to guide me, I started purchasing parts to allow me to control the SCV via a two-axis cable-operated joystick. At 6'5", I could afford to make the joystick shorter than others have done. The natural position for a joystick is smack dab in the middle of the cupholder. At first I ignored that option and explored mounting the joystick body in the forward part of the toolbox. It would have been a perfect fit, but made for a less than desirable location when it came to actually reaching for the lever.

My tractor came with a cracked hood and cracked fender deck (both of which I repaired early on). So I really had no qualms about modifying the cup holder to suit my needs. The first step became cutting away the cup holder - I wanted the freedom to position the joystick body at whatever height felt good. Then I spent a silly amount of time fabricating a mounting bracket to securely hold the joystick. Since John Deere felt the need to equip my tractor with no less than 73 holes in the frame, I wasn't all that concerned about adding two more to the mix.

The style of joystick I purchased (labeled 'Morse' and made in Sweden) dictated the style of control cable I needed to find. So my options from the Surplus Center were either 35" or 78" - I opted for the shorter of the two. The cables are quite stiff and are not pleased with tight-radius bends. I also purchased two connector kits from the same source as well as a 4WD handle & cap from JD to match the existing ones on my tractor.

At the SCV end of the equation, I puzzled at length how to cleanly bring the cables to the valve body without causing strain or needless friction. The result was a simple L-shaped bracket that bolted to the frame using existing holes. To attach the cable connector kits to this bracket, I bored two 1" holes and then drilled & tapped four holes for the 1/4-20 bolts. I designed this to keep the cables tucked as close to the tractor frame as possible.

The SCV was mounted a bit too far inboard, so I investigated how it was attached and decided to unbolt it, gently bend the hard lines, and move it away from the frame using 3/4" spacers and longer M8 bolts. Rock solid.

I could go on for quite some time describing the lengthy process of fabricating, fitting, unbolting, re-fabricating, attaching, rethinking, etc., but suffice to say it would put you to sleep. I'm very, very pleased with the end result - but it was a long process to get it right. I'll let the pictures show the work.














Andreas