When the fleetline series was first introduced, it used a cushioned seat that was bolted rigid to the tractors. The introduction of the Fleetline series brought a lot of publicity to the Oliver Corporation. The new line caught the eye of a company called Bostrom. This seat manufacturer was already well-known to truck builders and soon work began to develop a seat especially for the Fleetlines.

The Bostrom seat, known as the Ridemaster, first entered the Oliver scene on all Fleetline tractors starting with the June 1949 production run. In August Oliver offered a field conversion for all earlier Fleetline models. In order to install the new seat on these models, the PTO lever had to be bent out for clearance of the wider seat. A service bulletin was issued showing that the lever had to be bent out 8 1/2” from the center of the pin hole. The knob had to be removed and then a 3’ minimum piece of pipe slipped over the lever. The pipe was then pulled toward the fender to bend the lever out. (Remember that on the early Fleetlines, the PTO lever was on the left side of the seat.)

This seat was known as the Fleetline seat. It was prone to breakage on the pan where it rested on the support. Oliver sent out a service bulletin suggesting straps of steel be welded to the underside to help support the pan. This seat was replaced by the Fleetline/Super seat in 1952.

In issue 14 we covered the repair of the later Fleetline/Super seat. The two seats were very different and although the Fleetline seat was only used from mid 1949 until mid 1952, many say it rides better than its replacement. It is definitely easier to rebuild.

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