zmansmac
Gold Member
About 10 years ago I bought a soft-sided cab for an older Kubota. The only parts I could use were the front panel (which I had to buy new safety glass for), a roof panel and 2 vertical supports for the rear of the roof. The soft side pieces were falling apart but it didn't matter since I had to make new ones after adapting the basic cab parts to my B7500. And like all soft sided panels I've seen for tractors, golf carts and other off road machines the "window" material is clear vinyl which is what I used. I've kept these pieces in good shape over the years and only used them during the winter for snow plowing. Even though I've kept them from yellowing I've never been happy with the distorted view one gets looking through this material. This past summer I was looking at some Lexan for another project and when I discovered that you could buy it in very thin sheets I had an aha moment. So for $45 I bought a 4 x 8 foot sheet of .030 inch thick Lexan from a local supplier which was more than enough to make the 4 windows I needed. It was thin enough to cut with a decent pair of scissors but I couldn't sew it on like the vinyl. With some experimentation the best glue I found for the job is E6000. But just to make sure there would be no problems I also added some small aluminum rivets around each window. The Lexan is thin enough to bend when it needs to and the clearer view is like a night and day difference. I didn't think to take any "before" pics but here is a couple of "after" ones of the left side and rear panels. As I type this here in southeast Michigan we are getting our first snowfall of the season and I'm anxious to get out and plow, especially with my new plow.
