Buying Advice Cab or No Cab

[Farmwithjunk]

I've got a mix of open station and cab tractors. I LOVE the cab when it's really hot, really cold, or really dusty. Those 3 things include roughly 90% of the things you do with a tractor. That said, I still gravitate to one particular open station tractor if conditions are even remotely hospitable.

The older I get, the more I like cabs. I hope to get a LOT older someday.

If you get a cab, get a FACTORY cab. You'll like it more, and whoever buys the tractor from you eventually will "like it more" in terms of what they'll pay.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I have cabs on my tractors
Of course, I work in them commercially all the time.
hours and hours a day, day after day. I probably get more hours in month than 99% of homeowners get in the first year or more.

If I was doing hay or something on my farm and working 10's of hours each day with a good sized utility tractor, I'd get one.
If i was using it commercially (like I do), I'd get one.
If I was just a homeowner with a little 30hp tractor, i wouldn't bother.
Sure, it's nice but

it's expensive. (5 grand)
it's expensive to fix when you run it into a tree branch (you will, DAMHIK)
it's sucks up 5hp to run the A/C so you need more power to be at the same level.
lots more filters to change.
it's just a lot more things to break.

90% of homeowners who buy a tractor don't need a tractor at all.
90% of the homeowners who do buy a tractor don't need a cab.

do what you want, and it is nice, but it isn't "free"

 

[tony Cecil]

Depends on how long you stay on the tractor.....I`v had both, and if you are really working in dusty conditions all day then a cab is nice....If only for a couple of hours, say cutting grass etc. then you can save the money....Tony

 

[George2615]

I vote for the cab also.
Ran my 2615HST for 5 years with no cab. No problem in summer but winter was rough. Tried several different pair of gloves but still got cold.
Bought an aftermarket cab last fall, installed an electric ceramic heater and it was the first time I didn't need gloves to plow the driveway. Doors lift off for summer use plus have shade over my head. For cold winter use a cab is the best way to go.

 

[blueriver]

I have both and love the cab ... If I had to spend even 5 minutes in sub zero weather with those things ya'll call blowers ... CAB and did I mention CAB ... of course you are the one paying the price.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

as for me, I will never buy another open station tractor and would go for the OEM.

What about your BX's?

 

[trook]

I have owned 2 tractors and both of them have been open station. However, I have spent many hours in several different cab tractors that belong to my father-in-law. The only reason I don't own a cab is because of the $7k additional cost.

Down here in Mississippi, the cab is incredibly nice in the hot humid air. Also, you don't choke on the dust!! I also get a laugh when I see wasps constantly stinging the glass as they try to get to me!!

My next tractor will definitely be a cab. :thumbsup:

 

[JimP]

For about 5 years I plowed and snowblowed in an open B2410. It was usually cold and the wind always seemed to be blowing back at me when I used the snowblower. Brushhogging one summer I ran over a hornet nest and had to abandon tractor after getting stung a dozen times.

I went to to a cabbed grand L and last winter plowing snow for 10+ hours during the big storms I was wearing a tee shirt and listening to the radio. I kept thinking why did I wait so long to go cab. Cabs do have downsides. You have to be much more careful in brush/woods areas. The mirrors can get snagged/broken on brush and those large glass doors and windows are expensive to replace if they break. If you are gettin in and out a lot the door gets to be a pain. Cabs insulate the operator from some visual and sound cues so I have to pay more attention when working in close places than on the open machine.

I haven't owned a tractor with an aftermarket cab but I have looked at them. IMHO the factory cabs are a big step up in quality and comfort from an aftermarket cab. Also, if the aftermarket cab doesn't have AC you will have to take off doors during the summer or roast.

 

[8404]

Ive owned a open cab, Cub Cadet DK40 for 8 years and just yesterday bought a Kioti DK 55c its absolutly weird and wonderful to me to be so comfortable in a tractor with radio playing. but one thing the cab makes me feel kinda disconected from the control of the tractor with all the glass inclossurs.
so today i had to go bush hog a small pasture and since my old DK 40 was already loaded on the trailer i decided to run it today. and on my last pass before finishing i seen a dead tree limb laying at an angle so it looked rotted to me and thought i could push it and it would break useing my brush guards in the front of the tractor, well the limb bent back and then few up over the front of the tractor slaped me in the face so hard it broke by nose and needed 7 stitches.
my wife wants to know why i didnt use my new cab tractor today and i wouldnt be banged up. but somehow i think its cheeper to loose some blood than to replace a broken window on a CAB. any way ive learned my lesson about tree limbs.

 

[Mounted Madness]

This past winter convinced me to go to a cab. Bought B3030HSDC with snowblower and fel. Clearing snow is enjoyable now and moving mud, gravel and topsoil in the summer is enjoyable as well. Warm in winter, cool in summer, listening to tunes, gotta love it...:thumbsup: