larboc
Silver Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2013
- Messages
- 233
- Location
- hancock, MI
- Tractor
- John Deere 4300, Deere 455, Ariens GT17, Cub Cadet O, Wheelhorse 50
I thought I would share my work and ask for suggestions as I get my new to me 4300 up in good operating condition. It was owned by a commercial snow removal and landscape company who traded it in on a bobcat. I bought it @ 1500hrs with a 430 loader, 26 broom, 59" blower, 72" deck, and curtis hard cab. Knowing that most everything was in good shape with the exception that the cab was rough and needed work, they made me a deal. The rusty cab really made it look dilapidated and helped in bargaining and I knew I could fix it. Other things I need to do yet is replace all the hard lines from the loader valve to the disconnects, put new decals in the hood, and figure out what people are doing to protect their trans cooler from battery spray. Everything looks good on mine so I'm not sure what to do to keep it that way.
The first order of business is to fix the cancer on the cab and stop any more from progressing.
The "before" pics.
Getting everything apart
I had to drill out all the plastic hold downs for the rubber floor mat, they wouldn't come out with a normal door clip removal tool so I just knocked them through and will have to replace them. I knew I wanted to get it off of the floor to clean out all the water, salt, dirt, and sand before it started to rust out the tractor. Luckily the tractor really isn't rusted despite the cab looking like it sat in the ocean for 10 years.
Pulling out the window glass to rebuild the door bottoms. This side isn't too bad but I'm going to replace the bottom 6" anyway, also going to use it as a template for the patch piece for the other side because it's gone from the bottom of the window down.
The cab had been "repaired" by someone before and had missing panel patches and frame parts welded in. For some reason they didn't put any paint on afterward so that's all starting to rust too. After seeing how rusty the cab is, I would NEVER buy a Curtis cab new if I was in the market and I could afford an alternative. It's a nice cab aside from the poor paint quality which allows water to get in a bubble the paint, trap moisture, and rust out fairly thick metal. The JD paint on the tractor is holding up just fine and protecting the JD metal.
The first order of business is to fix the cancer on the cab and stop any more from progressing.
The "before" pics.
Getting everything apart
I had to drill out all the plastic hold downs for the rubber floor mat, they wouldn't come out with a normal door clip removal tool so I just knocked them through and will have to replace them. I knew I wanted to get it off of the floor to clean out all the water, salt, dirt, and sand before it started to rust out the tractor. Luckily the tractor really isn't rusted despite the cab looking like it sat in the ocean for 10 years.
Pulling out the window glass to rebuild the door bottoms. This side isn't too bad but I'm going to replace the bottom 6" anyway, also going to use it as a template for the patch piece for the other side because it's gone from the bottom of the window down.
The cab had been "repaired" by someone before and had missing panel patches and frame parts welded in. For some reason they didn't put any paint on afterward so that's all starting to rust too. After seeing how rusty the cab is, I would NEVER buy a Curtis cab new if I was in the market and I could afford an alternative. It's a nice cab aside from the poor paint quality which allows water to get in a bubble the paint, trap moisture, and rust out fairly thick metal. The JD paint on the tractor is holding up just fine and protecting the JD metal.