Get the CAB!

I love the girly men comments. I have posted this before but I will repeat it for your benfit. When I went to buy a new tractor my wife said I dont mind you buying a new tractor but I want you to get one with a cab. I ( and I swear this is the truth) told her that real men did not have cabs on their tractors. If you are planting 1000 acres or something like that maybe but real men did not have cabs on their tractors for small farms. She listened and smiled and said ok but I dont want you buying a tractor without a cab. She pointed out that I am alergic to wasps and she did not want me brushhogging and hitting a nest and her come home to find me sitting in the tractor dead. I could not find a defense to that arguement so I said ok and bought a tractor with a factory cab. I can tell you beyond any shadow of doubt it is the best arguement I have ever lost. The first week I had my tractor it was 100 degrees outside and I would have to make myself alot time to play with the tractor other wise I would be late for work.

If you can afford it buy the cab

On a tractor under 50 hp, A canopy has many advantages over a cab. Starting of course is the cost at several thousand less. Also important is hp and fuel savings because the ammount robbed by the AC is a significant chunk on these little engines. I have have never been stung by a bee while operating or suffered from alergies, so for myself at least that stuff is not an issue. Maintenence of a canopy is easier and cheaper than a cab, required overhead clearance is less, and center of gravity is lower. The canopy I fabricated for my tractor only weighs around 30 lbs and can be removed in less than 5 minutes alowing me to fold the rollbar and get into a standard 7 ft door, try that with a cab. Simply blocking out the sun on an open station tractor with a good, big-enough canopy makes a huge difference in operator comfort. If the AC goes down on a cabbed tractor, and they all do sooner or later, you are stuck literally in a hot greenhouse and far hotter than if you were under an open canopy. When I see cabs on little tractors I think of the old expression "a fool an his money are soon parted".

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Originally Posted by wolc123

On a tractor under 50 hp, A canopy has many advantages over a cab. Starting of course is the cost at several thousand less. Also important is hp and fuel savings because the ammount robbed by the AC is a significant chunk on these little engines. I have have never been stung by a bee while operating or suffered from alergies, so for myself at least that stuff is not an issue. Maintenence of a canopy is easier and cheaper than a cab, required overhead clearance is less, and center of gravity is lower. The canopy I fabricated for my tractor only weighs around 30 lbs and can be removed in less than 5 minutes alowing me to fold the rollbar and get into a standard 7 ft door, try that with a cab. Simply blocking out the sun on an open station tractor with a good, big-enough canopy makes a huge difference in operator comfort. If the AC goes down on a cabbed tractor, and they all do sooner or later, you are stuck literally in a hot greenhouse and far hotter than if you were under an open canopy. When I see cabs on little tractors I think of the old expression "a fool an his money are soon parted".

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well this fool and his money must have been parted quickly I have a 49 horse tractor with a cab and I would not even think about owning one without it

A friend of mine spent the last 2 days in the hospital with a heat stroke from working in the heat. be careful out there. I wish I had the cab myself, but spent the money for more HP instead but have the sunshade which helps a lot.

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Originally Posted by wolc123

If the AC goes down on a cabbed tractor, and they all do sooner or later, you are stuck literally in a hot greenhouse and far hotter than if you were under an open canopy. When I see cabs on little tractors I think of the old expression "a fool an his money are soon parted".

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your right and I hope its not cancer from a pesticide, or farmers lung that gets you early. you dont have allergys YET and be thankful. its kinda like flood insurance though. right now im sure there are MANY people that saw it as "a fool and his money..." dont think they consider it that way now.

I am a medical provider and "part time" rancher and have put over 800 hours on a M6800 open cab in 8 years. Also 300 hours on a 580M open cab in 3 years. I have had numerous encounters with killer bees, herbicide reactions and heat exhaustion. I was a little hesitant to go to a cab machine due to the cost and future a/c maintenance issues. I recently purchased a M9540 with cab and will never go back to a open cab for field work!
The air ride seat and stereo is nice also.
Legdoc

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Originally Posted by wolc123

On a tractor under 50 hp, A canopy has many advantages over a cab. Starting of course is the cost at several thousand less. Also important is hp and fuel savings because the ammount robbed by the AC is a significant chunk on these little engines. ".

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I use to think the same until two years ago when plowing snow,, heavily wind driven, the ambient temp was 15 or so below and the wind chill in the 40 below neighborhood. From that one storm, a hand made cab was made. Not fancy, it does keep me out of the wind and that is all I care about,,, The canopy under these conditions make things like a wind tunnel,., no more of that for me

Most but not all posters casting aspersions on cabs suffer from the sour grapes syndrome. It is the "I don't have one so they aren't good" sort of thing. You can justify (rationalize?) most decisions some of the time and some of the decisions most of the time but saying those with cabs are wrong because you don't have one is just plain tacky.

Of course you can get along without, without nearly anything. You could be driving a gasoline or propane powered tractor and make fun of the diesels. You could be plowing with a pair of mules using a bent stick instead of a tractor and a steel plow and calling everyone with a steel plow a girlie man.

If you have work to do in inclement weather a cab is much more conducive to your getting on the tractor and doing it. It can be safer for your health, preventing heat stroke or hypothermia or breathing chemical sprays or breathing dust. Hand cranked cars had their place and I'm sure if the term "girlie men" were in fashion back then it would have been used by some against the folks who paid extra for an electric starter. Windmill? GIRLIE MAN, can't you pull a bucket of water by hand? Indoor plumbing? GIRLIE MAN, can't your wife draw and tote water to run the kitchen? Flush toilets? GIRLIE MAN, is it too far to walk to the outhouse? You gonna let a little blizzard keep you from doing your "business?"

Of course there is no work you can do with a cab that you can't do without a cab. You may be safer, healthier, exposed to less risk, and more comfortable but surely you cab owners are envious of the fold down ROPS or does having a ROPS make you a GIRLIE MAN TOO?

There are lots of usage patterns that make the open tractor tolerable. Usage patterns that tend to be intolerable in an open tractor call for more protection be it a surrey top, flexible plastic cover to thwart the wind or a fully enclosed cab with heat and A/C. How many open tractor drivers are driving a convertible car (in winter) and NEVER RAISE THE TOP or have removed the top of their truck?

Of course economics does enter into it but if you can't afford a heated and air conditioned cab or choose to put the money elsewhere and suffer what ever discomfort or danger is associated with an open tractor then that is fine BUT it does not make everyone with a cab wrong. I choose to use a chainsaw to fell trees and suffer the added expense of the saw, gas, oil, chain loops, safety equipment, and so forth. An axe or hand saw will git 'er done with less pollution, less noise, and a little more effort on my part so does that make me a girlie man? How many detractors of cabs on tractors use an inexpensive axe instead of the expensive girlie man chainsaw?

I think a large part of the nay saying is a smoke screen to dodge the facts. I do not claim an open tractor is a bad idea for many tasks. Clearly it is not comfortable in many situations so not as conducive to getting you to do the work and surely you can do more in a comfortable shirtsleeve environment than you can bundled up or sweating yourself into a puddle.

To avoid a cab because it doesn't have a folding ROPS that will let you drive under low branches is a realistic concern. I wonder what percentage of time someone would be driving under low branches? I trim all branches about the 10 ft off the ground level of the trees which are repetitively in my way. To me, it looks better and lets light get under the tree to grow grass. Of course not everyone would agree it is an improvement.

When I spray chemicals I am safer in a cab. No matter how careful you are, eventually a flaw in the wind or some turbulence, or a moments inattention and the wind will drift your chemical plume over you. If you spray chemicals that you would not like to shower in or breath in then you would be better served with a cab. If you are plowing or disking or other wise making dust clouds you will breath less dust in a cab (there is a filter on the air drawn in.) If you have allergies with regard to some of the stuff you mow you will be better off in a cab as the allergens are mostly filtered out by the cab air filiter. If you have problems with biting and stinging insects you are better off in a cab.

I can't say driving an open tractor isn't fun under the right conditions because it certainly is. I like to ride horses too but not for my ordinary transportation. If tractoring is something you do when it is fun and don't have to do when it isn't then an open tractor may suit your needs just fine. Some of us have obligations that are best met by using a tractor. These obligations continue through all kinds of weather and sometimes can NOT be delayed.

If you keep stock, for example, you are obligated to care for them. They need to be cared for irrespective of the weather or conditions. Would you rather spend the day in a freezing rain with blowing wind on an open tractor or in a heated cab? I have a friend/neighbor with 3 tractors and no cabs. He has to change clothes 2-3 times a day in bad weather but he DOES TEND HIS STOCK. Terrific moral fiber, fantastic sense of duty, great character and just a whole lot easier for me with a cab.

Pat

Biggest problem I have with cabs is the weight raising the C of G.
Personally, i have no use for one, but I'm not spending too many hours on the tractor at any given time.
Farmers and others who may spend a full day (after day, after day) on their machines have only to justify the extra costs to their accountants.
Even plowing snow..well PA is a fairly temperate area. A parka and decent cold weather hat precludes the need for a cab.

As far as residential owners, such as myself...a cab is nothing more then a rather useless status symbol. But those folks aren't spending my money...so they ought to do what they want.

I like not having a cab. But I think its like everything else - different things for different conditions on tractors.

Up here summer days usually hit a high of 80. And winters aren't that cold. And I don't use my tractor professionally - if the weather is miserable I stay inside. I want every bit of outside time I can have, so no cab for me.

But if I lived down South, a cab would be a no brainer. If I were earning a living on the tractor, same deal. And if I were far enough north that I actually had to clear snow on a regular basis, I'd get a cab too.

All depends on your needs and uses, like everything else, to my mind.