Aftermarket Cab for Deere 4x20 series

[Karl2]

Karl:

My headlight/worklight switch has four positions: off, flashers only, headlights with flashers, and headlights/worklights only.

I have the same switch. I don't know if it snows a lot where you are but up here it does and during a storm or heavy snowfall it's very difficult for approaching drivers to gauge the distance and type of vehicle unless you have either the flashers on or a beacon/strobe rolling. Those lights warn other drivers that the vehicle is either slow moving or likely to be maneuvering on the road.

Reflectors are not highly visible from a safe distance especially in snowy conditions, that's why using flashers and/or beacon is mandatory here. JD are the only tractors I know of where flashers go off when using work lights. The obvious solution to this is to divert work lights wiring to a separate switch, this way you can have both the flashers and work lights operating at the same time and you can still turn off the flashers if so desired by turning the main switch to the (former) work lights position.

Maybe JD set it up this way to save a few bucks on a separate switch but doing this on a $40,000 tractor is a little miserly and somewhat self-defeating considering that the JD cab is one of the few equipped with the kind of flashers that could easily make the use of a beacon unnecessary.

 

[mjncad]

Fortunately I don't get the kind of snow you do Karl. In the 8-years I've owned my tractor, I only have had to use it for snow removal about three times in one winter season.

Therefore a beacon is not as much of a priority for me as it is for you.

 

[Karl2]

Fortunately I don't get the kind of snow you do Karl. In the 8-years I've owned my tractor, I only have had to use it for snow removal about three times in one winter season.

Therefore a beacon is not as much of a priority for me as it is for you.

I use this tractor for commercial snow removal, that is its main purpose, a typical winter will log in about 600 hours. I don't want a beacon, on snow and buildings it's highly reflective and makes me dizzy. Beacons are more suited to machinery that mostly operate in open environments such as clearing snow from public roads. What I want is the choice to use work lights with or without flashers on.

I know how to mod the wiring and divert work lights to a different switch -in my case, the currently unused beacon switch- but the wiring on the 4x20 series is more difficult to access than on other series, the wires are not long enough to pull the main switch from underneath the dashboard for easy access to wires.

This means to gain enough clearance I have to remove both dash panels including all the switches and of course complete removal of the steering wheel is also required. I also have to remove one of the side panels, the one where the secondary switch bank is located because I can't tell which one of the many red wires that run to switches located there is the one leading to the beacon switch.

All this just so I can re-route a single wire. This is a big job and I am frustrated at JD for forcing me to do this when it would have been so simple for them to provide a dedicated switch for the work lights in the first place, like most other tractor manufacturers do. This is the only real beef I have with this tractor, otherwise it works flawlessly and I am extremely satisfied with it.

 

[wolc123]

I agree on the worklight wireing / switch problem. I am too cheap to buy the JD worklight so I welded up a bracket and installed my own single rear facing light which I use when plowing with a rear blade. This didnt cost me anything as I had all the materials on hand, but I should have installed my own wire and switch rather than using the wire in the rollbar that is meant for the worklight so that I could run the worklight, headlights, and flashers at the same time. That option would make plowing snow at night a significantly safer operation. With all the lawyers around, it will probably only be a matter of time before someone files suit against JD over an accident involving a tractor operating at night without flashers because someone needed to use a worklight. After that, the engineers at JD may wake up and give us this option.

 

[KB9UDE]

I've spent 550 Hours in the cab of this Kubota with GST and I'll tell you what, I'd take the eHydro any day for loader work...or ANY work for that mater.

I have to update my story also. I have made the change to ehydro in my cab tractor and I love it...