Regret a cab tractor?

grsthegreat · Oct 29, 2021

when i shopped for my cab unit, i measured my lean too and then had to go find a tractor that fit. also only have a few inches to spare.

my only regret on getting the cabbed unit was selling my old 1996 JD870 open station. i should have kept the little guy. there are times i need a smaller tractor.

i could not convince the wife to keep old JD

jayhawk238 · Oct 29, 2021

PeteN said:
I've been on a search this year for a 4WD tractor and was on a path to an open station version. Various members on TBN have swayed me to the cab version and I'm almost there. With 4WD I believe I will use the tractor year round instead of storing it during the winter like I do with the JD 2020. Just to give me a view of something I haven't thought of, has anyone gone back to an open station after getting a cab tractor?

I blew snow for over ten years with a open station with a rear 3-point blower. Longest 10 years of my life. Finally decided if I was going to continue blowing driveways I was going to be in a nice warm cab and looking straight ahead and not over my shoulder with a front mount blower (my tractor has a mid-mount PTO). That's when I got my 2004 Kubota HSC L5030. I will never go back to an open station. The air conditioning is also a HUGE benefit in the hot dusty summer months running my other implements. Get the cab. You won't be sorry!!

DonaldP · Oct 29, 2021

RickB said:
The best accessory to buy with your new cab tractor is a pole saw.
The worst bad habit you can develop with a cab tractor is moving it any distance with a door open

grsthegreat · Oct 29, 2021

jayhawk238 said:
I blew snow for over ten years with a open station with a rear 3-point blower. Longest 10 years of my life. Finally decided if I was going to continue blowing driveways I was going to be in a nice warm cab and looking straight ahead and not over my shoulder with a front mount blower (my tractor has a mid-mount PTO). That's when I got my 2004 Kubota HSC L5030. I will never go back to an open station. The air conditioning is also a HUGE benefit in the hot dusty summer months running my other implements. Get the cab. You won't be sorry!!

Ive been in idaho 28 years…never heard of featherville before……

Texasmark · Oct 29, 2021

Only thing I regret is that I'm 6'5 and bump my head on the AC panel more often than I would like. Otherwise about as perfect a machine as I could ask for. Later models moved it so there is much more headroom, even on this vendor's smaller tractors.

Texasmark · Oct 29, 2021

I just bought a pole saw that attaches to the bucket this year. We'll be seeing how it works after the leaves finish falling off the trees. I do have high expectations for it to be a super tool.

LouNY · Oct 29, 2021

My only regret is that I kept putting it off for so long,
as a luxury and not a necessity.

ruffdog · Oct 29, 2021

We just had a beautiful cool Fall day that was perfect to mow the field of oaks and other trees. Normally I mow with the Toolcat with all the luxuries but decided to use the wife's Deere. It doesn't ride as good as the TC and doesn't have a radio but I was outside in perfect weather. I understand that harsh weather is a pain....I get it....but on a perfect day, give me the open air!

DieselBound · Oct 30, 2021

Someone mentioned that a cabbed tractor is nice when you mow hornets nests. Insects in general! Mosquitoes and horse flies. I'd also have to battle blackberry canes. Though I did the "stupid" and busted a door on my Kioti (over 600 hrs before doing so) I have no regrets.

Cabbed tractor has allowed me to do more work when there's rain (and if it's really hot out - A/C!).

I still have my open-station B7800, so when I feel I need to have the fresh air (with bugs, sun and blackberries; oh, and tree branches) going through my scalp I can do so. ALWAYS jobs for this mighty-mouse!

With over 1,000hrs on my open-station and over 700hrs on my cabbed I feel I have a reasonable understanding of both: of the positives and negatives (but, really, are there negatives with owning a tractor? try living without one!)

Finer work requiring a lot of on/off the tractor is in deed where the open-station rules (in this pic the Kioti was just raising the building for repositioning rollers and tracks; the B7800 was doing the very slow push- I'd have to repeatedly jump off to check progress):

No one says that once you buy a tractor you're stuck with it. If one buys a car or a truck and finds it less than suitable you don't just go "oh well;" no, you'd look to trade it in/sell and buy something else. And keep in mind that situations change: I now have far more to mow than originally, so a larger tractor and larger mowers were essential (and more continuous seat time required more protection- cab).

finn1 · Oct 30, 2021

ruffdog said:
We just had a beautiful cool Fall day that was perfect to mow the field of oaks and other trees. Normally I mow with the Toolcat with all the luxuries but decided to use the wife's Deere. It doesn't ride as good as the TC and doesn't have a radio but I was outside in perfect weather. I understand that harsh weather is a pain....I get it....but on a perfect day, give me the open air!

I have a convertible for that!