To CAB or NOT

[WVH1977]

Hello again,

As I get closer to purchasing a new tractor, I am still struggling with getting a Cab. I have always been in an open station and feel a little enclosed when testing tractors with a Cab. I am 46 and not getting any younger (starting to feel it more). I want this next tractor purchase to hopefully be my last and payed off by the time I am 50. I dont think prices are ever going back down and if I put it off for another 5 years, and finally decide I need the Cab, it will probably be 70K + for one. I do a lot of burning in the cold rain and snow and bush-hogging, tilling and grading in the summer with lots of dust. I am starting to get tired of eating dust and being dirty/wet from head to toe. Probably answering my own question here while typing this. LOL

Anyway, how many of you on here have gone through a simliar situation/buying experience at this stage of life? Did you choose a Cab or did you stay open-station? This is going to be a big purchase and I dont want to do it again. I know I could get a canopy but that will just keep some rain off of me.

I have mostly pines that are around 20 feet tall now. Currently 4 acres open and 12 wooded but I am still clearing with the excavator and burning lots of brush piles. Will probably end up with 8 open and 8 wooded. I guess the biggest concern I have and hear from folks is hitting tree limbs and such while in the Cab. I feel like I am pretty observant and careful with operating but mistakes happen.

Any opinions/experience/similiar situations welcome.

Thanks

 

[bmaverick]

Are there options for your next machine to possibly have a removable CAB?

I would only need a CAB for winter and cold weather. Otherwise in the summer, the canopy or tractor umbrella works just fine.
CABs are pricey, yet nice to have.

 

[WVH1977]

Are there options for your next machine to possibly have a removable CAB?

I would only need a CAB for winter and cold weather. Otherwise in the summer, the canopy or tractor umbrella works just fine.
CABs are pricey, yet nice to have.

Thanks for the response. If I get a CAB, it will not be removable. I want a solid, deluxe CAB.

 

[Fixastuff]

I know a few people that claim to like an open station more than a cab but I don’t even think they believe it when they say it. I’ll take a cab any day, even in the woods you just have to be careful.

 

[nybirdman]

As with many here;started with an open station and now have a cab.
Lots of good reason for and very few against.
In my case my son has a open station available,he hates my cabbed tractor;but at his work he uses multiple cabbed machines.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I know this doesn't help you but I went through the same dilemma. I wanted / needed a cab but working along tree lines and in the woods prevented me from owning one. Fortunately, I'm now in a position to be able to afford two tractors, one with a cab and the other open station. I'm 77 now and a cab is necessary for a lot of the work I do.

When I got my first tractor, due to the woods work, I was forced to stick with an open station. Cab damage can get very expensive to fix.

Without seeing the conditions where you will use the tractor, it's hard to give sound advice. Conditions change and keep in mind, resale values go up along with the price of new machines. If you buy an open station tractor now and maintain it well, you can expect to get most of the purchase price back, if and when you trade up to a cab.

 

[wolc123]

I’ve said it before and meant it, you couldn’t pay me to own a cab CUT. I work full time in a climate controlled factory and I cherish my “outside time” on my open station tractors. That said, I do appreciate my large home made canvas over wood frame canopy on sunny and rainy days.

I know it is very hard for some of the “gotta have a cab” guys to believe, but cabs really aren’t best for everybody. Every time I see a CUT with one on it, I think “a fool and his money are soon parted”.

 

[ruffdog]

I too was use to an open station and moved to the Toolcat that has a "cab". I had to get over the feeling of closeness and the feeling of not being able to see as much. Open stations are nice when the weather is perfect but we suffer when it is not. I have gotten use to the cab and it is nice but deep down I miss an open station on nice days. I had to do some serious tree trimming so I have a platform to work off of while my wife drives me around. You can do the same with a pole saw. A grapple is handy to pick up all of the branches too.

 

[DK35vince]

I have always had open stations.
If I where to buy another tractor it would be a cab model

 

[RjCorazza]

I upgraded to a cab tractor shortly after I hit 50. My tolerance for being out in the elements really tanked, particularly while plowing snow. After a 2 day 36" blizzard and plowing 15 long rural driveways, I was done with open station tractors.
Now at 62 I enjoy AC, heat, and music while I'm out on the tractor.

 

[WinterDeere]

I know a few people that claim to like an open station more than a cab but I don’t even think they believe it when they say it.

I'll buck the trend and say that, for my particular usage, I prefer OOS. I'm on and off the machine a hundred times per day (only slight exaggeration), and my yard and work area have a lot of low branches. I'd also have to leave a cabbed tractor outdoors, as my barn could not be reconfigured to the door height required for a cab.

But I know my usage is a lot different than the OP, and if I were in his shoes, I'd probably be leaning toward a cab'd machine.

 

[4570Man]

You can guess which one of these dozers I like using better and so would anyone else.

 

[IXLR8]

I bought an open tractor, got tired of freezing in the winter. I bought an aftermarket enclosure and it seems to be a good compromise. I stay warm in the winter, especially if the sun is shining and it is easy to pull the enclosure off in the summer if I want. After the initial install, which took about 2 hrs, it is about 20 min to remove or install. Usually I just pull the doors off and that takes about 2 minutes.

 

[oldnslo]

What size tractor and what you will be doing with it would be big considerations for me on cab or no cab.

Some concerns with cabs.
Visibility: how much does cab reduce visibility on models you are looking at

Mount and dismount: if on and off a lot is the cab going to be an inconvenience?

Heat: most cabs get hot especially if working tractor very hard. Heat from transmission and sun through windows.

I would suggest sitting on same model with and without cab to get an idea on what you like vs what you may not like.

 

[Peter 315]

You can guess which one of these dozers I like using better and so would anyone else. View attachment 856095

Me no cab exhaust in the face...

 

[4570Man]

Me no cab exhaust in the face...

I need to weld a pipe on the D5 to get it over the canopy but it comes out with enough velocity that it’s not that bad. That thing burns pretty clean for an old diesel too. The 955 loader that I only owned for about 2 weeks would smother you.

 

[2manyrocks]

Running over a nest of ground wasps will tend to make a person want a cab.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

As you get older, it seems to get hotter and colder, (hey that rhymes) anyhow you will appreciate the climate controlled cab in in-climate weather, and as far as low tree branches go that"s what they make pole saws for.

 

[dstig1]

My first tractor was open, my second and current one has a cab as you can see in my avatar. There are a few advantages to an open station and a ton for cabs. You basically stated all the reasons I got a cab. My main use is snow removal and it is cold and oddly enough, I don't appear to be getting younger.

The advantages to open station are 1. Lower cost 2. Working extensively in the woods is easier/less likely to cause damage and 3. On and off frequently is easier, if that is something you need extensively.

But you will smile ear to ear when you see those bees angrily trying their HULK! SMASH! routine but just bouncing harmlessly off your cab or the blowing snow being OUT THERE as you plow in a Tshirt whilst listening to music.

As for fitting in a garage, the cab units for Kubota are actually about an inch shorter than the ROPS on the open stations, so if one fits, the other will, though you can fold down the ROPS. BTDT and it gets very old very quickly. Just make sure you have at least an 8' garage door, either way.

 

[Williy]

My wife when I was looking at tractors said get the one with the
cab I don't want to see you cutting grass in a dust cloud! I have been
very happy with the cab when the temp is over 100 F nice and cool in
the cab and when the temp is in the teens with wind blowing nice and
warm in the cab also no bugs to mess with or sketters to worry about.
Get the cab while you can enjoy it or kick yourself in the butt latter
when the snow is blowing or the temp & humidity is high and the
sketters are hungry. Remember the add on cabs no A/C and they
are not dust proof

willy