Adding Cab and Air to Smaller Tractors

bob parker · Feb 14, 2015

Hey......... for all of you talking about cooling the cab, out here in the arid west many units are equipped with an after-market device called a "Bycool", essentially an evaporative cooler ( i.e. " Swamp Box " ). they draw little electricity, are simple, rugged, and effective. You have to keep the water tank full, but most of the ones I've seen will provide 10-12 hrs. of cool air between fill-ups. Traditionally, they are mounted on the top of the cab. BTW CHIM: If you re-read my post, you may note that I didn't indicate that such a course of action was "impossible", only that efforts I've seen were deficient in results RE: cost & ultimate outcome. I'm truly glad that your experience was successful and kudos to you.

chim · Feb 14, 2015

Bob, didn't intend to misrepresent your post, and am not at all offended by your comments. I guess I was looking at it from the standpoint that it would be sad to discourage someone from going ahead with plans to construct a cab when you said:

"I've seen several people try to cobble together tractor cabs and all their efforts have been unsuccessful in terms of results and/or costs."

We all have different skill levels, tooling, creativity and needs. Unsuccessful to one person might mean the paint doesn't exactly match the tractor. To another it may mean the saran wrap blew off the furring lath used as a frame.

I would say that the majority of us who put the time and material into creating cabs feel that we were successful. Successful might mean less snow down your collar, or staying dry, or keeping warm / cool. I can't say that there was a build posted on TBN that didn't accomplish something - or perhaps everything - the builder wanted to achieve. Some may look nicer than others. Aesthetics rank somewhere on everyone's list of requirements, but it's not always #1.

bob parker · Feb 14, 2015

Chim: Well said and points well taken. The examples of "Home Built" add-on cabs that I have witnessed have all been of the " Saran wrap blew off the furring" and "Shoot, I should've used more plywood" variety. None of them ( the witnessed projects I have seen ) have achieved the end that the builder intended or expected. In my experience, ownership of tools by no means indicates an advanced skill level in design, engineering, and/or fabrication. I'm sure that amongst tractor owners there are many capable of such a project, I merely haven't encountered one ! If the photo of the Kubota L3200 that accompanies your "handle" represents your efforts, you obviously have the tools, expertise, and inclination to successfully undertake such an endeavor. Beautifully done ! I sincerely hope that readers of this thread are able to accurately assess their own skill level prior to undertaking such a project.
On an unrelated subject, the evaporative cooler that I mentioned is a ByCool or ByKool ( can't remember how its spelled and the logo on my forage cutter/swather is faded beyond recognition ). There used to be a " ByCool " manufacturing facility in Windsor, CO. I have also seen these units outfitted with a heater core plumbed into engine cooling system, thus creating a low cost, simple in operation and installation cooler/heater that will not use a significant amount of engine power to operate. Compared to a true AC unit, they are relatively inexpensive. The "ByCool" unit would not be effective in high humidity areas as a cooler, but works very well in my environment. Hope this proves helpful to anyone undertaking a cab project.

chim · Feb 14, 2015

Thanks, that is a home-brew cab. Your comment about tools (ownership vs. skill level) reminds me of a craft competition I was helping with a couple years ago. Wifey stopped by during the festivities and looked at the row of young Tom Edisons as they worked on wiring some panels. She came over and said "Is that one of your guys on the far end? He just doesn't have the moves." I chuckled and told her that sadly she was correct.

Fabrication efforts by others here on TBN, on orangetractortalks.com and results from lots of Google searches inspired me to go ahead with constructing a cab for the L3200. Guys on here had helpful pointers as it progressed. Here's a link to the thread from when I built it:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...b-finally-decided-time.html?highlight=diy+cab

I read about those evaporative coolers quite some time ago. Could have been in the now-defunct magazine "Pickup, Van and 4 Wheel Drive". Since the writer mentioned the necessity for low humidity, it didn't sound like it would be too good for use in PA. This past summer I left the top on, lifted the doors off and put a 2-speed fan in it like they had on school buses. With the roof and tinted glass, the cab was quite livable.