Buying Advice Cab or No Cab

[marxman]

Hi once again everyone,

Thanks to you guys that have answered my questions before. I got some great advice and thought I was ready to go on buying the tractor I wanted. HOWEVER I made the "mistake" of visiting the dealer this weekend and now I'm faced with a new problem.

Because of dealer location and reputation I have decided on a Kubota.

I thought a B3300SU would be good, quoted at $16800 with FEL.

Then I thought a B3200HSD due to the mid-PTO, quoted $17700 with FEL.

So I mosey on down to the dealership and see the B3000CAB and B3030HSDC. I sit in it, I'm immediately in love with comfort level, I start thinking "do i need a cab?".

B3000CAB quoted at $24500 with FEL, and B3030HSDC at $24100 with FEL. not sure if these are good prices or not..$7k difference from a 3200??

I live in MA and we get a fair amount of snow. I plan on installing a snow blower on the tractor as it will take over from my walk-behind. I also plan on brush cutting and clearing land, grading driveways, and keeping animals (goats, horses).

My dilemma would be whether to buy a B3200, and add an after market cab... or just pony up for the factory cabs on the B3000/B3030.

I guess the questions that I have are in an effort to convince me that this tractor is NOT a toy, but a workhorse that I will use for years to come. if I can convince myself of that... I dont have any problem spending the money

1) Are prices in the $24k range for the 3000/3030 tractors good?
2) Are after market cabs Curtis, Sims, comparable? when spec'd out don't they hit the $4000 range?
3) Those of you that bought open tractors and live in the colder climates, do you regret the lack of a cab?

Look forward to your opinions

 

[Bill Hoffman]

Cab!:thumbsup:

Traded a B7800 for a B3030HDSC. I was tired of freezing when moving snow..

 

[rilesdav]

X2 on cab, love mine cool and shady in summer, warm in winter

 

[JerryK]

There are a handfull of times during the winter when I wish I had a cab...then the other 95% of the year when I am out in the woods.....and wanting to be 'outside'. I've seen a few farmers disking in the spring and getting in corn in the fall....and I bet they really enjoy their cab whist the dust cloud surrounds their A/C'd Fm'd comfort.... That's the trouble with looking at tractors...you really need a whole stable of them.... When you figure out how to 'splain it to the wife....let me know how you did it.....

 

[acme97]

Cab!:thumbsup:
I just bought the Kioti DK50SE HST w/CAB and absolutely love it. My place in in SC and last weekend we had temps in the high 90s. I stayed in it all day, doing bush cutting with the radio on and had a blast. Wife had to call me on my cell when it got dark cause I just wanted to keep playing.

 

[bigbull338]

cab or no cab is up to you an only you.because your the 1 that will be running it in the cold an heat.but id get the factory cab insted of an a aftermarket cab.

 

[TripleR]

There are several threads with hours of reading by using the "search" function. Like bigbull338 says, only you can answer that question, as for me, I will never buy another open station tractor and would go for the OEM.

I have spent thousands of hours on open station tractors in the last fifty plus years and if I get to feeling nostalgic will tie a bee hive to my head, have my wife throw dirt in my face and drag me behind my pickup.

 

[Richard]

If you can swing it, I vote cab too.

It's nice being out of the rain
It's nice having air conditioning
It's nice to have something between you when some pissed off hornets are chasing you
It's nice to cut the fields without being totally covered in chaff

Of course, it happens that when they (father in law) sold a tractor, they sold the cab and kept the open one

 

[grsthegreat]

CAB......CAB.... i love my cab tractor..rain, shine, sun, cold

 

[crbr]

Hi once again everyone,

Thanks to you guys that have answered my questions before. I got some great advice and thought I was ready to go on buying the tractor I wanted. HOWEVER I made the "mistake" of visiting the dealer this weekend and now I'm faced with a new problem.

Because of dealer location and reputation I have decided on a Kubota.

I thought a B3300SU would be good, quoted at $16800 with FEL.

Then I thought a B3200HSD due to the mid-PTO, quoted $17700 with FEL.

So I mosey on down to the dealership and see the B3000CAB and B3030HSDC. I sit in it, I'm immediately in love with comfort level, I start thinking "do i need a cab?".

B3000CAB quoted at $24500 with FEL, and B3030HSDC at $24100 with FEL. not sure if these are good prices or not..$7k difference from a 3200??

I live in MA and we get a fair amount of snow. I plan on installing a snow blower on the tractor as it will take over from my walk-behind. I also plan on brush cutting and clearing land, grading driveways, and keeping animals (goats, horses).

My dilemma would be whether to buy a B3200, and add an after market cab... or just pony up for the factory cabs on the B3000/B3030.

I guess the questions that I have are in an effort to convince me that this tractor is NOT a toy, but a workhorse that I will use for years to come. if I can convince myself of that... I dont have any problem spending the money

1) Are prices in the $24k range for the 3000/3030 tractors good?
2) Are after market cabs Curtis, Sims, comparable? when spec'd out don't they hit the $4000 range?
3) Those of you that bought open tractors and live in the colder climates, do you regret the lack of a cab?

Look forward to your opinions

Cab......

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I've got a mix of open station and cab tractors. I LOVE the cab when it's really hot, really cold, or really dusty. Those 3 things include roughly 90% of the things you do with a tractor. That said, I still gravitate to one particular open station tractor if conditions are even remotely hospitable.

The older I get, the more I like cabs. I hope to get a LOT older someday.

If you get a cab, get a FACTORY cab. You'll like it more, and whoever buys the tractor from you eventually will "like it more" in terms of what they'll pay.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I have cabs on my tractors
Of course, I work in them commercially all the time.
hours and hours a day, day after day. I probably get more hours in month than 99% of homeowners get in the first year or more.

If I was doing hay or something on my farm and working 10's of hours each day with a good sized utility tractor, I'd get one.
If i was using it commercially (like I do), I'd get one.
If I was just a homeowner with a little 30hp tractor, i wouldn't bother.
Sure, it's nice but

it's expensive. (5 grand)
it's expensive to fix when you run it into a tree branch (you will, DAMHIK)
it's sucks up 5hp to run the A/C so you need more power to be at the same level.
lots more filters to change.
it's just a lot more things to break.

90% of homeowners who buy a tractor don't need a tractor at all.
90% of the homeowners who do buy a tractor don't need a cab.

do what you want, and it is nice, but it isn't "free"

 

[tony Cecil]

Depends on how long you stay on the tractor.....I`v had both, and if you are really working in dusty conditions all day then a cab is nice....If only for a couple of hours, say cutting grass etc. then you can save the money....Tony

 

[George2615]

I vote for the cab also.
Ran my 2615HST for 5 years with no cab. No problem in summer but winter was rough. Tried several different pair of gloves but still got cold.
Bought an aftermarket cab last fall, installed an electric ceramic heater and it was the first time I didn't need gloves to plow the driveway. Doors lift off for summer use plus have shade over my head. For cold winter use a cab is the best way to go.

 

[blueriver]

I have both and love the cab ... If I had to spend even 5 minutes in sub zero weather with those things ya'll call blowers ... CAB and did I mention CAB ... of course you are the one paying the price.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

as for me, I will never buy another open station tractor and would go for the OEM.

What about your BX's?

 

[trook]

I have owned 2 tractors and both of them have been open station. However, I have spent many hours in several different cab tractors that belong to my father-in-law. The only reason I don't own a cab is because of the $7k additional cost.

Down here in Mississippi, the cab is incredibly nice in the hot humid air. Also, you don't choke on the dust!! I also get a laugh when I see wasps constantly stinging the glass as they try to get to me!!

My next tractor will definitely be a cab. :thumbsup:

 

[JimP]

For about 5 years I plowed and snowblowed in an open B2410. It was usually cold and the wind always seemed to be blowing back at me when I used the snowblower. Brushhogging one summer I ran over a hornet nest and had to abandon tractor after getting stung a dozen times.

I went to to a cabbed grand L and last winter plowing snow for 10+ hours during the big storms I was wearing a tee shirt and listening to the radio. I kept thinking why did I wait so long to go cab. Cabs do have downsides. You have to be much more careful in brush/woods areas. The mirrors can get snagged/broken on brush and those large glass doors and windows are expensive to replace if they break. If you are gettin in and out a lot the door gets to be a pain. Cabs insulate the operator from some visual and sound cues so I have to pay more attention when working in close places than on the open machine.

I haven't owned a tractor with an aftermarket cab but I have looked at them. IMHO the factory cabs are a big step up in quality and comfort from an aftermarket cab. Also, if the aftermarket cab doesn't have AC you will have to take off doors during the summer or roast.

 

[8404]

Ive owned a open cab, Cub Cadet DK40 for 8 years and just yesterday bought a Kioti DK 55c its absolutly weird and wonderful to me to be so comfortable in a tractor with radio playing. but one thing the cab makes me feel kinda disconected from the control of the tractor with all the glass inclossurs.
so today i had to go bush hog a small pasture and since my old DK 40 was already loaded on the trailer i decided to run it today. and on my last pass before finishing i seen a dead tree limb laying at an angle so it looked rotted to me and thought i could push it and it would break useing my brush guards in the front of the tractor, well the limb bent back and then few up over the front of the tractor slaped me in the face so hard it broke by nose and needed 7 stitches.
my wife wants to know why i didnt use my new cab tractor today and i wouldnt be banged up. but somehow i think its cheeper to loose some blood than to replace a broken window on a CAB. any way ive learned my lesson about tree limbs.

 

[Mounted Madness]

This past winter convinced me to go to a cab. Bought B3030HSDC with snowblower and fel. Clearing snow is enjoyable now and moving mud, gravel and topsoil in the summer is enjoyable as well. Warm in winter, cool in summer, listening to tunes, gotta love it...:thumbsup: