Cab or no Cab

[Gary Fowler]

I have put my LS P7010 thru lots of woods and limbs brushing over and around it. The cab and glass are pretty tough but you do have to be aware of large low hanging limbs that would damage it. If it is trails that you would be driving often, just take a few hours to trim any low hanger off about once per year. The way I see it, anything that will hang my cab at about 10 1/2 feet high is too low to the ground anyway and needs to be removed. I did the same to all my trees in the yard so I could mow under them (except some special shrubs the wife refuses to let me trim like Crape Myrtle, weeping cherry and a few I don't know the name of).

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

We have really hot summers here, so a cab was a "must" on my shopping list when I bought my Kioti. I get plenty of seat time already on my non-cabbed Kubota BX23 (and now a BX2660 also). I use a pole saw to trim branches along the trails that could damage the cab (or slap me in the face on my non-cabbed tractors).

Cabs usually add $5,000 - $6,000 to the price of a tractor. But they pay for themselves, IMO, in providing comfort and protecting me from heat, cold, rain, wasps, bees, mosquitos, dust, etc. And a cabbed tractor will have a higher resale, so you'll get some of the initial cost back if you ever sell it.

I've worked hard all my life, and now it's time to enjoy some of the benefits of that. A cabbed tractor was one of those things that I decided to spend the extra money on. My tractor is paid off and I do not regret spending the extra money on a cab. The alternative was to save that money and let my kids p!ss it away when I'm dead.

 

[gladehound]

I've worked hard all my life, and now it's time to enjoy some of the benefits of that.....

This gets more true the older I get. For now, the FOPS with panels will work for me. However, if I ever purchase another tractor and am still doing a lot of woods work, I think I'll get a factory cab and have a custom FOPS / brush cage built around it that can be removed in sections. This is actually my first choice but the price of a cab + a custom brush cage was a little much for me at this point in my life.

A lot of people here are talking about driving on trails in woods with low hanging branches. A cab is fine for that IMHO. You can just trim those branches as mentioned.

But if you are clearing woods with the tractor; knocking over dead trees and have branches falling from 50 feet up and sometimes whole trees coming back on the tractor. A factory cab would need frequent costly repairs in this environment and would not be a good choice unless it has external protection. I've had my steel mesh dented several times. I just bang it back with a hammer. But if that were plastic and glass it would be destroyed.

Cab or no cab - depends on what you're doing in the woods. But if you are doing any clearing, I strongly recommend a FOPS / and some protection from brush.

 

[Horridfiber]

We will be doing more log removal than full-on clearing.
Having a dozer run the trails to open them up.
Sounds like a few hours with a pole saw afterwards will go a long way to protecting the Cab.

Only a weekend warrior with the MF 4608, but I imagine that the 3 mile run, in -30, will be a whole lot better with a heater and some tunes.

 

[coolnature]

We have really hot summers here, so a cab was a "must" on my shopping list when I bought my Kioti. I get plenty of seat time already on my non-cabbed Kubota BX23 (and now a BX2660 also). I use a pole saw to trim branches along the trails that could damage the cab (or slap me in the face on my non-cabbed tractors).

Cabs usually add $5,000 - $6,000 to the price of a tractor. But they pay for themselves, IMO, in providing comfort and protecting me from heat, cold, rain, wasps, bees, mosquitos, dust, etc. And a cabbed tractor will have a higher resale, so you'll get some of the initial cost back if you ever sell it.

I've worked hard all my life, and now it's time to enjoy some of the benefits of that. A cabbed tractor was one of those things that I decided to spend the extra money on. My tractor is paid off and I do not regret spending the extra money on a cab. The alternative was to save that money and let my kids p!ss it away when I'm dead.

+1:thumbsup:

 

[TJP89]

You live in Ontario, therefore I am willing to bet that a hefty chunk of your winter tractor time will be plowing snow. If you don't get the cab, the first time you plow snow on an OOS in 10 degrees (F) with a wind chill you will be wondering why you didn't get a cab when you had the chance. I know I was. On the woods, I look at it this way. Branches that will cause window busting problems will be trouble on a ROPS as well, no one likes getting hit in the face by a branch. As long as you remember the cab isn't indestructible and trim accordingly, you should be fine. If the tractor is big enough to have a real cab, it's big enough to deal with any clearance issues in the woods. If I ever get a second tractor, it will be bigger, and it will have a cab.

 

[PHPaul]

I've worked hard all my life, and now it's time to enjoy some of the benefits of that. A cabbed tractor was one of those things that I decided to spend the extra money on. <snip> The alternative was to save that money and let my kids p!ss it away when I'm dead.

When I decided I wanted a new tractor, I spent a good deal of time trying to think of a way to justify it to my wife. While she wasn't thrilled with me spending MORE money on "toys" versus spending it on the house, the above quote was pretty much her reaction.

In short, I sold a perfectly functional, well maintained John Deere 750 compact that has done everything I ever asked of it in the 27 years I owned it just so I could finance a tractor with a cab, power steering and live PTO.

Did I NEED it? Not really, as I said the JD was up to any task I needed and was stone reliable. But I'm retired and creature comforts get a little more important every day.

Time was, I laughed at people that drove cars with power windows, automatic transmissions, power steering and AC. Now I'm not real sure you could even buy one without those "conveniences".

I will have to modify my mowing technique slightly as I tend to snuggle right up to trees and just duck under the branches as the ROPS pushes them out of the way. Obviously, that will no longer be acceptable.

A minor inconvenience compared to having a warm place to sit while blowing snow! :thumbsup:

 

[sandyc]

Just traded off my Kubota B-2620 open station for a cabbed Kubota B-3350 as most of my hours are done in the winter in snow, rain, wind, cold. At my age, the snow facials at 5:00 AM are too much for me to take. Hate the way the snow hits the back of the seat and melts down to my butt! Looking forward to being warm and dry! Of course, next winter it won't snow!

 

[DABSGT]

Sandyc congrats on the new tractor! You will enjoy warm and dry.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[EddieWalker]

I have three tractors without a cab and when I finish paying off my truck, I am going to buy a tractor with a cab!!!! I'm going to finance it, and I'm going to put down as much as I can, but whatever the cost is, it's going to be worth it to be able to be out there regardless of the temperature or how thick the bugs are. Right now I'm spraying myself down with insect repellent, them picking the flying beetles off of my soaked skin that get stuck in the repellent every time I mow. You only live once and I'm thinking that in this lifetime, I want to enjoy everything I do as much as possible.

Has anybody ever heard of a person who had a cab tractor, sell that tractor to buy one without a cab?

Eddie