Buying Advice Cab or no cab?

[JohnTexas]

I am 73 and have a timber farm with firebreaks, trails and some easements that I cut here in south Texas. I had a 32 hp open station tractor which I sold and bought a 75 hp cab tractor as a replacement. A few things to consider. When mowing in hot and dry/dusty times I had to wear a mask as too much dust to breathe. Also very hot and you are sweating with dust sticking to your clothes and you. Not much fun. As others have mentioned if you hit a hornet nest or similar they will attack and your only option is to jump off and run away if you can. A cab provides a safety element in that regard. I found the smaller tractor was not that good for moving heavy downed trees and other items and I also wanted a larger mower to cut grass in a shorter time frame. A cab as well as an open station will be beat up by low branches. Suggest you cut them off with a pole saw or somthing so you can drive around easier. I rarely use the bucket and instead have a grapple on the front which is useful for many things. It does require installing front hydraulics to operate the grapple but dealers do regularly. Like many things you can always use extra power and functionality. Better to have too much than not enough as that will frustrate you many times. I bought my tractor slightly used so was able to get more for the money. Worth some test drives at dealers to see what you feel comfortable with using as that helps a lot.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

One more guy in the 70+ range chiming in:
A cab doesn't suit my needs BUT, were in Florida, I think it would be a necessity, particularly at our tender age!
What I ALWAYS tell people is shop the dealer, as much as the brand. Talk to people who own the different brands and patronize different dealers.
Buy enough tractor. I think 25 HP might be a bit light for your application and size of property; mass is almost always your friend--except on soft turf.

 

[Randy52]

I had a TYM 394 loved it but traded up to a TYM 494 nicer cab more room. Cab tractor heater roast you out in the winter air will freeze you if turn to high. Love the tractor it is 48 hp. Faily well priced compared to other models its size. I have a front end loader on it. I think all TYM are 4 wheel drive.

 

[Yanmar J]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."

ALWAYS buy up from what you think you need. I am 80 with a 25 hp Yanmar in Tx on just 2 ac of wooded. Wish I had a grapple, power teering, 4 w drive. Cab would be nice but LOTs of brush and low branches. Just had a fellow working next door with a forester machine clear about 3/4 ac with his machine. WOW. Wish I had him do more. (ALWAYS get more than you think you need)

 

[Buzzard7]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."

I am like you, in my 70's. I did not buy a tractor with a cab when I purchased my tractor 15 years ago. Now, I really wish I had a cab. But, I take care of 92 acres in East Texas with almost no trees. Sounds like you are in between the proverbial "rock and a hard place". A cab would be nice for temperature control and to keep bugs and dust out, BUT a cab would probably not work well in 50 acres of heavily wooded land. Good luck my friend.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

I'm over in the East Texas Piney Woods and as you might surmise my property is heavily wooded.

I'm a bit younger than you and bought my first tractor in '20. I also suspect it'll be my last one.

I considered an open station at first and my target size was ~40 to 45hp. I was heavily interested in the LaneShark (basically a front-end mounted brush hog) and if I remember correctly that size met the minimum hydraulic flow requirements.

In the end, I went with a cab and a 60Hp tractor. The deciding factors were the weather which gets over 100'F and can get below freezing, Banana spiders, hornets & biting insects, flying debris from the LaneShark (i.e. poison ivy), dust, and finally the cost difference between the 45hp and the 60h models at the time were not that far apart. As someone mentioned here "No one has ever said I wish I'd bought a smaller tractor".

It's now 3 years in with the tractor and the only woods-related damage I've suffered so far is running over a hanging grapevine and having it slam my starboard mirror against the cab shattering it (the mirror). The cab is all glass btw and I shudder to think what a replacement door or window would cost. I don't fear branches damaging the roof as the LaneShark takes care of clearing them away.

I'd consider everything you may want to do with a tractor and get the most tractor you can get. They don't depreciate as cars do. And I'd definitely go with a cab.

 

[black1970]

I have a 1987 John Deere 750.
If they made a cab I would have bought one years ago. I won’t even buy a chainsaw without an a/c and heated cab. That is how I feel about cabs on tractors.

 

[kenbgbill]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."

So, I agree with the folks that have already said they think you’re looking too small based on size of land and whether a cab is available at that label.

I have BX 25 DLB with a back hoe that’s only 23HP. I can attach 4’ wide implements on the back and the FEL is also 4’. I have 5 acres and this suits me fine but I don’t mow with it, I have a 42” ZT to mow about a half acre of rough grass away from the house.

I’m also very heavily wooded with oaks a taller cedar elms and I wouldn’t consider a cab in those areas on my tractor, or an overhead cover as I’d be concerned it’s too thick. I’m also in North TX where it gets extremely hot but not too cold. On those days, I just don’t use the tractor, or time my effort around mornings or evening.

One more thing to consider, service. I’d start by looking at the closest dealers, regardless of color/manufacturer. Whether you tow it yourself, or have a dealer tow it for you getting reliable service is a true qualifier…especially as you wander further down the maturity path of life!

Best of luck in your quest.

 

[OzarkChris]

... 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land ...

I'm only a couple of years younger than you, but have some thoughts that I'm sure others have already said - I didn't have time to read every post. First, the key here is the statement above "heavily wooded". Unless all of your branches are above your cab, I'd really consider an open station tractor OR get some really good (expensive) insurance. You will find that just from bush hogging, grapple work and any posts you need holes for that each time you go out you'll come back with either something missing (mirrors, slow triangle, wiper blades, etc) or something broken or cracked (top fiberglass, etc). This would be from "going through the branches".

What I've found from experience over the years is a feller needs 2 tractors. 1 cab for the "mostly" clear areas (pasture, etc) and 1 open for wooded areas - but I understand most folks can't do that. Trust me, I've used the cab for wooded areas when it was hot, dusty, nasty outside and have lost or broken/cracked all those things mentioned above. Luckily, I turned all that stuff in to my insurance when I also broke a glass panel (BTW, glass on a tractor is very, very expensive - get good glass coverage).

You asked about glass or plastic for windows. I've seen both and worse. One of the bigger brands (can't recall which one) has a "cab version" for their smaller (<=25hp) tractors that is nothing more than a tarp with flimsy plastic for windows - think old jeep or convertible back window. Others have a toughened acrylic (Lexan type) that will get all scratched up and of course those with tempered glass.

If you don't mind your tractor getting messed up, or losing "stuff" while you are working (which to this date I've not found any of my missing stuff) then the AC, lack of dust, grass clippings, etc. etc. that come with a cab is wonderful.

Just my two cents, let us know what you decide!

 

[BCLoco]

What I ALWAYS tell people is shop the dealer, as much as the brand. Talk to people who own the different brands and patronize different dealers.
Buy enough tractor. I think 25 HP might be a bit light for your application and size of property; mass is almost always your friend--except on soft turf...

A truer statement has never been made. This is the one piece of advice I really wish I had considered more when buying a tractor. To some extent, you are married to your selling dealer, especially if you don't do the maintenance and repairs yourself. Finding out you bought a tractor from a dealership with good salesmen, but awful service and parts departments, is a terrible feeling. You might like the sales rep, but once you take delivery, they take a backseat.

The other piece of advice you keep hearing about not undersizing your tractor is almost as important. You can underwork a larger tractor without consequences, but overworking a smaller tractor will cost you dearly.

If you go with a cab and hydrostatic transmission, 25hp is too low. Especially if you have hills.