Cab vs no cab for forestry work?

[Boondox]

I live in New England where the weather is often pretty ugly, so on the face of it the decision seems like a no brainer. For reasons of comfort as well as protecting my investment from the elements it seems like a cab is the way to go. I didn't get the cab model on my L4630 for a couple of reasons, though:

1) I have a low breezeway the tractor can pass under only with the ROPS lowered; a cab would have made that impossible.

2) One of the primary uses of the tractor is to harvest firewood in our dense hardwood forest; the old timers advised me against going with a cab because they are invariably damaged by branches. In fact, the day I bought my tractor a cab model was returned with a shattered back window and that curved glass is EXPENSIVE!

Now that I'm in the market for a mini-excavator I'm facing the same decision. A cab would keep me much more comfortable in the cold and if it's not too hot (can't afford AC) it would keep the black flies and mosquitos at bay. It would also keep the rain, ice and snow off the controls.

Cons of a cab (for me): They cost an additional $5000 that could be better spent on a more capable model. Concerns about damage would make it less manueverable in the forest. My dogs often accompany me and are under voice control, but it's hard to call them from inside a cab. In the summer months without AC (remember I can't afford it) the cab would be like being in one of those coolers in a movie about a POW camp.

Would you go with a cab...or without and get a bigger piece of equipment?

 

[Oleozz]

You want opinions but you seemed to have answered your own questions, no cab and get a bigger piece of equipment. The limbs and branches are going to ruin your cab, no control of your dogs, you can't afford a cab, and you seem to want a bigger excavator.

 

[BTDT]

Can't argue with that. I might suggest some kind of cage for protection from falling limbs and such though. Maybe framework with expanded metal.

Most of the excavators I've seen come with cabs. Any pics of units your considering.

 

[john_bud]

Can't argue with that. I might suggest some kind of cage for protection from falling limbs and such though. Maybe framework with expanded metal.

Most of the excavators I've seen come with cabs. Any pics of units your considering.

Well, there's cages and then there's cabs. Some of the cages look like a cab from a distance.

For woods work, most of the cab equipment I've seen has a lot of added protection around it. Sort of looks like Mad Max meets Paul Bunyon.

Are you talking about new equipment or used? I would think that the cost delta between cab or no cab would drop a bit on the used market. There is a third trade off of getting an older cab model with AC. I would guess that a new cage model would cost the same as a 3-5 year old cab model of the same capability and that would be the same cost as a 5-8 year old cab model with heat & AC. Is that about right?

If you are like me, those black flies are just about enough to drive you mad. But the deer flies around here are enough to chew your arm clean off. Nasty buggers.

jb

 

[jbrumberg]

Boondox:

I would recommend a FOPS; but then you couldn't get under your breezeway . I have had a lot more FOPS-branch "interactions" than I have had ROPS-branch interactions since I got the FOPS but I have not knocked off any of my "knockoff" hazard lights either . Jay

 

[MossRoad]

I had a cab on my IH2500b. Every piece of glass in it had cracks from branches snapping back as I pushed through the undergrowth.

On the other hand, those branches never made it to my face or body!

Had I kept the tractor, I had plans to replace all the glass with expanded steel mesh and put vinyl roll up curtains inside for rain and cold. For the windshield, I would have made a steel screen out front so I could still have wipers.

Air conditioning is a must in a cab in summer. I didn't have it and suffered dearly. Heck, even in the winter I had the heater line shut off. The heat of the engine and HST after an hour was plenty.

 

[Boondox]

Thanks for the replies...

Jay, the breezeway is only an issue in winter when there's no alternative route to using the driveway. The excavator will be used in the woods which is the other direction so the clearance isn't a problem in this instance.

John and BTDT -- I'd never thought of a mesh cage! Thanks for the idea! I have a local source of that 1" mesh used in golf carts and RTVs that might do a great job of protecting my face.

David -- On the topic of replacing glass, the Volvo uses flat glass which can be replaced pretty cheaply. The Kubota glass is all curved and has to be an OE thing at considerable expense. I've heard from others that cabs with no AC are miserable in the summer heat. In an open ROPS/FOPS the black flies are sheer torture. Deer flies I can deal with; those flesh colored sticky strips that go on the back of your hat are a most wonderful invention. But the black flies, some days I just stay inside!

Pete

 

[jbrumberg]

Pete:

I do not like blackflies either ! I also do not like that DEET stuff; anything you can urinate out of you shortly after rubbing it on your skin is something you should be careful using. DEET also melts plastic . I spent several weeks working in the Costa Rican jungle and had less trouble with insects there than with NE's blackflies in the spring. At my age I no longer care what I look like . I wear one of those mesh headgear thingies that go over your hat during NE's black fly season. I look funnier than usual, but it keeps those buggers off me . I have a queston for you - is the blackfly the state bird of VT or NH? Jay

 

[BTDT]

Do they make a 12v bug zapper to hang off of the ROPS?

 

[jpm]

boondox the least you need is a steel plate above your head so you don't a knoken on you nogging.i'm sure you have read about loggers getting hurt out in the woods,alot of times it's branches falling from above

 

[Boondox]

boondox the least you need is a steel plate above your head so you don't a knoken on you nogging.i'm sure you have read about loggers getting hurt out in the woods,alot of times it's branches falling from above

Yes, all of the canopies are full metal plates...and pretty thick, too!

 

[john_bud]

Boondox,

My buddy has one of these foggers.

Golden Eagle Thermal Fogger

It works wonderfully. Knocks down the mosquitoes and the black flies. Only for a week or so, but with applications every week for a couple summers, our place went from so bad we couldn't go out in the day time (much less the night!!!) to not even having to fog last summer. The change was miraculous. Truely.

Fog the woods !

jb

 

[KICK]

a safety type cab or cage as they call it is pretty nice when working in the woods.

It doesn't have to be walled in with glass, can have steel mesh or latticework.

nuthing like having a tree fall on you to give you religion.

never know when deadfall is coming down, chances go up when actively working the woods.

I'm glad my skid steer loader has a cage, top of it is bent in where big oak limb fell on it, never seen it coming but I doubt I'd be typing this if it weren't for that cage.

 

[Boondox]

Good points, Mike. I'd hate to have to find religion!

Deadfalls (Widow Makers is what the locals call them) are plentiful in my neck of the woods and are a lot bigger concern of mine than bees or wasps since I walk the woods daily with my pack of goldens and have a good idea where the insect hazards are located.

Still undecided on the cab issue. It sounds like AC is needed if I get a cab, and that adds some expense to the package that we're not in a position to deal with now. Buying used is certainly an option, but being unfamiliar with excavators I don't feel comfortable taking that risk

 

[MarkV]

Hi Pete nice to see you around. Mind if I ask what you are going to use the excavator in the woods for? I don’t think of excavators as fire wood collectors. More often when an excavator is in the woods it is for clearing and it is a big one. I would think that a smaller excavator would have some ground clearance problems negotiating virgin woodlands. They are also pretty slow to move from point A to point B on any regular basis.

Also knowing you live on some pretty steep grades, he lives next to a ski resort; on a smaller excavator would a cab affect the center of gravity in any significant way?

MarkV

 

[Boondox]

Hi Pete nice to see you around. Mind if I ask what you are going to use the excavator in the woods for? I don’t think of excavators as fire wood collectors. More often when an excavator is in the woods it is for clearing and it is a big one. I would think that a smaller excavator would have some ground clearance problems negotiating virgin woodlands. They are also pretty slow to move from point A to point B on any regular basis.

Also knowing you live on some pretty steep grades, he lives next to a ski resort; on a smaller excavator would a cab affect the center of gravity in any significant way?

MarkV

Hey Mark. In the woods for trail and logging road maintenance, installation of culverts, harvesting boulders (BIG boulders which are my fave building matl) and also lifting logs off the ground so they can be sliced and diced for firewood which will be picked up later with my ATV and trailer. The big Grande L with the logging winch does some horrific damage when the ground is soft, and the mini-ex has a very light footprint. Also erosion control, silt removal from drainage ditches, etc

 

[Kendall69]

Get the full enclosed cab. I dropped into a swarm of bees once, so thick it looked like a solar eclipse. They attacked the glass and were determined to kill the glass.

I just looked on with my jaw wide open, and thinking the cab just paid for itself today. Now the weather, rain snow, heat, bugs etc.

If you spend many hours on it a comfy cab with the air on and the tunes, make a day much easier to handle.

Sure it pricey, buy amortize it over 20 years, and it like a $20.00 a month luxury. We’re talking two less late’s a week at Starbucks.

 

[Boondox]

Get the full enclosed cab. I dropped into a swarm of bees once, so thick it looked like a solar eclipse. They attacked the glass and were determined to kill the glass.

If you spend many hours on it a comfy cab with the air on and the tunes, make a day much easier to handle.

Your profile is a bit tepid, but I'll bet you live south of me where things like swarming insects are an issue. Not so up here. My meadow is mowed by sheep, so no worries there. And our bees, hornets, etc build their nests in solitary trees in the meadow where they are safe from predators. In the forest it stays cool far too long each year (the last patches of snow last till late June) so they stay out in the open sunlight where it's warm. I'm in the woods daily with my dogs and have never seen a nest there.

Another point is that air conditioning as an option starts with the KX121-3. If I go that large I can't afford a cab. If I go one size down, the KX91-3, I can afford a cab but it won't have A/C because it's not offered on that model. I've been saving for years so this can be a cash purchase; I refuse to waste my hard earned cash on interest payments and the 0% isn't an option because the moment I make this purchase the fund is diverted to saving up for the wife's next toy. Call it marital detente

So the choice is between a cab on a smaller excavator with no air...or a bigger excavator with a canopy.

 

[daTeacha]

One thing to consider is overhead vision. Any kind of solid roof will limit your ability to see above you. Another is clearance -- I have to fold the ROPS to go through one of my doors. Will a FOPS be able to fold out of the way when needed? My ROPS just clears the door where the tractor is parked -- about an inch of free space is all it has. Is the FOPS or cab going to fit where you want to put it?

 

[Boondox]

One thing to consider is overhead vision. Any kind of solid roof will limit your ability to see above you. Another is clearance -- I have to fold the ROPS to go through one of my doors. Will a FOPS be able to fold out of the way when needed? My ROPS just clears the door where the tractor is parked -- about an inch of free space is all it has. Is the FOPS or cab going to fit where you want to put it?

Rich -- To my knowledge there are no excavators on the market with a folding FOPS, and the cab is just as high as the canopy, so that makes no difference. For me, I have no place out of the weather to store an excavator, so it'll be covered with tarps in inclement weather.