Homemade Cab for Deere 2320 CUT

[phantom309]

Wow! That's some great craftsmanship. I'm fixin' to build a cab this Winter for the 3910. Not for Winters down here but for next Summer, with A/C. Your framing and metal work looks down right nice. Can't wait to see more!

Ken

Hey Ken-

What are you planning to do for your A/C? I'm in the TX panhandle would also love to have an air conditioned cab to fight the heat and my allergies. I've seen aftermarket ACs that run on 12V or are compressor driven (both are pretty expensive) and also have seem some who used an inverter and an off the shelf home window unit (increased redneck factor!).

So far, none of the options look too great for my needs.

Mark

 

[CCWKen]

Hi Mark,
Besides maintaining a small parcel of land, I rebuild and restore antique and classic cars and fixing A/C systems is just part of the job. I figure on just building my own system. I have the equipment to make hoses, tubing and the boxes. The rest can be had off the shelf (condenser, evaporator, TXV, etc). The biggest hurdle will be over-driving the compressor or going with an expensive variable displacement compressor. Tractor engines turn relatively slow but the crank pulley looks big enough to over-drive a compressor. I'm thinking that's how they get by with using an alternator.

Don't need heaters down here so there's no complicated air mixing. It's either A/C on or off with fan control. And maybe an air intake filter.

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'll post a new thread when I get started.

 

[csutton]

Any updates on this project? I'm starting to have withdrawals!!

 

[Matt_Jr]

Just read through this post. Your work will motivate many of us to fabricate a cab of our own. Can't wait to see the finished product! Thank you for posting pictures of your progress. Really looks first class. The yellow cab lights will add to that factory look too. Keep up the good work.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Funny you should ask...

We're in the middle of a weekend with decent humidity, sun, light wind, and no chance of rain for more than 1/2 hour, so this morning, I shot the green paint on the roof... I had done the black underside a couple nights before with a rattle can. This morning, I got out the paint gun, which I hadn't even had out of the package since I bought it a year ago. After a little playing around on some cardboard, I gave it a shot with decent enough results... Besides, most of the roof is too high to see anyway...

The lighter greyish stuff on the bottom side of the roof is undercoating, about 3 spray cans worth, to help deaden the roof sheetmetal a little...

 

[truckie36]

How well does the green match your tractor? We haven't had much luck finding a good match yet, they all seem to have a brownish tint.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Seemed to match pretty well. I used Tractor and Implement paint by Valspar, TSC carries it, I know, some other chains do too. I've read somewhere that Valspar may supply paint to Deere, not sure if that's true though. The tractor isn't real clean at the moment, so it was tough to get a real good comparison.

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Finally, an update of sorts...

Wired the cab lights today. The four flashers are plugged into the normal tractor circuit.

As for work lights, I have basically 3 configurations:

1) "normal lighting" - This has just the lights on the tractor switched on. I get 2 headlights in the hood and I wired the RH rear light on the cab to feed from the harness that powers the rear worklight kit I have on the ROPS.

2) "loader lighting" - In addition to the above, I flip a new switch in the cab ceiling UP and get the 2 front worklights on the cab. They shine over the loader and about double the total light to the front. They can also be aimed outboard a bit to get a wider pattern of light.

3) "snowblower lighting" - This is #1 plus the cab switch DOWN. This turns the front cab lights back off and adds in the other rear cab light. I end up with 2 rear lights on the cab for driving around backwards with the blower, and 2 headlights in the hood for when I need to drive forward.

The RH rear worklight taps directly into the normal tractor's harness behind the seat. The remaining 3 lights are on their own circuits. I tapped off of the battery cable to starter post with a lead containing a fuse holder. I used conduit and minimized the unfused length to avoid shorting problems. Then a conduit sheathed 10 gauge wire runs up the LH front post to that new switch that controls the worklights..

 

[mjncad]

Glad to see your making progress Husker, I was beginning to wonder what happened to your project since I hadn't seen an update in some time.

 

[Mayor]

Very cool looking cab so far. It's nice to have the skills to make your own.