Homemade Cab for Deere 2320 CUT

[meanmerc]

Well Huskerplowboy, I`ll start off by congratulating you on a job well done!!!:thumbsup:So now winter is almost over and was wondering how your nice piece of crafstmanship held up and since you you were able to get some T I under the cab would there be anything you would change to make better like height or angles?? Also is it possible to get a few measurement like height, width, lenght..... I have started to make my plans and I was looking at a height of 64" from floor (so 40" from top of rear fender) 56" long and 44" wide. I noticed some people angle their rear windows out some in and same for their front windshield, not sure what the ad or disadvantages would be...
Anyways any info would be greatly appreciated. Thx

 

[Huskerplowboy]

meanmerc,

Thanks for the compliments. I've had the cab in service for 2 winters now and I'm very, very glad to have it. The useage has been:

Winter 2009-2009: We were living in a temporary rental house in town between selling the old place and building our new house. Periodically, we would need to meet contractors, etc out at our lot (about 3 miles outside of town) and the driveway had to be blown out. I would drive the tractor to the lot on the shoulder of the highway to get out there, blow out an area big enough to get a couple pickups in and out, then drive back home.

Winter 2009-2010: We moved into the new place in November and by early December had a mini-blizzard hit. The machine got lots of use clearing out a driveway that would drift shut if you sneezed from the wrong direction. (the first snow was a solid foot with 50 mph winds and pretty well piled it up and everyone spent the rest of the winter trying to catch up with snow removal).

General observations:
-The 4 very bright amber flashers were nice to have when transporting down the side of the road in the evenings (dark). Nice to feel extra-visible to traffic.
- The cab still has no heat, but just blocking the majority of the wind makes a HUGE difference. I still wear insulated coveralls and such anyway, since I may need to get out to move something, etc. That first snow hit before I had reinstalled the RH window (had it and the door out over the summer months) and if you turned the wrong way and put that side into the wind, you knew it! Also, blocking the snow coming out of the chute when the wind throws it back at you is a plus.
- The extra, high mounted worklights are great. The standard headlights tend to reflect off the back of the bucket most of the time, so having front facing worklights on the roof for loader work is an improvement. For blowing snow with the rear mount blower, having 2 high mounted lights on the back is also a plus compared with the 1 worklight that was mounted near the hinge on the standard ROPS.
- I have some rust issues, mainly brought on by doing all that transport on salty roads (threw salt all over the cab frame, even some inside). Eventually the frame will need to be re blasted and repainted, but not for a while, much too busy right now.
- The screen door latch failed a month or so ago, wasn't up to the task of holding the door shut. Part of the problem is the floppiness of the door frame as I built it more to keep it light/thin rather than for stiffness. The other problem was that for the sake of appearance, I placed the door latch too low, so it was always fighting the door flex at the top more than if I had placed it at the halfway point. I have recently installed a large over-center toolbox-style latch on the inside (halfway up), which sinches the door nice and tightly shut while I'm in there, but can't be latches when I'm not in the cab (not a big deal 90% of the time)
- The cab is loud, but most aftermarket CUT cabs are. I have some 3/4" thick rubber livestock mats that I hope to make a heavy floormat out of to help kill some of the noise coming up from the hydraulics and transmission, haven't had a chance to do that yet. I usually use a set of those earmuffs with the built-in radio (I think they were called Work Tunes or something) for hearing protection and entertainment anyway, so the noise is less of an issue.
- I had some issues with the split plexiglass side windows (door and RH window) this winter. I had never gotten a good glue joint on either side, but they'd been working ok without it. The Door "glass" tried popping out on me once the top piece managed to get past the bottom piece on one end. I worked them back into the gaskets and installed some little aluminum flats and #10 bolts to connect the 2 pieces, now they're pretty solid. If I'd had a strip heater to soften and bend a single piece for those windows, it woudl have been better (but harder to install)

 

[Huskerplowboy]

A few more thoughts:

- I've always been a little unhappy about the height of the cab, I think I ended up too tall by 3-6 inches. I did some wood mockups prior to building it, and tried to make sure I wouldn't hit my head getting in and out, but I think I overshot a bit. Not a big deal, more of an appearance thing to me. I'll try to take some measurements sometime after we get home from the Easter weekend.

- Size-wise, I would recommend doing some mock-ups with cheap materials to get comfortable with the sizes. I used some 2x2 wood pieces, not quite the 2x2 to match the tubing, but close enough to ballpark thngs. That helped get a feel for the look, room, etc.

Key things I paid attention to for the dimensions:
- Loader joystick travel (don't want to bang your hand into the window/door when dumping the bucket or something), room behind the seat
- Room behind the seat for an arm. Since I have a rear-mount snowblower, I needed some space to have an arm behind the seat while backing up and also to keep the glass away from my head.
- Head room both seated and when getting in or out. I have lots of headroom once in, but less as my head goes past the top side tube on the way in.

Other random thoughts:

I built my cab with a few other things in mind. It does not rest on any green appearance parts but rather "straddles" the existing fenders. Currently I have no weatherstripping in that gap. the idea was to avoid anything that would tend to vibrate against and dull/scuff/damage the pretty green paint (for future potential trade-in value) I also paid attention to the weight of the cab to avoid potentially overloading the rear axle somehow. I don't remember the numbers anymore, but it was something I worried about. Typicall rear end ballast is out on or in the wheels, not being supported by the axle housings/shafts. I rearly if ever max ouf the 3-point hitch with any implements I have, so the cab uses a little of the extra margin there...

In order to get approval from "the finance commitee" I had to worry about styling even more than I normally would have. That drove the slight taper to the sides (top is narrower than the mid-body and bottom) and the maybe fancier than needed roof and hazzard lights. I do like the way it turned out compared to many aftermarket cabs though, sort of like it was supposed to be there. That and visibility also drove using big windows and less intrusive sheetmetal frames like some cabs do. Tried to mimic a "real" cab with a structural tube frame and little else obstructing vision. A lot of times, I barely notice the cab being there and just go about my work, which was the idea.

For whatever reason, I hardly ever need the windshield wipers, which is good since I never got around to installing the rear one. Don't know if it's the plexiglass that helps keep snow from sticking or what. I'll maybe once or twice during a driveway cleaning session need to flick some off the front windshield, but it's not much... Since it hasn't yet been an issue, I'm still holding off putting real glass in the front and rear becuase of the $ and the weight increase...

 

[dixstir]

I made my cab for my 2305 Iam glad I did its got heat radio wipers lights it makes the winter kinda fun. used it today and I think it has to come of this summer.

 

[meanmerc]

Ooops I was of by a winter....time flies!! Ok thanks for all the great info and will wait for measurments if ya get a chance. I think it looks very good but you say that 3-6" shorter would be better? Mine is the 1528 MF and roughly the same size as yours so anxious to see if the measurements I gave ya are close.....Anyways your info is greatly appreciated...thx again:thumbsup:

 

[Huskerplowboy]

Got some time to take a few measurements:

The "ROPS" is all 2" square tubing or 2x2 angle in a few places

The outer overall width is 41.5" for the bottom portion where the sides are vertical. About 13" above the rear "deck" where the 2-post ROPS bolts on, I created a break to taper the width. The cab frame is about 37.5" wide at the top where it meets the roof assembly, so I tapered each side about 2". The cab frame is about 62.5" from the floorboard to the top of the frame. The roof assembly is 3" thick on top of that.

Front-to-back, the frame is around 46" at the top of the hood/cowl. The rear window is vertical, the windshield up front is layed back about 10 degrees if I remember right. It was whatever angle sort of matched up with the seam between the hood and cowl on my 2320. I really only did the angle because of the styling of the tractor itself, seemed to make more sense. If I'd ended up with the 855 I looked at buying earlier, I might have left things more straight up and down, more like the old Hiniker and other cabs from back in the 60's and early 70's.

I'm about 6'3" tall, and sitting in the seat, I have around 12" of headroom to the inside of the roof ribs. The roofs around 2-2.5" above the cab frame top. That's where I overshot I think. I based the height more on entry and exit than seated headroom, haven't taken any measurements while I'm halfway in or out to see how close I was there I guess...

I have around 4-5" of arm room behind the seatback for snowblower operating. I also have around 2.5" between the joystick and the RH window when I push the lever clear over in the dump position.

Hope those help.

 

[meanmerc]

Ah excellent, thank you very much, looks purty close to the measurements I was drawing up. I was looking at a little xrta height in the cab cause not to sure where to mount the heater yet and I've noticed that a lot of manufactured cabs have the heater in the roof with ducts coming out of the ceiling. Not to sure where else I could install it, and I am looking at plexiglass also cause I have 6, 1/4 inch sheets of 46 3/4 x 35 1/2 inches so those should end up as windows!!
Well thx again for taking the time to get those measurements!:thumbsup:

 

[davgreg]

Excellent idea for chute rotation. Is that a motor for power windows? You are doing a great and detailed job, very impressive! I have learned a lot just from following your thread, thank you and keep up the good work.

 

[davgreg]

I made my cab for my 2305 Iam glad I did its got heat radio wipers lights it makes the winter kinda fun. used it today and I think it has to come of this summer.

How do you power that much electricity?

 

[yoann]

So that's what my snowblower would've looked like when it was new!

Well, Other than a few odds and ends to cover up gaps along fenders and things to block the wind, the cab's just about done. The snowblower chute rotator is redone to be electric and works well.

The cab is louder than without, which I expected. I'll probably use earplugs/muffs whenever I need to run wide-open with it. Not all bad, I can use the earmuffs with the radio built in, no need to install one in the cab that way. The door latch now holds, had to do some "tweaking" on the striker plate on the cab frame so it had some bite to it.

A couple pics:

Did you have plan of your cab that you could sale or give. I plan to make cab for my 2320 and it could be funny to use your background for make mine. I'M currently in process of drawn my 2320 to be able fit anything I would on it.
Best regard
Yoann.