questions for jd 2305 with hard side curtiss cabs

[thetaxman]

hello all !!

wondering if you did own install and how tough was it incl heater. also if you are really happy with it and if you dont mind how much you paid. im getting ready to order one and was quoted $5500.00 installed ( hard cab, heater , lights front and rear, inside mirror, and deluxe overhead console with fans radio cd and 6 aux ports ect ect), out the door, so wonder if thats high or about right .
thanks in advance
ttm

 

[kennyd]

Who the heck wants to talk to the "Taxman"? Especially about what they paid for something?

Just kidding, Welcome to TBN

Cant help with the question, I don't have a cab.

 

[diz]

I just installed a soft side curtis cab on my 2305. From an installation perspective, there wouldn't be much difference. You'd have different doors to hang on the pins, and you'd have a little gas strut to hook up to the doors. And a bolt in rear window piece instead of the velcro I have.

Total cab install took me maybe 8 hours. Did it all myself, not too bad to do alone. That's just the physical installation, not running wires and hooking up lights, wiper, heater. Haven't run the wires yet.

Installation is fairly straightforward. There were points there where I spent a lot of time surfing the net for detailed pictures because I didn't understand the instructions, but I took pictures of all of those areas I questioned and posted them here, so you won't have to do the same.

One thing - if you do a self-install, you need to get an odd tall thin heavy box to your house or place of install. They ship everything on edge, so the box is about 5' tall, maybe 2' wide, and says don't lay it down. Getting a box like that home from a trucking depot in a pickup is challenging. Once I got it home, I just disassembled it right in the bed of the pickup, taking the parts one by one into the garage. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to unload it easily.

Of course I love the cab, it makes snowblowing a lot more fun.

Edit - here's the link to the pics:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...0294-2305-curtis-cab-install.html#post1838043

 

[castiman]

hello all !!

wondering if you did own install and how tough was it incl heater. also if you are really happy with it and if you dont mind how much you paid. im getting ready to order one and was quoted $5500.00 installed ( hard cab, heater , lights front and rear, inside mirror, and deluxe overhead console with fans radio cd and 6 aux ports ect ect), out the door, so wonder if thats high or about right .
thanks in advance
ttm

I bought my hard sided curtis cab from the dealer I bought my 2305 from, paid $3600 installed with heater and windshield wiper 2 years ago. I have a good repore with him and he only charged me $100 to install, well worth it, no hassle on delivery or my time and I'm sure some kind of trouble with the install seeing its something I haven't done before.

 

[thetaxman]

I bought my hard sided curtis cab from the dealer I bought my 2305 from, paid $3600 installed with heater and windshield wiper 2 years ago. I have a good repore with him and he only charged me $100 to install, well worth it, no hassle on delivery or my time and I'm sure some kind of trouble with the install seeing its something I haven't done before.

well they broke down the prices for me and my cost for exactly what you have is the same and the additional stuff adds to that to come up with a total of 4300.00 for the cab BUT they say labor is 1200.00 dollars . i talked to my salesman and he said the service department charges 75.00 an hour so that would be 16 hours for install! i told him no way it could take a qualified mechanic 2 full days to do the install so he is going to revisit the svc mgr and see why so much. i am calling curtiss cabs directly and see if the will give me a guesstimate on hours to install.

ps- im the good taxman not one of the govt aholes!!!!

 

[Wildbill34]

Based on what I did tonight taking my cab off to do some work on the drive shaft universals under the floor board, I can't image it taking 16 hours to install. I had the cab off my tractor in 20-25 minutes. While I understand to will take some more time putting all the panels together, no way it will take 16 hours. On the wiring, I would suggest that you get a fuse box inside the cab and don't use the inline fuses. Much easier to deal with and hardly no down time due to broken wires. I also grounded everything in the cab instead of using the ground lug outside the cab. As you use the tractor it seems like the wire get broken or snagged by twings branch and such. I was always chasing broken wires, but no more.

Forgot to mention, when I had mine installed originally the dealer charged me $450

 

[jdgreg]

A few years ago, I put a Curtis soft side on my 4210. IIRC, it took me several hours in one evening, maybe two. But that was by myself, and it was the cab with w/s wiper only. I added a small ceramic heater and work lights later. $1200 is way too much to install it, IMHO. I would expect any halfway mechanically inclined person could install it themselves. A couple of times you will need a spare set of hands. I have enjoyed my quite a bit, you will too.

 

[diz]

Yeah there really isn't that much to it if you know what it's supposed to look like when it's done. One dealer told me they budget 6 hours for a curtis cab install with all of the bells and whistles.

 

[thetaxman]

well thanks to all that replied. i copied all the emails and sent to my salesman and he forwarded them to the svc mgr and came back with a cost of 600.00 which is 8 hours time, i think that is very fair and told him to order it up. was told by curtis that it will ship next week so i am very satisfied.anyone looking for an original cab with safety glass and wiper?

 

[kennyd]

anyone looking for an original cab with safety glass and wiper?

Why are you getting rid of it? Where are you located? My neighbor is looking at one for his 2210 (same as the 2305)