To CAB or NOT

[AirOpsMgr]

Anyway, how many of you on here have gone through a simliar situation/buying experience at this stage of life? Did you choose a Cab or did you stay open-station? This is going to be a big purchase and I dont want to do it again. I know I could get a canopy but that will just keep some rain off of me.

I have mostly pines that are around 20 feet tall now. Currently 4 acres open and 12 wooded but I am still clearing with the excavator and burning lots of brush piles. Will probably end up with 8 open and 8 wooded. I guess the biggest concern I have and hear from folks is hitting tree limbs and such while in the Cab. I feel like I am pretty observant and careful with operating but mistakes happen.

Any opinions/experience/similiar situations welcome.

Thanks

I went through this a year ago as I moved back out to the country to 20 acres, about 6 of it heavily wooded and needed a new tractor. I grew up on OS tractors and a cab every once in a while working the family farm. I now live in middle GA and mowing 14 acres of grass in the summer swayed my decision to cab.

Over the past year, I've been cutting trails through the woods & cutting back brush on the tree lines with the tractor, woods are 2/3rds pine and the other 1/3rd hardwoods; I've yet to sustain any damage to the cab with regular woods-work. Worst I've done is had branches push a side-view mirror in towards the cab a few times, no damage.

If you're paying attention, I don't see an issue ... would be no different if I was on an OS and got smacked in the face with a branch if not paying attention.

Sure, I've had lots of branches brush the cab, but they don't just jump out at you and smash the glass or the roof and wreck the cab.

It's all about your application and equally, your care / skill as an operator to not put yourself or your equipment in harms way.

Perhaps I'm just lucky, or maybe my conditions are just right for my application ... either way, I see many more benefits of a Cab than an OS & wouldn't change a thing.

Lastly, I sweat in the shower, so mowing with my ZRT (with a canopy and fan) when it's 95° with 100% humidity leaves me wearing layers of sweat & dust / clippings, with the cabbed tractor pulling an 84" mower, I'm MUCH more comfortable and don't require a change of clothes after the 1st hour, lol

 

[CliffordK]

From time to time I find myself pushing branches from around me. Watch the ones that get stuck on the ROPS or loader that they don't snap hard.

 

[mcmxi]

Well howdy old Co-worker MCMXI! A cab is a 24-7-365 machine. Truly enjoy my machine more often.

Hvordan går det? I'm not old!!

 

[wolc123]

If, for some reason, I was forced to live south off about mid PA, then I would surely get a tractor with an air conditioned cab. I would only do that at gunpoint though, because I can’t stand the heat.

Just got back from a work trip to central VA. It sure feels good to be back home again and breath that cool air. I feel sorry for those poor folks stuck down there with global warming and getting hotter every year.

 

[jjeff]

Went through this internal debate of cab vs no cab technically I own both. Both are pretty old. Seems from reading this forum folks have more mechanical and rodent problems with cab tractors. Yeah it would be nice hogging in ac comfort, plowing in heated warmth, until the comfort devices quit working. I enjoy working, doing stuff in the outdoors in most conditions so I'll stick to o.s or a old cabbed tractor missing a door and windows able to be opened not to mention a pretty significant difference in price between new os and cabbed tractors.

 

[dieselscout80]

I know it’s nicer in a cab tractor , but there are definitely downside.

Cons: expensive, top heavy in off camber situation, AC takes more power to run, AC requires repairs and the big issue is repairs to the cab itself if damage.

My neighbor bumped his JD cab into a limb and the repair was more than $9,000.00, but he had it insured so he just paid the deductible.

For me if I had to cut more than say 20 acres and it was open fields I would want a cab.

I have run a few cab tractors over the years and they are nice, but for my budget and purposes I’m not running a cab tractor.

 

[mcmxi]

How often do you hear of someone upgrading from an open station to a cab as compared to going the other way? I bet that's a one-way street for most, just as it was for me.

 

[Indian Man]

I upgraded to a cab tractor shortly after I hit 50. My tolerance for being out in the elements really tanked, particularly while plowing snow. After a 2 day 36" blizzard and plowing 15 long rural driveways, I was done with open station tractors.
Now at 62 I enjoy AC, heat, and music while I'm out on the tractor.

I had a great Kubota open station for ten years. I too enjoy AC, heat and music also; 79 years old now.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

At 73 with replacement hips not getting knocked off backwards when Bush hogging is one reason I would like a cab I realized last summer after a close call.

 

[mike69440]

Thanks for the response. If I get a CAB, it will not be removable. I want a solid, deluxe CAB.

Get one with flat glass