Cab for the Montana

[chim]

Hard to believe it's been 3 years since I built the cab for my L3200. When I finished it one of the guys said it sure would be nice to have a cab for the Montana we use for odds and ends around the facilities. I ordered tube steel and it's been languishing on the rack. Recently the workload in the shop slowed down a bit and allowed them some time to get a start on the Montana cab. The project was given to a new guy who has a gift for going beyond the routine of normal pipe welding. I showed him pictures from my build and said we don't need to add the complexity of angled doors, but to duplicate or improve on the basic design of mine. The fellow definitely has more merit badges in fab work than yours truly and it's really fun to see him working on it.

There is a piece of angle that sits on the ROPS to carry the weight on the rear end of the cab. I think we'll probably add two more pieces outboard of the one that is now there in the center. I picked up a pair of latches like mine. We will use weatherstripping from McMaster Carr, tinted automotive safety glass and a 20,000 BTU heater that uses engine coolant for the heat source. The wiper for this build will be from the rear window of a decommissioned SUV. I already picked up LED work lights for the front and rear, and we have a spare yellow strobe somewhere for the top.

The cab will be made in one piece with lift-off doors. When the weather is warm we can take the doors off. The cab will be removable, but in one piece rather than sections. We have five 5-Ton overhead cranes, so that won't be a problem. The sides will be kept pretty well straight and there is a small added triangle of floor on both sides at the front.

In an effort to give the inside a cleaner look than mine we're thinking about fishing the wiring through the frame to conceal it. There's an advantage being the second or third in a series of similar projects. Although I'm happy with my cab, it would be neat to see the tweaks that would be made by the time we would get to a fourth or fifth build.

 

[mangus580]

Keeping an eye on this.... This montana is setup real similar to my LS... and have considered a cab for it!

 

[farm boy00]

Watching here. Don't have a tractor that a cab could easily be built on, but always love to see a good cab build

 

[BoylermanCT]

When you are done, can I drop off my Montana? Keep the pics coming!

 

[mwb]

Nice! Looks very similar to the one I started for my Montana... still hanging from the barn rafters... hope to get back to it this winter.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/295448-home-built-cab.html?highlight=tractor+cab

 

[chim]

A few more pictures from today. It's pretty easy on/off with the crane. Stick a 4x4 through the frame at a balance point and pick it off. Tomorrow they hope to start the skin. This is coming along at a decent pace.

 

[chim]

Mwb, I remember that because of how heavy duty it looks. Talk abut time flying. It doesn't seem two years ago that I was reading about it.

We made a little more progress and it's fun to see how the guy working on it goes about it. He makes it look easy. Here are some photos of where it was as of yesterday. The area above the glass is now skinned (18GA Galvaneal). The wiper shaft is sticking through the front skin. These have a small lip. The lip on the side is to help shed the water away from the top of the door opening. There's a picture of the left door on the bench and on the cab. The small open area above the fender that is cut off at the right side of the last picture will be skinned to match the top edge of the door skin and carry that line along the side of the cab. The roof will be flat with a slight forward pitch.

Next week he will work on wrapping up the skin, completing welds where it is now tacked together, getting the heater installed and starting the wiring. We have some neat ideas for the wiring and the guy who runs our tool shop and vehicle maintenance saved a really nice flasher for the roof from a truck we're selling.

 

[Mysfyt]

There's an advantage being the second or third in a series of similar projects. Although I'm happy with my cab, it would be neat to see the tweaks that would be made by the time we would get to a fourth or fifth build.

How true! My motto is 'I get it right the second time'.

This is going to be a fun build to watch the progress on. Like your idea for the lift off cab.

 

[chim]

Here are a few pictures taken today. The tabs on the front and rear near the top are the mounting points for the work lights. The guys cut 1/4" plywood window templates I'll drop off at the glass shop tomorrow. There's a little smoothing and seam filling here and there, and we expect to get paint on it maybe next week.

I don't recall if I mentioned it, but the paint will be Pittsburgh AUE300. We've used it for a few other projects and it holds up very well. It is a two part direct-to-metal coating. When it comes time to do the glass, we're going to try the 3M Windo-Weld ribbon sealer instead of the caulk type sealer I used on mine. The caulk "smooshed" out and took a lot of time to clean up.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Nice work on the new cab. A skilled fabricator is a joy to watch, and learn from.

 

[chim]

It's been a while and our shop had some work for paying customers that put the cab fab on the back burner. We scrambled to get it close enough to done for that snow we had a few weeks ago. That was a good thing because our landscape guy couldn't handle the snow. Long story there, but this post is about the Montana cab. The lights, heater, glass etc. was wrapped up ahead of the storm. There are some minor items like weatherstripping (operator said it was plenty tight without it), cleaning up some silicone smears, and modifying a wiper arm. After a few Winters on the Montana without a cab, the operator couldn't have been happier.

The last picture is the new snow bucket that moship put me onto. Thanks! It will pick about twice the snow as the original bucket.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Very nice. How much would you charge to do another?

 

[sw99]

Nice work!

 

[chim]

It's what I prefer - steel and glass. On this one I didn't do any of the work, just told our welder what I wanted. He's a real craftsman and the fit and execution are really good. He has been out of the shop working on a jobsite for several weeks and hasn't seen it on the tractor after paint and glass were done.

The glass on this one was way more expensive than on my cab. The pieces are larger, but at close to $700 the glass was 3X of mine. Even with that, because of differences in the construction the overall material costs were still around the $1,200 I spent on mine 3 years ago.

 

[jrh009]

I know this post is 4 yrs old. I am trying to add a heater in my 2844 HST. I am going to use the block drain near the oil filter for one side of the loop, but can't find another good port. Was considering a tee at the temperature sensor. Is this correct? Need to stay inside the stat side of the engine.

Any suggestions would help.

 

[chim]

I'll have a look and try to get a picture or two.

 

[chim]

I know this post is 4 yrs old. I am trying to add a heater in my 2844 HST. I am going to use the block drain near the oil filter for one side of the loop, but can't find another good port. Was considering a tee at the temperature sensor. Is this correct? Need to stay inside the stat side of the engine.

Any suggestions would help.

The valves are in the heating position right now. Flow is needed either through the heater or the bypass connection. Here are pics:

 

[jrh009]

Thanks for the pictures, I am connected with a fitting in the bolt hole right beside the temp sensor, and the other side is connected to the block drain bolt hole beside the oil filter.

I have no flow at all and don't think it is air locked. The heater core is mounted below the top of the rad (relative elevation) just above the hydro foot controls. I am wondering if the by pass loop is short circuiting my heater loop. Your valve set up I think would prevent that.

My dealer came out and did the install as I am not flexible enough to get in the tight working area. I'll send him the pictures.

Thanks so much for the help

Jim

 

[LouNY]

I'm not familiar with your tractor but you will need some differential pressure to get water to circulate.
If hot water is picked up in the block it needs to return downstream of the water pump.
Usually a common point to pickup water for a heater is on the engine side of the thermostat
after the water pump, it is then returned into the block.

 

[jrh009]

I'll pass that along to my dealer. My tractor is identical to the thumbnail pictures in your post of 02-13-2016. Montana 2844 HST

I built my own cab to fit thru my 9x7 doors. Used a Sim's sun shade and modified the rops for height. Made a steel frame that fits under the shade and had a boat top guy make up 4 panels to enclose it all.

I'll post back when I get it working. Oddly 2 of those automotive 150 watt electric heaters keep a degree of warmth in the cab, but I start with a warm tractor as the shop is heated. But they are not a long term solution. Parry Sound, On. gets really cold