Buying Advice Cab or no cab?

[redmt]

Most of your concerns have been addressed. Listen to the guys that have experience. Bigger is good but not always better. A cab with AC and heat is the only thing you should consider. I'm 71 and still running dozer, grader and backhoe. The dozers are open ROPS and sit in the hot or very cold weather. My 6x6 grader is enclosed cab no heat or AC, it sits a lot also. My hoe is a Case 580K, enclosed with heat and AC. It runs nearly every day.

 

[butasha]

63 here, couple thousand acres in south Texas. We have 4 tractors ranging from 35 hp to 150 hp. My main go to is the JD 5100 E cab. If you only have one tractor I would recommend at least a 50 hp cab tractor with ac hydrostatic transmission 4x4 and as many bells and whistles as you can afford. Hopefully you will only get older and as you do it will increasingly get more difficult to work outside. Make it easy on your self. Something else to consider if you can afford or are willing to part with some cash is a compact track loader like an ASV RT 75HD. I bought one of these a couple years ago and they are extremely handy and safe to operate. If you buy enough attachments they will handle your 20 acres no problem. They can do more than a tractor and usually much faster. With the exception of large shredding projects. We have quite a few miles of fence lines and senderas that we brush hog each year and the JD 5100 and large shredder is much faster. But on 20 acres this should be no problem. I have attachments that mow, mulch, trim trees, dig ditches, pound post holes, grapple, dozer blade, bucket etc. not cheap but sure cover most of the options. Down here it is hot and humid. African bees and all the green stuff has big thorns. Closed station with ac is the only way to go for me. If my ac breaks it goes to the shop. I had a neighbor die from a bee swarm while shredding and I have had bees hitting my black exhaust on several occasions. I am more concerned with getting an eye poked out or worse than I am about replacing a broken window. Just my priority anyway. A good welder can build expanded metal sweeps and guards if you want. I have one across the back of my JD 5100.

 

[DeathMerchant]

I'm in south Texas on 10 acres with a lot of large oak trees, mesquite and some other types of trees. I opted for the 35 HP Branson without the cab. I wanted more HP but needed a tractor fairly quickly and my dealer was out (2021) of anything larger within my budget and needs. It has worked well for what I do. My main concern was tree branches and low hanging brush and my ability to see behind me as Scootr says above. Cutting branches, moving them and disposing of them is a lot of work and a grapple is an absolute necessity. If I had clear open land, I would have opted for the cab which is something I miss in this constant 100 degree weather here during the summer.

 

[newtoolguy]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."

I am 73, have worked with tractors all my life, own 106 acres, currently own lots of tractors. This is my 2 cents worth.
About a 30 hp cabbed tractor with the following. A loader with a quick attach bucket with a 3ed function valve. A stout grapple bucket. A mid mount pto to run a belly mower. A belly mower. Ballast of some kind. I prefer a 3 point hitch style with a hitch receiver that you can add weight to. Turf tires. A tight turning radius for the tractor.
I prefer dealers close by that I can be on a first name base with. I buy all the stuff like filters and oil from the dealer. I know the first name of the owner, sales person, and the parts guy and they know mine. I would pick a dealer that is a tractor dealer first and not a store that the tractor sales is an add on to their main business.
My current tractor is a Kubota cabbed 2650 and I use it almost daily. I would consider other name brands like John Deere and New Holland.
The last thing I would do is look at the resale value. My 2650 is 2 years old and the used ones on the market are asking more then I paid for it. If there are big discounts in the used market it could be an indication something is wrong with it. Always check online for known problems with the brand and model you are considering.
Good luck.

 

[Stephen D]

I rationalized the idea of a cab being necessary by telling myself that a heated cab is a requirement if my wife was going to have to clear the property of snow off 1000 ft of driveway on an occasion where I was away for travel, and that air conditioning was mandatory if I was going to mow the acreage during Maryland's hot muggy summers. Neither situation has occured, but that being said I would never own a tractor without a heated and cooled cab. The cab even saved my bacon once when I rolled it.
Get the cab. It may get hotter in the sunshine, but that's what AC is for! The Glass doors are tempered, and you'd have to try pretty hard to break one. But maybe remove your rear-view mirrors before the branches do it.
By the way I have a 30 hp, 4-cylinder B3030, never noticed a lack of power in any situation.

 

[rcooley4]

Get the cab!

 

[Missouri Pioneer]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."

I'm 73 - with health issues as well - and in 1990 started out with a Kubota B7200 17 hp 2WD, which was essentially a lawn mower, and a poor one at that, for my then 5 acres. In 2002, I replaced that with a zero turn 28 hp diesel Grasshopper with a 6 ft. deck, a huge improvement.

With the purchase of a 100+ acre farm in 2011, I bought a new 55 hp 4 WD LS U5030 cab tractor AGAINST the advice of my friend, a former longtime tractor dealer, who suggested I would be better off with an open tractor. Wrong.

A different longtime friend with a small farm advised me to get at least 50 hp, telling me that he bought a smaller one, which wasn't working out. He was right.

Being hot natured, I ended up buying the 55 hp cab ... and that was ABSOLUTELY the right decision for me. Hot or cold outside, I'm comfortable in my cab. I got a front end loader with it and later purchased a box blade, grapple, post hole digger, bush hog and several other implements and can do pretty much everything I want with it.

Everyone's needs are different, but at this age you deserve comfort and the ability to easily accomplish the needs of your 50 acres.

That's my two cents. Good luck to you.

 

[DallasT]

I'm also 73. I have been doing tractor work since 1995. I have two tractors an older model 1990 3250 Kubota I bought in 1995 no cab been through hell and still going strong and a Rural King RK 37 hydro with a cab. I bought in 2001 which is built by TYM. A great little tractor. Only problem is if you don't have a Rural King store near by that has a good service record don't buy one. That's the only support that is available to you other than Mobil Tech support. At a cost of $100 a trip. For me it's worth it I live in Huntsville Al. Our tech is great. I'm telling you all this so you will know what to expect if you go that route. My company is Trammell Landscape and Tractor Service LLC it's listed on Facebook. I have done it all in a FEL tractor over the last 35 years. For my two cents worth I wishes I had gone with the RK55. A lot more tractor bigger cab and all but about $10K more but I do it commercially. The RK37 Hydro would make you an excellent tractor if you have the support available at a considerable lower cost than comparable tractors. What ever you get by all means get a cab with AC. dual wipers and a good filter system. Another must is a 3rd function valve and a grapple. A must for clearing land and moving things. One other draw back to the RK 37 is that it does not have a down draft or float for the 3 pt hitch. I have to use a 7 ft landscape box to have enough weight to do any real work the box. If you have a TYM dealer near you that would be a good option for the cost. To wind it up I think all the major brands offer good quality equipment but service from a good dealer is paramount. I know this is a long post but I hope it helps. Good luck in what ever brand you get I'm sure you will enjoy it.

 

[kenhar]

I'm in your age bracket at 75. I didn't read all 17 pages of replys but buyer beware! I have both a cab and open tractor. When its real hot or real cold, the cab tractor is the choice. In buying, it new or used. The used tractor is for sale for a reason. May have been a lemon or a piece of s--t constantly needing repairs. The AC on tractors are much harder to maintain than in a car or truck and repairs are costly and most people can't do it under a shade tree. Heat, I don't worry too much about. Size, big is better if it isn't too big. It's easy to over work a smaller tractor.

 

[Diwali]

OK, so this will be my first tractor, IF I do buy one. Maybe my last one, too, as I turned 73 recently and don't imagine this will be a periodic thing for me to do over my remaining years.

BTW, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong place. I looked for a section for newbie style questions, but didn't find one.

I am located in north Florida. 50 acres of mostly heavily wooded land. Getting to where doing minor clearing manually is no longer as much fun as it used to be. I had a heart attack last year. Wife has diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year. Yeah 2022 REALLY sucked. So, things are stacking against us to be doing a lot of (any?) heavy lifting. I don't know how much and for how long I will have my wife's help when I just need an extra pair of hands. And the hands and arms I have just ain't what they used to be, neither. A couple of weeks ago when I wanted to move a concrete bird bath across the yard, that got me to REALLY thinking that something to help me with the lifting would have been nice to have. Something like an engine hoist on wheels, even.

So I believe I need motorized help. Friend of mine has a tractor and has come over several times to help me with some things. He would just shake his head and tell me he doesn't understand why I haven't bought a tractor a long time ago. "Good exercise" I would tell him, doing this all manually. But things have changed. Of course he says he will always be here to help me, but he has his own medical problems and I can't expect to keep leaning on him for tractor help.

Here in north Florida, we have a few seasons where riding an open tractor into the woods might not be a pleasant experience. Yellow fly season, mosquito season, hot and humid season, and the fall ground nesting habits of yellow jackets are always an unpleasant surprise. Oh yeah, and those large spiders forming webs at unexpected places between the trees. Not keen on getting those webs wrapped around my face. All seem to point to having a cab on a tractor so I could keep on tractoring, regardless of those environmental hurtles and unpleasant surprises.

But I have some doubts. I want a smaller tractor, likely one of the less than 25 horsepower models. My plan is to clear AROUND most of the trees, not try to knock them over or dig them up. So small size would help with that. Now, I know air conditioning robs horsepower from any engine it is attached to. How much would the air conditioning in a cab on a 25 horsepower tractor impact the usefulness of the thing? Wouldn't make much sense to have to choose between using the AC or running a flail mower when needed, if the tractor didn't have the power to run both simultaneously, now would it? So is there a MINIMUM horsepower rating for a tractor engine below which having a cab with AC is just pure folly?

And there is the issue of driving through woods with the cab. Are they designed to take some arguments with tree branches and not get damaged excessively? The way I am thinking about it, I WILL have tree branches to contend with. But it is not too bad. Mostly small saplings that I would want to take out anyway. Pine trees tend to put their branches up high around here. I guess I would rather have those branches scraping and slapping at the cab rather than my head and upper body. And I suppose the ROP guard would likely catch many of them anyway, just hopefully not bending them forward and down to knock my hat off. I guess I could take the time with a polesaw to take out many of the lower branches, but that puts me back in the environmental concerns that had me thinking about getting the cab in the first place. Walking through the woods with a pole saw would not be any more fun than driving through the woods at those above mentioned challenging seasons.

Are the doors and windows of these cabs field replaceable repairs? And are they made of actual glass (perhaps impact resistant?) or just some plastic that would get scratched all to hell from the branches?

Just a silly idea wanting to get a small tractor with a cab anyway? Suck it up, buttercup, face the elements and take the scars? Or just sell the place and go live in a condo on the beach and forget about the whole thing?

Yeah, I know. Expecting answers mostly beginning with "Well, it depends......."