Custom HD Tractor Canopy

[Hollow]

Fabrication is finished! Now to disassemble, finish welding and paint...

Sorry if I'm posting to many photos, I think I got a little carried away.

She even fits in her parking space with about 4" to spare!

 

[Hollow]

I wanted to start painting today but it was to darn cold outside!

 

[murphy1244]

Why so much bracing in the front?

 

[Hollow]

Why so much bracing in the front?

The sweeps are there to allow limbs to slide up and over the canopy when bushhogging. The front posts are just for added support, I probably didn't need them but thought it would be easier to add them now instead of fixing something bent or broken later.

 

[Soundguy]

awe! where's the fun in that

 

[Hollow]

awe! where's the fun in that

I usually say "if its worth doing, its worth over doing"... However I don't always do that and usually end up paying for it later.

 

[barneyrb]

I built something very much like this for my JD990. At the time I too was doing a lot of woods road bush hogging and I wound up adding some angle iron from the fenders to the top and using expanded metal to build sort of an expanded metal cab.

What slides off the bars will have lots of tension and stings bad when it slaps you in the ear, been there and got the scars.

 

[jimmysisson]

Agree with Barney here - get slapped a lot in the woods with my open-sided Curtis. Just have to pay attention, but sometimes you're doing something else and don't have a hand free to protect your ear/eye/cheek!
Still, I like the idea of getting the branches up and over. Just keep your lights under the lid. Nice work.
Jim

 

[barneyrb]

This is a side view of the cab I was speaking of. Yes the tractor is a red 990 (yanmar)

 

[Hollow]

This is a side view of the cab I was speaking of. Yes the tractor is a red 990 (yanmar)

That's a good looking cab you've got there. I thought about doing something like that but I'm afraid it would be in the way more than being helpful. I don't get in the woods much, mostly just for planting food plots before hunting season. Where I bushhog there's a lot of old growth oaks with low hanging limbs that I don't want to trim for privacy reasons.

 

[Hollow]

Painted and going back together!

If you don't have an overhead crane string a chain between two trees and make one...

After only a few dozen expletives and a thrown tool or two (JK) the bumper is back on! When I did the finish welding it warped and nothing lined up! :mur:

Tadaaaaa......!

Now to mount the lights!

 

[Soundguy]

hey now.. the string crane is cheating!

yer suposed to chain a 3pt boom pole into yer loader bucket for more reach then lift it up there..

 

[Hollow]

hey now.. the string crane is cheating!

yer suposed to chain a 3pt boom pole into yer loader bucket for more reach then lift it up there..

That looks like it would work to well for me.

 

[mjncad]

No crane and no large trees...I'm screwed.

 

[Soundguy]

No crane and no large trees...I'm screwed.

i had no tree's either.. thus I cheated!

 

[Hollow]

I mounted the tool box today that I had forgot about ordering until UPS came up my drive! No trees were involved...

 

[Soundguy]

keeps getting better every day!

 

[murphy1244]

Is it loud under there? Looks like it could sound like a kettle drum with a downpour.

 

[Hollow]

Is it loud under there? Looks like it could sound like a kettle drum with a downpour.

That's one reason I went with 14ga sheet metal, I figured the thicker material wouldn't rattle so much. It's not any louder but it sounds a whole lot different. Before the tractor didn't really sound like a diesel at all, just a real deep exhaust noise. Now it sounds like an old cummins engine. I can hear the distinct diesel chatter of the valves with a raspy engine noise... I like!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I like your saying, mine was alway, "If you dont have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over" A little different take on the same thing.