Kubota B7100 D..older model.. Retrofit a custom built cab, heater and lighting

jix · Oct 4, 2014

I have an older(about 1986) model Kubota. It needs a cab and heater for winter snowblowing. The work is now in process at a fabrication shop. a number of problems are being solved:
1.No easy entry or egress for my handicapped self (feeble, poor balance, general weakness)
2. No ROPS
3. Inadequate generator/ dynamo output
4. Seating position not workable
5 No work lights/safety beacon
6 Inadequate coolant circulation to drive the heater

These are the solutions now in process:
!. Construct a steel and glass enclosure with very large doors and rubber gasketted windows and body seals
2. Fit a small heater core with an electric 12V fan near the floor and duct heat to windows
3 Fabricate a ROPS frame inside the cab, as a part of the cab frame and bolted to the tractor transmission casting.
4 Fit interval type electric windshield wipers for and aft
5 Install three flood lights and roof flasher
6 Modify the Meteor snowblower for remote control with electric linear actuators
7 Install a custom wiring harness and appropriate switches inside the cab
8. Bend the gearshifts to create space around feet
9 Relocate seat aft by 6 inches, lower it by three inches
10. Reconfigure the engine cowling to permit mounting an auxiliary fan-belt driven generator and reconfigure the horizontal exhaust muffler to vertical for clearance of the generator.
11 Fit an a battery voltmeter, engine coolant temperature meter and relocate the oil pressure warning lamp
12 Fit a grab rail above the steering wheel to aid entry and exit and to mount switches on
13 Fabricate an entry step on the port side doorway to use when entering or leaving the cab
14. Fit a rearview camera system overlooking the blower work area
15 Install a LOUD warning horn, and lots of reflective tape
16 Fabricate and install adjustable ground-clearance skids on the blower frame
17 Fabricate and install a safety roller chain guard on the blower drive and to keep small stones away from the sprockets
18 Paint it nicely

My expected cost/budget is 4000 all in (Canadian dollars) My contractors estimate is 3500. Scheduled completion date is 21 Oct.

Pics when it is finished up

Egon · Oct 5, 2014

Will there be a pump to circulate water to the heater core?

doxford jim · Oct 5, 2014

Jix,

That sure sounds like a good deal. I very much doubt that I could get anywhere near that price over here in BC. I will be following your post with interest as I need to build a cab on my Jinma - being 70 years old and working in -25C temperatures is no longer fun blowing thick snow backwards. I like the idea of electrical controls but think hydraulic work just as well.
Please post lots of pictures of the finished product - many members would like to do the same.

jix · Oct 5, 2014

Yes, Egon..My oversight in first post...apologies, guys.

There will be an auxiliary electric water pump installed in the coolant loop to circulate coolant thru the heater core from a bypass loop in the main coolant circuit.
It will probably be an item from a scrap car from a junkyard, to be deteremined by what is available out of some European make. New pumps are very costly and hard to source. I did find one on the internet from PartsTrain, but I cancelled it becoz of the difficulty with that outfit. Not recommended, IMO. VW dealer has one, at $400.00 Fuhgedaboudit.

My fabricator says he can get one for under $50. Ditto the generator. Fabricator (Central Mechanical) out of a little town (Hoyt, NB) is an ace guy...and quite reasonable and easy to deal with. He can read my mind without a lot of folderol.

But time will tell....(gulp)

Retrofitting a custom cab is quite a job..and you need a guy who can make do and has a lotta smarts and a well equipped shop and practised skills. I found Larry through a recommendation from my Kubota dealer..Dealers who have those kinds of contacts and will share them, are scarce too.

I did not buy my tractor from him, either. I bought it from a guy near Hartland NB, who is going through a divorce, poor bastard. Hard times in the maritimes.

On another note, my tractor showed an oil pressure warning lamp at low RPM, but the engine did not seem to suffer, so I asked Larry to run a test on the oil pressure sensor. Turns out that it was a wiring issue. The engine is fine, but the wiring is a mess and will be set to rights as a part of the retrofit.

Also, the hydraulic controls for the front grader blade will be replaced and relocated to a joystick control beside the seat, along with some new hoses and fittings..included in the price quoted.

Yep, I think I got lucky.

I will take a lot of pics for posting on this thread.. but I doubt that Larry will do work in BC.

Larry has set the bar pretty high for any competitor nearby. I learned that he also does work for the nuclear station at Point LePreau... That speaks volumes about his outstanding reputation.

boggen · Oct 5, 2014

looking at TractorData.com Kubota B7100 tractor information for general specs of tractor...

i am scratching my chin, your pretty much redoing entire rear half of tractor, plus re fitting a bigger alternator, and possibly pump up on the front of the engine.

and the price tag for it all seems to be climbing. plus it is a older tractor.

my question is this... have you looked at say... www.tractorhouse.com or www.craigslist.org ((search craiglist via SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more to search multi cities at one time)) and see what it would cost just buy a cab tractor. and sell your current tractor off?

ya talking a good amount of metal, glass, cutting, grinding, welding, various parts, and overall labor costs.

a cab that was put on when tractor was bought, even a used tractor with cab, generally comes with everything, exception warning light, and rear backup horn package, but i would imagine the cable harness is already there and just need to plug in lights / horn into it.

jix · Oct 5, 2014

Boggen:

Your basic assumptions regarding my choice to retrofit, rather than trade my tractor are seemingly based upon several false premises:

Costs here in the Maritimes of Canada are much higher than would be the case in the "Good ole USA" For example international freight, customs taxes, border brokerage, local freight.

Tractors from sources, such as you suggest, Craigslist et al, from distant places, and in used condition have inherent risks of value, especially when they cannot be evaluated by a personal inspection at source. Buying a used tractor, sight unseen, is a long shot.

In a perfect world, certainly I would opt for a more modern, better equipped tractor at a lower cost. That is obviously what any sensible man would choose to do..but it is far from a perfect world.

I have the advantage of knowing what I own already..and that is a big plus.

My costs as expected, to retrofit my tractor are a bargain for what I need. It will be used almost entirely for blowing the darned snow off my crushed stone driveway. Plowing the snow is not an option here, because it leaves huge snowbanks that cannot be shifted once they freeze in place, and because plowing destroys the driveway in periods of thaw. I have reviewed all my options quite thoroughly in my circumstances. My decision to retrofit is fully justified in the light of the here and now options I have.

The Kubota B7100D tractor, with the retrofit costs is not an investment, it is an expense of necessity. My total cost for the tractor itself plus the retrofit, will be below replacement cost in this local economy. That means, to speak bluntly, that it was my best option within my fixed income budget. Not the ideal solution, no. The best ad most practical, Yes.

I take your issues for what they are worth. My local vantage point is both more accurate and clearer than evidently your more distant view is. Your perspectives are appreciated, but are not germane to my local circumstances..and to the difference attributable to exchange rates between Canadian and US dollars. Pax vobiscum, friend.

I have done ALL my homework. Go and do thou likewise.

dntfxr · Oct 6, 2014

Sounds like a cool project. The b7100 is a tough little tractor, yours will be unique for sure. I'd definitely set the wheels as wide as possible for stability. Post some pics as it progresses.

jix · Oct 7, 2014

Greeting, DNTFXR:

Wheels are set to max width, Minus one inch for Solidity at the Hub, that is a good point,though. My land is dead level. The only area of concern is a drop off along my driveway, where there is a drainage ditch. That edge has big logs along it so as to give guidance in the snowblowing operation, and is well marked with orange lane posts. Nevertheless the cab is ROPS equipped, just in case. I wish that I could find some rear tire chains to fit. They are so expensive..and scarce in the correct size. I have been thinking about ice studs into the AG tread lugs, but would prefer some chains in size 8-16, double cross linked. The danger is sliding sideways jnto the ditch if I get too close while I am clearing out the mailbox area where the government highway plow always pushes a big berm over the main highway ditch adjacent to that ditch The government plow diver travels at 40 mph without regard for mailboxes, etc.

The mail driver will not swing into the driveway either, so if the mailbox is not as close to the highway shoulder as possible where he can reach it from inside his car, he will not leave the mail, so I have to try to keep the snow berm shifted.

The government people are not in the slightest concerned about homeowner problems with snow or mail, of course. They just suck their teeth. It is not only a big PIA, but creates a dangerous situation. It is 40 miles to go to the post office, so what is a man gonna do who wants his mail?
Our highway edges have usually got 5 feet Deep snowbanks by midwinter..and sometimes, more than that. Every driveway access has additiuonal piles at the corners too, so all the driveway entrys become blind corners..and the highway is narrow and has a 50 mph speed limit, which everyone exceeds. In slippery road conditions, this is a major safety issue...Which the government tries (successfully) to ignore, because the solution costs money and time...and the roads have got to be plowed at least twice every snowstorm..so out I go with my tractor and blower and clear it..again and again.

Yep, I need some chains..and a lot of good luck out on the mailbox area. I stay the ***

* away from it if the government plow is expected. If that great big 40- ton highway plow truck hits my tractor at 40 mph ROPS nor chains will make little difference.

One of my neighbors got so fed up replacing his crumpled mailbox that he sank a six-foot steel post filled with rebar and concrete into the ground to block the plow from coming so close. He put a big red reflector post on it that struck up about 5 feet.

The plow hit it anyways, at 40 MPH.

He got charged and sued for the cost to fix the plow and the truck, and he had to remove the post.

The government plow guy got 12 days sick pay becoz he got a broken thumb when he hit the post.

It will take a .50 Cal machine gun to deal with the plow guys, I think. Something has gotta give. All I can do is shake my grey old head..and tractor on..with mebbe, some chains. Shucks.:cool2:

Egon · Oct 7, 2014

Consider making your own chains. Still not cheap though.

doxford jim · Oct 7, 2014

I had a similar situation regarding snow plow drivers. I had lived on my property for seven years or so with no major hassle with excessive snow thrown into my driveway entrance. Then one year, for no apparent reason, snow was three feet deep at the entrance gate - set back some fifty feet from the highway (I live on a major highway). I took exception to this as I had to be taken to hospital one night, by ambulance, in the middle of January the previous year. Had my driveway been blocked with 3' of snow the emergency vehicles would never have been able to reach me - my house is set back 1/4 mile from the front gate.

I ended up writing and complaining about the sudden depth of snow for no reason and brought attention to emergency vehicles (fire, ambulance and police) not being able to access in the event of a major situation. Copies of the letters were sent to the highway maintenance company. local MLA and the provincial minister of transport. It got their attention and I had several telephone calls from management and also a personal visit from the area manager for dept. of highways.

I let them know that as a pensioner who made an effort to keep the property entrance clear, that I did not appreciate having the entrance blocked by careless snow plow truck drivers. I asked a simple question - who would pay for a replacement house if mine burnt down due to fire trucks being unable to access the property due to snow dumping? It got the attention I needed and there have been no more "huge" dumps of snow.

Safety is a big factor for everyone - not just highway traffic.