MT357H vs MT357HC

[PCABE5]

Just out of curiosity, is it a simple process of removing a couple of hinge pins to remove the doors?

Yes. It's a two person job though.

A few cons to doing that would be storage of the doors, don't run your HVAC with the doors off, and you're back to filling the cab with dust.

 

[Cycledude]

When driving through the woods or brush the biggest worry for me is the mirrors, lights and windshield wipers, fortunately so far I haven’t managed to damage anything.
Another big worry in the woods-brush is possible damage to the undercarriage hoses filters and who knows what else , because of that possibility I have a skid plate mounted to the loader frame to hopefully protect some of that stuff

 

[GSVette]

I would echo what Avenger has said about his cab. I have the 4155HC and my property ( which isn’t all that far from Avengers) is wooded and hilly. I bash through the limbs pretty frequently when mowing and have yet to scratch/damage a window. I have more than a few scratches on the hood and a few on the mirrors but it is a working tractor after all.

I wouldn’t be without a cab for anything. Keeping the dust, grit and pollen out when mowing is just one of the great benefits-watching a swarm of bald face hornets beat themselves silly on the windshield glass after you disturbed a nest is probably the greatest .

I have been limbing (and chipping) the pines in the areas I mow most frequently-not so much to protect the tractor as to reduce my mowing time and make the mowing job look more ‘finished’

You’ll likely never regret a cab. At least for me it makes getting in/out easier as I have more ‘grab rails’- with my crappy knees, it is nice to have the additional grab points when getting in or out.

 

[Avenger]

PeteN,
I made a quick video last night, hopefully answering some of your questions about the cab. Also, take a spin though the rest of my content to get a better idea on how I use (abuse?) my tractor living and working in the woods. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[PeteN]

PeteN,
I made a quick video last night, hopefully answering some of your questions about the cab. Also, take a spin though the rest of my content to get a better idea on how I use (abuse?) my tractor living and working in the woods. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for the video. It did answer some of my questions. Your trees are a little "softer" than mine since I have have no conifers, just oaks, elms, maples and what is left of the ash trees. I'm off to the dealer tomorrow - he's got a cab and ROPs model to test drive. Your messages have helped me feel less leery of a cab since I originally believed I should get a ROPS. Another decision to make. I thought the R1 vs R4 tire decision was my last one.

 

[PeteN]

I went to the dealer today and drove a MT347H ROPS and MT357H cab model. I originally was on the ROPs path since some of my plans have involved work deep in a WI woods. I also do a lot of pasture cutting with a bush hog so that is also on my decision path. Unfortunately I really liked both. The HST on the 357H (S-HST) was smoother but the 347H was still very good with the most notable difference being in 3rd gear with the standard HST requiring more force on the pedals. Not that big of a deal. I didn't think I would like the cab but visibility is very good but you can't beat a tractor with no cab. As I expected, when the loader (or forks) was lifted to its highest point the non-cab version wins. In regards to sound quality, the non cab version was not objectionable compared to the cab. Actually the cab version "drummed" more between 1500 and 2000 rpm but at PTO speed the cab version was definitely the winner. I thought I had turned on the AC in the cab but only turned on the fan. You'll cook in the cab without AC (dealer pointed out that I didn't have the AC engaged during the test drive). Tried out the other features of the cab vs non-cab models (e.g Pedal Link) and like some have stated those features are not that big of a deal. I did a lot of measurements and the one thing that stood out vs other manufacturers is the loader lift height. If you have forks on the front don't expect any more than 84" of lift height. I have pallet racking in my shed so that is a consideration. Also the full dump height at the bottom of the bucket is lower than other competitive models. This may be a consideration when buying an LS tractor. Note that the ROPS when it is up is actually taller than the cab. Still can't get the cab in my 84" garage door (Cab is 90" high) but the ROPs can be folded down to fit . Good thing I have a 120" door on my shed.

Bottom line for me is that either would work but I'm tending to drift towards the cab model (thanks Avenger) only because of slightly cool winters in WI. I might actually use a tractor during the winter! Also, it is the only MT357 version available. Bad news is that prices have gone up significantly since Oct 1. At least $2000. Ridiculous. Dealer has bumped the prices I was quoted a week ago. I'll have a discussion with the dealer next week on buy or not next week. I'm not in a need to have basis so we'll see what happens. Still have the Kubota & Branson options available.

Update; Dealer is sticking with the price increase which has come down from LS and blame it on an increase in shipping costs (they are stating shipping container costs have gone up by 4X). Any tractor delivered after Oct 1 is stuck with some sort of surcharge. The tractor I was looking at was put together and ordered before Oct 1 but they are going on when it was delivered to the dealer. Could have save a few thousand if I had ordered earlier. Now I can save $35k+ unless I buy an orange tractor.

 

[PCABE5]

Loader lift height is less than the competition. Same frame size in the JD 4R, Massey 2860M, Kubota L60 all have 10-12 inches more lift than LS. The competition also has longer reach on their loader. If you need to lift items more than 7 feet you're going to have to go with a different brand. That's about the only thing I don't care for on my MT357.

Tell your dealer you want the New Holland loader.

Edit:. 4106 loader height with bucket level is 83" the competition is 84" with bucket dumped and that makes the lift height difference closer to 20".

 

[PeteN]

Forgot to mention a little trouble I had with the cab model. Jumped in, started it up, and turned on the AC knobs since it was a little warm outside and hot inside the cab. Drove around and it didn't seem to get any cooler inside, in fact, when I popped open the windows it was cooler outside. Finished my test drive and was building up a good sweat when the dealer asked how it was going. I told him I didn't think the AC worked. First thing he asked was did I turn it on. Thought I did but then he mentioned I had to push the button in to turn it on. Ahh, there's the coolness. I think I fooled around with every other button on the tractor though.

Still not sure on the cab in my woods (dealer didn't recommend the cab if most of my use was in the woods) so today I'm going to drive around where I need to get to with my JD 2020 with some posts attached to the fenders mimicking the height of the cab. I think that will tell me how much trimming I would need to do if I got the cab model. The 2020 is actually wider and longer so, if it fits, the 357 shouldn't be a problem. Update: Did my drive through with the upright poles on my JD2020 mimicking a cab and didn't have any serious problems. The limbs I did hit needed to be trimmed anyway. I had more issues with the length of the tractor with the loader installed. Rarely have the FEL on this tractor so it is something to get used to. Must be fun with an FEL and backhoe.

Another thing I noted that was different cab vs ROPs was the cab model had a cloth seat vs. vinyl on the ROPS. Not sure why you would want a cloth seat on something that you're bound to get dirty with.

 

[PeteN]

Thanks for the valuable input. Never had a cabbed tractor so I'm just going by what I've experienced. When you are driving through tight areas and the branches are scrubbing on the side of the cab, doesn't it mark up the windows? I assume that all panels are glass - is that correct? I don't have many manicured trails to drive on and have been using a Polaris Ranger to get around in the woods which is much lower in height. I've got all kinds of witness marks on my Ranger cab from tree branches and it was the reason I went with a steel cab instead of plastic. You've got me thinking a little harder on the cab and like you stated, the LS cabs are not that much money compared to other makes and you get a few extra features besides the cab compared to the ROPS model. Just out of curiosity, is it a simple process of removing a couple of hinge pins to remove the doors? Another questions comes to mind with the cab. How good is the visibility in a upward plane when using, let's say forks on the front, to put an item into a position on pallet racking? Or is it so far forward that this is not an issue?

I did end up buying the cab LS MT357HC model a few weeks ago. Pretty much as expected since I've been mulling this over for months. Did some branch trimming so that is not as much of a problem as I thought with the cab height. 4WD is awesome. The R4s get better traction than I thought they would but I do note that this tractor is a rougher ride than I have with the 2WD JD 2020 with ag tires. May play around with tire pressures to see if that has any effect. Thanks for all the comments - they were very helpful. Now on to the implements to give this tractor more tasks to perform.

 

[Cycledude]

Congratulations on the Brandnew tractor !