Should I cab or not. Getting ready to buy

[scaredychicken]

espacef1fan - you made me chuckle

"That's why I don't buy tractors" - the comment is essentially right beside your profile which states "Shopping for a tractor". I love that contrast.

Have a great day, let us know what you buy.... this from a guy who waited 17 yrs to ultimately buy a tractor (but I love it now).

 

[espacef1fan]

espacef1fan - you made me chuckle

"That's why I don't buy tractors" - the comment is essentially right beside your profile which states "Shopping for a tractor". I love that contrast.

Have a great day, let us know what you buy.... this from a guy who waited 17 yrs to ultimately by a tractor (but I love it now).

I was being sarcastic to illustrate the folly of fearing proven technology.

 

[scaredychicken]

still made me laugh, but I agree, horses don't break down, I like simple technology

 

[wolc123]

i have a ac in my tractor, would not ever think of having another tractor without heat and ac. on cooler days i simply prop open the side windows and cab stays nice without ac. i owned a tractor with an open station, and after sucking in tons of dirt into my lungs after 14 years of operating it, i much prefer the cabbed unit

One of my problems with a cab on a tractor is that my full time job is inside an air conditioned factory. At the end of my workday, I really look forward to getting outside on my tractors.

You couldn't pay me to own one with an air conditioned cab. I may as well just stay at the office for more overtime. The pay would certainly be many times better.

Money ain't everything though, and my "outside" time is priceless.

 

[wolc123]

If I needed a/c and the one I had blinked out, I couldn't get another one fast enough.
Life is short (and getting shorter). I move toward comfort before the boned sickle holder comes.

Good luck with that. The one on my neighbors big 5 year old Case IH took a crap right before hay season. The local dealer needed $200 just for the farm call, not including parts and labor. I dont know if he ever got it fixed. His mechanic friend tried recharging it, but that only worked an hour, then it was back to working inside an oven again.

 

[finn1]

Same here. A cab ain't the right choice for many, which is why most CUT's dont have them. If you have one and your AC takes a crap in mid-summer, you would probably think twice before buying another. A canopy, by contrast, will always keep the sun off of you.

Not sure where you get the idea that most CUTS don’t have cabs. We have four Dealers in our general ares: Kubota, two Deere, Mahindra, and Kioti.

I rarely see an open station tractor on their lots. Probably less than ten or twenty percent of inventory.

 

[4570Man]

I didn’t used to be pro cab and for a tractor I’m still not a huge believer. But my mini x and skid steer both have them. And it’s a game changer. Not even so much for the ac in the sun but the dust and piling brush on fires. Keeping trees off your head isn’t bad either. At least most construction equipment has a pretty good FOPS. I broke the top out of a large tree and it fell on the trackhoe. The largest part missed but a 8” or so limb hit the roof.

 

[wolc123]

Not sure where you get the idea that most CUTS don’t have cabs. We have four Dealers in our general ares: Kubota, two Deere, Mahindra, and Kioti.

I rarely see an open station tractor on their lots. Probably less than ten or twenty percent of inventory.

Most likely, the current situation with an abundance of cab tractors that you are seeing, is due to the recent Covid pandemic. There is far less demand for cabbed CUT's, so they tend to sit longer on dealer lots.

I have a little bit of second hand experience with this. My father in law has been waiting nearly 6 months for a new, larger open station CUT Kubota to come in,, at his nearest dealer, up in Watertown NY.

He could have had a cabbed version months ago, had he been willing to settle for such thing. That would have been nice for his snow plowing work this winter, but it would never hold up to the woods work that he uses his tractor for, the rest of the year up there.

He also could have just kept the cabbed unit outside, and would not have needed the new barn that he is currently building. His current small CUT fits in a standard garage door with the rops folded down, but the new one will not.

The dealer had been practically begging him to turn in his old open station early because there is so much demand for them.

 

[Texasmark]

I am very close to buying my first tractor. One of the last decisions I need to make is if I should get the cab version or not. I currently live in FL and the endless summer is brutal and the AC seems inviting. Problem is I am moving to middle TN and not sure if the cab is needed as much there. I know it gets colder and I know there are seasons and it is something I have not experienced in 30 years.

I am a little worried about the cab height and how it might limit the places the tractor can go. I also know most of the time will be spent with the rotary cutter in the open areas. I don't think I will be crashing through the woods with the tractor but I don't want to limit to much where I can go. I guess I am in kinda a chicken / egg situation. I need a tractor but I am not sure exactly what I will be doing yet except mowing the open spaces. I would love to hear opinions.

Cab keeps your operator's station clean from dust, dirt, and rain...if you leave it out and keeps it away from you when you are working, especially doing things that create dust....most farm mowing-haying.
Cab protects you from both extreme seasons, feeding livestock in the winter.
Comes without saying that the AC and heater are priceless.
Cab is confinement of a sort but does come with 2 outside mirrors and a rear view inside on some which save you a lot of neck twisting, a lot of neck twisting and the older you get the more important that is.
Today's cab versions, vs myu 2007 6530 are much roomier inside and accommodate a 6'5" guy much better.
Cab makes access to the top of your tractor tranny-hyd-diff section a bit of a pain as you have to remove the floor mat and unscrew some panels...but it's do-able.
Cab comes with overhead lights front and rear. Very handy for night time working.
Cab lets you work in shorts and short sleeves without worrying about harmful effects of too much sunshine.
My 6530 is a cab version and the rest are open station. It's the largest and does the hardest work and haying. I do miss it on the smaller units.
ROPS bar and Cab aren't that far apart in height.
Cab costs more money.

 

[arrow]

Good luck with that. The one on my neighbors big 5 year old Case IH took a crap right before hay season. The local dealer needed $200 just for the farm call, not including parts and labor. I dont know if he ever got it fixed. His mechanic friend tried recharging it, but that only worked an hour, then it was back to working inside an oven again.

So be directed by the fear of the "unknown"? Oh, and the windows on these can open.
Your personal preferences are one thing but tell me what you'd want if you were cutting 200 acres of hay at a 101* temp outside and you had to do the same thing the next day and the day after that and so on.
Now I'm in the woods mostly with mine. Its major jobs are plowing snow and skidding logs out. I am constantly hopping off and on when skidding plus my woods are rather dense.
A cabbed tractor would not fit in my world as well as an open station. For others it would be the opposite.
But far be it from me to establish an overall reason why a "cabbed" tractor should be avoided with the reasons you gave.
Why don't you just use horses previously suggested because your tractor might break down.