Re: SIMS cab doesn\'t fit!
Well here it is several days later. Got the cab all assembled and installed. The first thing I will say is that this project is not for the non-mechanically inclined, SINCE SIMS SENDS NO DRAWINGS WHATSOEVER, with this cab. Everything landed in great shape, no shipping damage. Unpacked everything looking for an exploded view of the entire cab. No drawings at all in the box. At this time I was a little afraid to tackle this job. But with snow on the way in a few days, I decided to plod forward. First two pieces I took out of the box were the two lower side panels. Sims says to align the holes with the holes in the floorboard of the CK20. Well, holes didn't align at all with the pre-drilled holes in the floorboard. Spent several hours looking at these pieces to try and figure out how in the heck these holes were supposed to align. No matter how I set the pieces in place, their pre-drilled holes came no-where in line with the Kioti pre-drilled holesSo reluctantly I got the drill out and made four new holes in my brand new Kioti floorboard. Ugh! Then, no where in the instructions did it say or show how to install the rubber seal in these panels before mounting the side panels in place. Now I could go on and on but will not at this point because it would be a book. Suffice it to say, if you get a SIMS cab from cabdepot for your CK20, good luck putting it together with no drawings to guide you. I still have two pieces left over that I don't know where they go. Today Jay from cabdepot was supposed to call me and tell me where they go. It is now 3:30 p.m. and no phone call. One piece that I couldn't figure out where it went was a black piece of iron bent at 90 deg. with four holes in it. That is the piece you use to move the quick disconnect housing that is mounted to the FL frame. You remove the two bolts holding your hydraulic hoses to the Kioti frame, bolt this piece on, then move all the hoses to the outside of the cab and bolt your hydraulic hose bracket to this bracket. That way you don't do what I did and cut a piece out of the lower front cab piece to allow it to sit in place without obstructing the hoses. If anyone wants pictures of where this goes just send an email to
billam@net1plus.com. I'll take pictures and send them on to you. Now the pro and cons. The pros first, the packaging and shipping department at cabdepot must be given an attaboy for getting everything packaged so that nothing gets broken. They done a superb job there. The finish, paint, etc., is great. Although I wish the black metal parts were Kioti Orange. The design of the cab is good although I can find places for improvement. I'll mention them under "cons". Nice visibility all around the cab. Now the cons. No drawings is the major stumbling block. I spent at least four hours trying to figure out where the two lower side panels would mount since these panels are the major building blocks of the whole cab. You get these wrong and nothing will fit right. The lower panels need a complete re-design when it comes to the ROPS mounting holes. I ended us having to remove my ROPS brackets, cutting off the little braket that holds the locking pin for the ROPS, going to Home Depot and buying 16 huge flat washers and using them I was able to lift the ROPS brackets high enough off the tractor to align with the hole in the lower side panels of the sims cab. Now I'm sure OSHA would probably snarl at this for safety reasons but it is the only way I could get those panels to align with the holes drilled into the cab. Also I had to cut two pieces of black iron pipe and use them as shims between the lower panels and the ROPS brackets. Otherwise when you tighten the bolts down all you would do is pull the cab components together and bend the heck out of those lower panels. The windshield wiper motor DOES REQUIRE YOU RUN A SEPARATE GROUND WIRE to the small mounting bolt, or it will not work. The floorboard on the Kioti is mounted on rubber and hence will not provide a good enough ground for the wiper motor to work. Also, get some plumbers putty or 1/2 rubber washers ready for when you mount the roof. You'll need 8. Cabdepot doesn't provide rubber washers for when you mount the roof panel. Now how can that seal from the weather? Hmm. All in all, it took me 12 hours to mount this cab on my tractor. Now I am sure that with proper drawings that time would have been hours shorter. I ended up spending so much more time doing this job without a proper roadmap. Also, by not having drawings I ended up having to preasseemble so many parts on the tractor that by the time it came to tighten bolts some of the locations for holding the nuts while tightening the bolts made it so difficult that I ended up having to do alot more swearing than I normally would have. The location of some of these bolts is almost impossible to get at. So be forwarned. You've got a weekend project ahead of you. I was told by cabdepot that there is a priority in providing better instructions with drawings in the works. I think cabdepot wasn't quite ready to sell these cabs to end users to install. The bulk of their orders I'm sure is to dealers. But with the ability to sell over the internet to end users, they will need to provide better instructions concerning the assembly of all parts, including the curtains to plu holes etc. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the product, it is a good solid cab, is attractive, and will keep you out of the weather. I really wished that the black painted parts were Kioti Orange however. It would make the cab even more attractive. All parts align well with the lower panels and make for a nice fit, with the exception of the two lower panels of which I already mentioned the reasons they need re-design. Anyone wanting more instructions on how to put one of these together, I would suggest going to a dealer and noting where all the curtains go and specifically checking out how they mount the rear lower side panels to the ROPS brackets. You'll save yourself alot of time. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
