To CAB or NOT

[blacktruck]

I'll throw my $0.02 in here.
I can easily understand both sides of this argument having ran a lot of both types of machines. For me at the present time, I am a no cab type. I spend my days in an office driving a computer for days on end so the opportunity to get out of the office chair and into or onto a tractor or some type of equipment is more than just a change off scenery. I enjoy being outside and taking a bit of whatever is happening just to know that I am doing something I enjoy and not in some far away land. One of these days, i am sure I will get one with a cab, but not yet. I even enjoy moving snow when the opportunity arrives.

 

[Bison]

Hello again,

As I get closer to purchasing a new tractor, I am still struggling with getting a Cab. I have always been in an open station and feel a little enclosed when testing tractors with a Cab. I am 46 and not getting any younger (starting to feel it more). I want this next tractor purchase to hopefully be my last and payed off by the time I am 50. I dont think prices are ever going back down and if I put it off for another 5 years, and finally decide I need the Cab, it will probably be 70K + for one. I do a lot of burning in the cold rain and snow and bush-hogging, tilling and grading in the summer with lots of dust. I am starting to get tired of eating dust and being dirty/wet from head to toe. Probably answering my own question here while typing this. LOL

Anyway, how many of you on here have gone through a simliar situation/buying experience at this stage of life? Did you choose a Cab or did you stay open-station? This is going to be a big purchase and I dont want to do it again. I know I could get a canopy but that will just keep some rain off of me.

I have mostly pines that are around 20 feet tall now. Currently 4 acres open and 12 wooded but I am still clearing with the excavator and burning lots of brush piles. Will probably end up with 8 open and 8 wooded. I guess the biggest concern I have and hear from folks is hitting tree limbs and such while in the Cab. I feel like I am pretty observant and careful with operating but mistakes happen.

Any opinions/experience/similiar situations welcome.

Thanks

I drove open station tractors for the first 30 years of my life. After i experienced a cab i have only had cabbed tractors since, I am 74 now.No more wind wet or cold. Just keep your eyes peeled for branches when you're close to trees.

PS, if you feel your age already at 42 then maybe a rocking chair is a better buy for you.lol

 

[kthompson]

I am now 70. Living about 20 miles west of Myrtle Beach SC. So my northern friends will say how warm our winters are and I will say how cold they are. But how hot it is here is as much of an issue as how cold it gets. The rain. blowing sand, insects and more insects, I will take the cab. My last two tractors were/are cab. One large farming tractor JD and one a L6060 kubota. The L cab is much tighter than I would like, like the room of the JD 4000 series better but no side windows to open turned me off.

In addition to the weather and insects is spraying chemicals. Soon or later a hose will burst or pull off or such and even it that never happens just the wind drift will hit open cab. I still have two open cab tractors and use them. But give me the cab. And if you end up wanting to sell, cab will be easier to sell based upon my experience.

On a cab tractor especially be sure the front end is protected from limbs especially being in the woods and with a grapple. The coolers up front are several and costly.

 

[Paul McILwain]

Have two cabbed tractors and one os. Grew up with os tractor and still enjoy the open feeling however the os tractor rarely comes out in the winter. I sure like the cabbed tractor for all the reasons mentioned and will add one small plus for the cab. In haying season quite often I can’t get the hay delivered soon enough and have to store it in the shed leaving no room for two of the tractors. Don’t mind leaving the cabbed tractors out for a few days but the os tractor stays in out of the rain

 

[rcooley4]

I made this video for a friend of mine that was trying to make the same decision. It's now been several years since he bought his cab tractor and has been very happy with it!

 

[WinterDeere]

I made this video for a friend of mine that was trying to make the same decision. It's now been several years since he bought his cab tractor and has been very happy with it!

lol... love the "backup to my backup cold beer."

I suffer from the berries down the shirt and stained seat of my paints when mowing, as well. But I'm mowing with a zero turn.

 

[MROlson86]

I have both. My cab does not have A/C but fans for cooling and keeping the glass clear in cold weather. The cab is convenient for controls, lighting, FEL, strobe, front and rear lighting. And you do stay cleaner. Entering and exiting isn’t a problem.

 

[Zetorboy]

And an advantage of the cab is security, ijf you don’t have a roll bar on an open one.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I'm very thankful for my cab, with both a/c and heat. We get pretty extreme cold temps (most) in winters, but it also gets hot in summer. We are blessed with an expected operating range of -45F in winter (no windchill b.s.) and also +100F in summer (that's true ambient air temps, none of this lying "heat index" horse crap). Having the ability to change the temps of the operating station across that wide a temp range is a blessing. Not to mention keeping the bugs (both angry and benign), dust, pollen, rain, snow, ice at bay for extended periods of time.

When I was a boy, I grew up on a small farm in what has now been totally devoured by the city of Phoenix, AZ (it was farms in the 60's). Then, I had never even seen a cabbed tractor-anything. All we knew was open stations, so that's what we had. "Heat Index" hadn't been invented yet, so we just farmed that way because we didn't know any better. I don't think I saw my first cabbed tractor until a family trip to Missouri in the early 70's.

So I've certainly spent time on both kinds. I will gladly take my cabbed tractor now.

 

[bdhsfz6]

The cab is great in winter but, any other time when outside temps are 50 or higher I must run the a/c or I cook in the cab. I would not recommend a cab without ac.

I bought this cheap 12V fan for my Kubota cab:

12 Volt DC 2 Speed Dash Cab Fan KDF12 | DC Fans | Blowers & Fans | Electrical | www.surpluscenter.com

12 Volt DC 2 Speed Dash Cab Fan KDF12, DC Fans, 12 VDC CAB FAN Brand new, Two speed cab fan. Metal mounting base with swivel ball joint to positionKDF12 ,

www.surpluscenter.com

I made a mount that fits in the cup holder. With the windows open, it pulls in cooler outside air. It works well in temps up to 70F or so. Keeps me from having to use the A/C until it gets hot out.