CAT D9H/D8K/D7G MODULAR CABS

[yellowiron]

Great pics.....I take it you have passed it on now?

Track layers are good at keeping the bank account at a low ebb, its a good job I have other business interests!

Got three D8's, one D6 and a D4 to do the cab change on, so plenty to do.

[bigkit]

I don't envy you there!

I've still got small dozers. I find on hire work upto a D5 is good pound for pound. Any larger you're in the risk business. Hire rates are too low for big tractors. One minute you're making a load of dough.................the next you need running gear a transmission or worse.......

I reckon D8's are like race horses, great fun and good to look at but leave them in someone else's stable, you never know when they're going to kick you!

[yellowiron]

D8's are more like Cart horses,they eat lots of oats, do loads of work and get large bills from the vet when they get old.

On price work, if you have a lot to do, their unbeatable. since 1984, I have only lost money on one job and that was purely down to the weather. Hire rates are'nt to bad, you have to work out what you and the tractors need to stay healthy and set the rates accordingly. Never had any customer complain about my rates.....Do you think £1.50 per hour is too little?

[tctractors]

Modular Cabins on 22A's might be the wrong route to go, the standard ROPS would be a lot easier way of going from soft cab to safety cab on these tractors, if the modular cabins are cheap enough you will need to chop out the front,floor possibly including seat also bits out of the sides, plus that big plate usualy needs 2 big holes drilling in it for the CCU linkage, I have done a few and found it to be a dead loss job with to much time spent on finding missing parts etc, even bigkit thought he had it all sorted, untill he tried to hook up the Air-Con drive to his water pump that had no drive from it, I sent him 1 (Water Pump) F.O.C. as he was heading towards a Tree with a bit of rope after all the agro he had fitting his cabin. tctractors

[yellowiron]

TC, When you say 'ROPS' are you talking about just the ROPS frame like this? or this type?
The first one is what I have.

[tctractors]

Yellowiron, the 3 cabins in your snaps are firstly Modular (Enclosed Roll Over Protection EROP's) this includes the seat and control panel with pendant brake peddles (hanging down like a D8K) the next snap is a Weather Cab that keeps Bird Shit off the seat and rattles about like a stone in a tin can, the final picture is of a ROP's open frame that is not common in the U.K. this frame can be enclosed to make it look just like a Weather Cab with usualy straight sides and a forward sloping front just like the Westlode Cabs built by Leverton's in Westload Street, the massive frame construction with the heavy front inverted L shaped brackets that your tractors will most probably "Not" be drilled and threaded for in the main frame can stand the whack of a turn over, those frame bolt locations are a pig and a half to overcome by the way, please don't ask me how I know as it makes me sick to think about it, plus the massive plate at the back that is common to both hard cabs as are the L brackets, the bolting up of this plate can be an eye watering few hours, its even harder to remove if you have a Kelley shank on the back of the tractor with a stuffed engine, this plate can be a brute for the weak willed to deal with, anything on a D8 or D9 with the words can you fit a Mo' is enough to get me in my chariot and up the road fast, as there is always a drama finding all the bits that they know they have some place, then there is all the bits that they didn't know about, so Cab's for me are best left in the corner of the Yard, if you need any verbal help or encouragement with this upgrade to your D8's I am your Man, I am also the Man that has never made any money fitting a Modular Cabin, it looks easy and it is easy if you strip off the cabin getting all the parts from the source tractor.
tctractors

[bigkit]

I concur with everything you say TC! It's a bitch of a job with all the bits and a positive attitude!!! My advice, for the older tractors that don't have the mounting points and pre drilled bolt holes is to buy a Westlode rain cover and fab it up to look just like the EROPS. The Westlode is a good start I had one and most agents etc wouldn't know the difference. Don't go scrambling with it tho'

[yellowiron]

Determination will overcome all, tis only lumps of metal.

[tctractors]

The way to tackle the Modular Cab to fit a 22A is realy to cut the modular bit out, it seems sad to destroy a good and usualy expensive structure in this way? there is another style of Cab that is well worth looking at for ideas on how to Fab' up from scratch a ROPS, this is the Fitzwise Cab, the D8H at Sibertoft is sporting 1, they don't look the most exciting Foul House to live in but once in the seat they soon rate as a cracking spot to park your backside, these cabs were built by Fitzwise Plant (Chesterfield) to get a few more years out of their tractors, they are well engineered totaly in house built including the L (Hell) brackets that make up the front mounts, this D8H is coming to the Welland Steam Show I am also taking my toys D8K and 951B, the K' is still in "Open Tourer" setup although it has a ROPS, after the Show the toys have to perform on a largish Muck Shift to make a Transport Yard 3 times the size with earth bunding and reduced dig after site strip, sadly it looks like I have to do it (as I insisted) anyhow I am always on the lookout for gems and yesterday I spotted 1 while looking at a D8 Disc style sprocket in some old ram-shackle built sheds, it's a D8H Bonnet (Hood) in as new condition snoozing sideways hanging on a couple of nails, I have yet to do a deal on the worn out sprocket, but the bonnet will clinch the Day.

tctractors

[bigkit]

What about the Brookhouse tested frame and fit the can around that Tony? (the one he's has approved for his pipelayers....its legal and safe!)