Woodworker BX2370 Cab

When I bought my tractor in December a cab for snow blowing was in my plans. After this winter I’m not sure why I wanted a cab as we had more snow before I bought the tractor than after. Apparently buying a tractor and snow blower deflected all the snow to the south and east. The price of the Curtis hard or soft cabs sold by the dealer was higher than I was willing to pay and I was not impressed with the quality of the soft sided cabs on the internet. After looking at many different cabs I decided to build a wooden cab modeled on the Curtis Cab for BX2370s, http://www.curtisindustries.net/cab-system-for-kubota-bx70-1/, (pictures one & two). Unlike many of the owner built and aftermarket cabs, the Curtis Cab sets under and inside the ROPS. This means the cab can be almost a foot shorter for more clearance around trees and have a smaller volume for heating.
The cab is built as five separate panels; front, back, top, and two doors. When installed the top interlocks on the front and back and only needs to be held down. The back is securely fastened to the ROPS at four points and the front is fastened to the floor on each side.
The frames for each panel are mostly of 1x2 maple or poplar with a skin of ¼ inch plywood. The plywood is subflooring that is normally used over chipboard subflooring to provide a smooth surface for installation of a finished floor. The ¼ plywood subflooring is five ply with no voids so it is much better than other ¼ plywood except Baltic plywood. For a while my supply of ¼ plywood subflooring was made in China, the plywood for the tractor was again from the US and is of higher quality.
The frames were assembled with pocket hole screws (picture three) and glue. With the pocket holes it is easy to assemble flat square frames. The plywood skin in then glued to the frames. The pocket hole frames covered by plywood makes the panels rigid, strong, and flat.

Front Panel
Each side of the front panel (pictures 1) is a laminated 2x3 made of two 1x3s. The 2x3s are mitered at an 8 degree angle to slope the windshield back. The laminated 2x3s provide extra strength and support for the window and rigidity to the front frame which only has a connection to the tractor at the floor. Picture two shows the plywood skin installed and picture three shows the completed front panel. To connect to the tractor floor I removed the bolt from the front of the floor and the stickers from the holes 2 inches outside of the bolts. I bolted a 4 inch piece of 2x2 angle (picture 4) to each side of the floor. The angle iron provided a vertical surface to attach the front panel and moves the attachment surface back one inch so the front panel is to the rear of the engine hood. The ¾ inch angle iron and wood block above the 2 inch angle are to strengthen the steel to wood support.

Rear Panel
It was a lot easier to connect the vertical frame members with the plywood while assembling the mitered corners around the ROPS. Therefore the plywood is integral to the rear frame. Like the front panel each side of the rear panel is a 2x3 laminated from two 1x3s. The laminated 2x3s in the rear panel provide extra strength for supporting the doors. The rear panel (picture 1-3) is attached to the ROPS near the bottom with a square u-bolt on each side (picture 4). For an upper attachment I removed the “ROPS knob bolts” and installed 50mm long 10 – 1.25 bolts through the rear panel and into the ROPS bolt holes (picture 5). The bolts are sized and have spacers so the bolts tightly bottom in the “ROPS knob bolt” holes the same as the “ROPS knob bolts” are designed to do.

Top Panel
The top panel has an interlocking fit with the front and rear panels. Door headers on each side of the top provide the spacing between the front and rear panels. The rear frame of the roof tightly holds the rear panel against the door headers and blocks in the front hold the front panel against the door headers. The roof extends four inches over the front panel to provide some drip protection to the windshield and flood lights. A one and a half inch radius crown was built into the roof to help drain the water as the snow melts (picture 1).

Doors
With the front, back, and top assembled on the tractor and the plywood for the door panels clamped in place; the top and sides of the doors were outlined from the inside. The doors were cut out one half inch larger than the outlines. The framing and windows were drawn on the plywood (picture 2). It was easy to adjust the angle of the miter cuts to make the framing exactly match the pattern on the plywood as the frames were cut out and assembled (picture 3). Next the windows were cut out of the plywood and then the plywood was glued and screwed to the frames. The door hinges allow the doors to lift off (picture 4). The latches are RV tool box latches with knobs included for inside opening (picture 5). Picture six is the inside of door latch and the door storage bins.

Completed Cab without Hardware or Windows
The entire cab stacked on the saw table (picture 1). The plan was for easy storage if the entire cab is removed for the summer (not determined yet). The cab assembled on the tractor with one completed door clamped in place (picture 2).
Windows
The windshield is ¼ inch tempered glass held in place by a one piece window gasket, http://www.trimlok.com/prod/One-Pie...ets/All-Product-Categories_136/LK1536_56.aspx the gasket fits over the ¼ inch plywood and locks the glass in place (picture 3). All other widows are 1/8 inch plastic presently held in place with double sided tape. When the cab is finished this summer the plastic windows will be put in with silicon caulk.
Windshield Wiper
A 16 inch wiper and motor kit is from TMC Industries, http://tmcin.com/modeltmc-0091101-1...aftandcomplete16wiperarmandblade.aspx.windows (picture 4).
Heater
The heater is a Maradyne 5030 (picture 5) connected into the cooling system bypass. I have the screen panel under the instrument panel covered and weather stripping around the front cab panel. The openings in the floor, fenders and cracks around the cab are not weather stripped or sealed in anyway. The only time I have used the cab so far it was 20 degrees and I took off my hat, jacket, and gloves.

Electrical and Instrumentation
The electrical is not complete and also temporary (picture 1), I will explain the electrical wiring when I update the progress this summer. The screen is a backup camera (picture 2 & 3). I use the rear blade a lot around the house and garage to drag the snow away so I can blow it away from the house and garage. The cameras are really cheap, $40, for how well they work. No point in getting out of a warm cab to adjust the up down angle on the chute (picture 4).

Finishing and Painting
I didn’t plan on finishing or using the cab this winter, but when the panels were complete I decided to apply the epoxy for weather proofing, install the windshield and wiper, install the heater, tape in the rest of the windows, mount the hinges, and try it out. The experience will help with any modifications when I complete and paint the cab this summer. The rich red mahogany color of the cab in the pictures is from the 25 year old epoxy hardener. The hardener must have absorbed rust from the can and turned red. This summer the cab will be painted orange and rewired, pictures will follow.
The design of the wooden cab modeled on the Curtis Cab was pretty much based on my ideas and woodworking experience. A lot ideas for the details and components came from the many threads of others who built, installed, modified their own cabs and then posted there experience.

Thanks Lil Foot & Shaun
I am a lot better with a saw, screws, and glue than with a torch and welding rod.

I forgot to post the finished pictures from September, and since I am now part of a cab sticky an update is overdue. In orange it looks a lot better than the unfinished epoxy. I built the cab to be easily removable, but as others have found taking the doors off for summer works better than finding a place to store the cab. Besides in Michigan it’s always good to be ready for rain or sudden a cold snap.
Except for the orange paint the exterior is the same.

And one picture dressed for winter.

In the interior you can see the storage bins in the doors and the plastic pipe storage for when the doors are off. Overhead in the interior is the wiper motor, electrical panel and rear view camera. The camera worked good until it fogged over, and for the low price I will probably replace it before next winter. The plastic pipe at the bottom of the windshield has slots cut with my table saw to provide defogging of the windshield. Once last winter I had to shut the heater vents to force more air to the windshield for defogging. After about five minutes I opened the vents back up. Often I had to close the heater vents or shut off the fan to keep from getting to warm.

Tooljunkie said:

My camera fogged up too, i took it apart , dried it and sealed it with silicone. The housing that held lens cracked if i recall. Was like that from new. Hasnt fogged in 2 years.

Awesome job on cab.

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Thanks TJ, and I will try drying out the camera.

aeronutt said:

As an avid woodworker myself, I always appreciate seeing a practical application for wood skills. I can't argue with success and that turned out very well. You got to customize it to your exact needs too. I like the arch on top to encourage rain to run off. That's a trick my grandfather used many times when he built toppers for his pickups using similar techniques. Now you got me thinking, I might be tempted to use some of that scrap walnut and cherry lumber I've got laying around to build a similar cab on my Farmall M. Except I don't like using pocket hole screws so I'll have to do mortise and tenon joints. You know, just for something to do...

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I have a friend who thinks like you. I built a small built in bookcase for my wife, something like 30' long by 11' high with another couple of 6' sections on another wall. The bottom 3' is full extension drawers with book matched quarter sawn oak fronts. His only comment was I would have hand sawed the dovetails for the drawers. There were 30 drawers to build and I am retired. I love woodworking, but priorities are priorities and when you live on a trout stream in northern Michigan there comes a time to go fly fishing and bird hunting.