Curtis Cab install

[Rick Prentice]

George Hibbs' 185 is finally getting the cab mounted. I found this Curtis Cab(equiped with wiper,heater,fan,strobe,back-ups, and some side and back curtains). This cab was setting in the weeds when I helped SteveB load his 1000 loader a couple years ago(thanks Steve). I'm taking step-by-step pictures of the install. All 4 corners need brkts made to adapt it to the 185. I'm not sure what it originally was on. I called Curtis with the serial/model and they said it was a universal one. The yellow curtains seem alittle long and don't match the wheel openings, but they'll trim down fine. Here's a series of pics from today.

Rick

[Rick Prentice]

2 more pics of the install.

The top pic is clamping a piece of steel to both the sides to center the cab between the fenders. It actually was the perfect width at the back. The bottom pic is just a side view of how the curtain hangs down and a view of the blower.

Rick

[Rick Prentice]

Pics 5 and 6.

Brkts needed to be made to attach the top to the fenders(roughly 7 inches tall). They bolt to the bottom of the top and also bolt to the fenders. A criss-cross brace was needed to stiffen the side movement. It's rock solid in the rear now.

Rick

[Rick Prentice]

Pics 7 and 8

More views of the back and with the guard installed.

[Rick Prentice]

Last 2 pics for today.

The first pic is the back curtain all trimmed up and ready to sew the edges. The bottom pic just shows the Curtis sticker. More pics tomorrow when George comes over and cracks the whip again

The plan is to get everything fitted, then sand the red down and paint the cab yellow. New plastic will be installed where needed.

Rick

[Rick Prentice]

Just some added information about the 185. George recently bought the creeper unit from 2cubs2cases. We had fun mounting that. I told George it looked like a couple hour job About 4 days later we had it mounted and working beautiful Now we need to attack George's other lo-boy(a super nice one) and swap the rear tires/chains and spacers to mount on this blower 185. We need to get this project done, there's a 6hp M ignitor stationary engine that wants to be in the warm garage. That's our next project

Rick

[Barnyard]

Looks good Rick. I think you and Gearge are having way too much fun.

[Rudi]

I really enjoy watching a master fabricator at play. Only thing better would be to watch him in person. And yeah, like Bill said.. way too much fun..

[Rick Prentice]

Thanks Rudi, but it's really just having the right tools to do the job. Here's a couple more pics of yesterday's small job. We trimmed the old canvas's to fit the openings better. New clear will be sewn in place. You can see the imaginary crank rod that'll enter the outward pocket already in place. This will allow room to crank the shoot around from right to left. Also the lower arrows point to where the front framework will go. We're figuring on also placing some clear to see out the lower fronts above the pedals. Today we bought the flatstock to make the frames. Too cold outside today(8degrees this morning) so I'll start a wood fire in the garage tomorrow.
Rick

[BigBill]

I have a SIMS cab which is made for the int154's and it bolts were the rear fenders attach and goes over and around the hood with rubber gaskets so its pretty much sealed. It also has windows all the way around it too. I have a 154 with the creeper which i'm thinking of looking for a two stage snowblower or building one for it. I also figure using a tractor trailer cab 12v electric heater and the cab already has signal lights, a top orange revolving lite and electric wipers. I been thinking/planning of adding a CB radio, am/fm radio and a defroster fan too. With all this 12v stuff i figure to change out the S/G to a geared starter and altenator. With all this work for the winter what about a coleman roof top air conditioner for mowing on those hot sweaty, sticky days?? It would be the envy of the hood when mowing with the air on when its 90+ degrees out.

Now my question is how good do these tractors work with snowblowers?? Is it worth all the work and trouble to do it?

[Rick Prentice]

George and I worked on the 185 some today. We used the old front corner brkts and decided to fab some 3/8x2" flatstock as the corner mounts. After all's said and done, the front corners will have some yellow vinyl with clear to form small windows ahead of the steps. We also cut some cardboard templates, then sheetmetal to install just below the main cab to finish things off. Should look ok after everything is painted and the vinyl installed. Getting closer

[Rick Prentice]

And 2 more pics of the corners made that wrap around the step area and temp' clamped into place. Tomorrow I'll weld the pieces together, then it's vinyl sewing time

[BigBill]

Looks good, its starting to come together now. I wonder if we cut a hole in the lower dash support were the tunnel is below the dashboard plastic and above the tunnel if we can get any heat from the engine with the cab sealed? It wouldn't take much to warm us up with the cab?

I heard from other owners who used the cabs we need to block off the foot rests too because the drafts go up our pant legs from the foot rests.

[Rick Prentice]

(equiped with wiper,heater,fan,strobe,back-ups, and some side and back curtains).

Bill, this cab has a nice heater installed in the upper right corner, along with a nice fan to blow across the windshield. I have a heater hose pump from a M/Benz to circulate the water from the lower rad neck, through the heater, and back to the upper neck. T'shirt plowing at it's finest


Rick

[BigBill]

Rick its got hot water heat from the engine thats awesome.

When i was a kid i worked in a lumber yard cabinet shop and we made a wooden frame using plywood and douglas fir 2x4's to inclose the forklift operators for the winter. We even put in plexiglass windows. The only heat they had was the engines heat but it wasn't too bad being outside the whole day on the coldest days as long as they had plenty of coffee. We just bolted the frames on with long carriage bolts thru the upper frame guard. We even had plywood doors with windows too. These would be easy to make for tractors.