Custom steel cab build for a 1450

[CC1450]

I've had my eyes out for a cab in decent condition for a while now. When I did see one I liked, it was either too far away or too much money, sometimes both. Having scoured the web researching cabs for these tractors I also happened upon many home built cabs so I decided to go that route too. After several design ideas and considerations for materials I kept coming back to a thread by a member here. I really liked his method of using the fenders as part of the framing so I went that same route. By building it off the fenders the whole cab can be removed, and I just so happen to have spare wide frame fenders should I ever need to take the cab off.

This thread will be used to document my progress and expenses. Thus far I have just shy of 280 dollars into it, 113 of that going for tools and welding supplies with the rest spent on steel.

materials purchased as of this post:
four 24' long pieces of 1"x1" 16ga steel tubing
two 4'x8' sheets of 22ga steel sheet metal

materials I need to gather:
couple pieces of small angle iron (tractor supply)
safety glass for windshield
thick plexiglass for side and back windows
wiper motor (salvage yard van or SUV rear wiper for donor)
insulation sheets
vinyl and adhesive for interior upholstery
lighting/yellow strobe


So far I've got a good bit of hours in research, and one afternoon of work into the cab. Today I picked up the steel and a few tools I needed to begin the project. It should be mentioned that I am not a well seasoned metal worker and there has already been some trial and error along the way. I'm building this in my home garage with what I would consider ordinary tools. I'm using a cheap flux core wire welder and a sawzall. I have pretty limited experience welding and my welds are not pretty but they are holding well.

This afternoon I got the main framing cut and tacked together. The framing is welded to the fenders and is very rigid. The whole tractor will move around before it will flex so I feel I'm off to a good start. I made a couple sketches with measurements prior to getting started but had to make some revisions on the fly. I'm thinking for the sake of simplicity there will only be one door, on the right if you are seated on the tractor. Will save a little money on hardware too.

I've got a couple more bars to add to the roof framing yet, I ran out of steam for the night at about 10pm and called it good for the day. Here is what I have come up with so far.





The seat still flips up for battery access and the hood can be lifted without any interference from the framing. A lot of cabs I've seen have a flap or hinged panel that must be opened to access the hood, which I didn't care for.

With my current schedule I don't have a lot of free time to devote to this but I will update this thread when I've gotten some more of it done. The 1450 needs attention in some other areas as well to prepare for winter. I've got some new front tires and inner tubes on the way. A while back I replaced the failed original exhaust with a small thread-in muffler. Now that I'm installing a cab on it I will need to do something else to vent the exhaust away from the cab. I'm thinking either a stack or possibly a rear facing outlet. I had to sacrifice the ability to put the engine side panels on (which I never have had anyways) in order to install my framing the way I wanted. I'm probably going to make my own steel side panels instead. Thanks for looking! Thoughts and constructive criticisms welcomed.

[twoton]

Looks like you've made a great start, look forward to seeing your progress, Thanks.

[john hall]

Looks like an ambitious project! Looking good so far. Might I suggest for fabrication purposes that instead of plexiglass (acrylic) for the side and rear windows, that you consider polycarbonate (brand names such as Lexan, Hyzod). Acrylic breaks pretty easy. Its a real pain to saw and drill holes in. Polycarbonate is extremely forgiving, you can even put it in a press brake and bend it like sheet metal. It can be sawn easily with a circular or scroll saw. Likewise when you drill holes it will not shatter when the bit goes thru the other side.

[Yosemite Sam]

You could also check with your local glass/window repair business, I keep thinking that you can get windows in pre-made sizes with round corners and rubber gaskets to "set" them in.

Might also try a farm equipment salvage yard, there could be windows there that would be close enough to sizes that you need.

[olds45512]

If you have a local glass company they should be able to cut the glass for you if you take them the tractor or a cardboard template, I've done this before with tractor cabs.

[CC1450]

thank you for the input everyone I will definitely look into lexan for the side and rear windows. The front window will be safety glass as I intend to run a wiper on it.

There is a garden tractor salvage yard around here I've been meaning to check out. mostly green tractor stuff but I hear he has some old cubs too. I'd love to find a salvage yard locally that has some big tractors and equipment. I think I will look into that.

Made a little progress today but not as much as I had hoped. Welded a few more bars in place and went over the whole cab frame and welded all the joints. My mom stopped over to visit so that cut into my garage time a good bit. what can you do?

I was expecting my new front tires to arrive today so I spent a good 2 hours plus removing the front wheels. Went to tractor supply and bought a rattle can of primer and can of IH white to repaint the wheels. Must be the original bearings, suckers took an air hammer, chisels and small sledge to come off. ended up having to take the steering knuckle off the right side and pound the axle out with the rim on a couple small 4x4 boards. wish I thought of that before fighting with it for an hour! Smacked my left hand with a 3 pound sledge hammer pretty good too. Ouch. And of course, delivery for the tires was rescheduled for tomorrow when I wont have time to do anything with them. oh well.

also removed the seat, hood and lower grille housing today.

Saw that tractor supply sells IH colors by the gallon. Anyone use the magic tractor brand paint? any thoughts? Was thinking I'd pick up a gallon of yellow and white and a cheap paint gun from harbor freight and paint the cab/tractor myself. If that works out I can paint the whole thing for less than 100 bucks in supplies. Harbor freight sells an hvlp paint gun for like 15 bucks that has good reviews.

Tomorrow morning I should have a few hours or so to play with the project as well. I plan on making a simple sheet metal brake and bending up a few panels. I'll take a few pics when I'm through for the day.

[finsruskw]

Don't get the windshield too close to the steering wheel.
Your head will hit it when you bend over to release the brakes!

[CC1450]

I did manage to get a few things done yesterday morning. Made a simple sheet metal brake from a couple crusty old door hinges and some scraps of lumber and steel tube. its not pretty but it will put a nice straight bend on a sheet of steel.

lets cut some metal!


made a couple bends and cut 4 pieces of sheet steel to fit the framing. Remember when I said I have very little welding experience? Well yesterday was the first time I'd ever tried to weld sheet metal and there is definitely a learning curve. I burned a couple few holes in the sheeting trying to get my little welder dialed in just right. I finally found a wire feed speed I could work with without burning through. welded the 4 panels on, ended up running out of welding wire while tacking on the last panel. So this is where I left off.



she's not pretty right now but it's coming together. I plan on getting the cab assembled, then smoothing things out with some body filler as needed then I will paint the whole tractor.

My new front tires FINALLY arrived today, 2 days later than the tracking info said they'd arrive. Got carlisle ag tires. Hoping I can mount them myself, the sidewalls are really stiff. Need to get a set of wheel bearings and a couple new valve stems. I ordered tubes to put in the front tires, but the seller sent me the wrong size tubes. I'm going to return them and forget about tubing the fronts for the time being. Shouldn't need tubes with brand new rubber anyways. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm off work, hopefully I can make some good progress.

picked up another roll of welding wire and the harbor freight hvlp paint gun today on my way to work. got both for $30.81

I'm thinking about repowering this tractor or buying a rebuilt k321. I saw a brand new 14hp kohler for about 450 bucks and was thinking about calling them and seeing what they know about installing it into an old cub. The current engine has great compression but could use a new carb and ignition parts. It also eats some oil. Not sure yet but it would be nice to add a new engine and avoid fiddling with the old one out in the cold this winter....

[olds45512]

In my opinion I'd put the tin on with pop rivets, rivets are cheap and won't warp the metal.

[cubs-n-bxrs]

Not trying to beat up up but I would have welded angle iron brackets to the cab frame and then bolted it to the fender pan. Gonna be difficult to remove if you have to access the rear end for anything.