who invented this?

Didn't they ever hear of heat loss? Doesn't do the decal any good either. The cab was made in Inno's back yard, so we'll blame him....

It's for when it's -30°C and it's too damn warm in the cab 'cause we're not a bunch of wussies up here!

No excuses. Poor design and field testing... it is looking and feeling alot like Ontario here. She will need a refill by the time this is over, and calling for more later in the week... and all coming from the south, to add insult to injury eh?
Hey I'm tough! I cleaned the inerds of the engine this morning. Outside, in the snow, while it is snowing, in a tub of gasoline up to my elbows.. OK, then I took the stuff inside to mike it, but I coulda done it outside! Just didn't want to get snow in the micrometers.. trouble is... I don't know how to mike a camshaft!!! How can ya tell a good one from a bad? Looks OK to me....

Without meaning to insult or start a war, and this is only a personal obsevation of mine as I have travelled through 35 states, You lot don't put too much emphasis into aftermarket cab design or looks! Maybe you never needed them as much as we did, but European designers did think about how the cab would look and work on the tractor....Here are some examples....Another thing we had an opening service flap in our bonnets(hoods!) to fill the diesel and coolant

MF offered this Scirrocco flexi-cab as an after market safety cab for farmers looking a cheap cab where the panels could be easily removed...5 mins would strip all the cladding leaving only the windscreen and safety
frame.
GKN Sankey cab built for MF compact range

Danish built Sekura safety cab on a 135...one of the best looking!

Duncan of Scotland on a 178 again a safety cab

MF offered this more expensive rigid cab to fit on the same safety frame as the flexi cab....Again made by Scirrocco

Back in 1970 when safety cab law was enforced, many tractor fenders had suffered the ravages of the metal worm, Lambourne offed this cheap alternative of a canvas cab with integral fenders....not real pretty!

Not quite sure who built this cab as it was before my time but it was used quite a lot on little fergies. Non safety cab

Cabcraft made this cab for MF, Again a safety and quiet cab. This cab is similar to the cabcraft on the 135 below but it is permanantly fitted and not QD.

Winsom weather cab on an MF35. this was a popular little lightweight cab in the early 60s

In 1964/65 MF offered their first aftermarket cab for the 100 range. built by Duplex it was made of fibre-glass on a lightweight metal frame and not a safety cab.

Victor Stormguard for a Ferguson, again just a weather cab from the '60s

Cabcraft on a 135 QD (Quick detach, the whole top half of the cab unbolted at the top of the fenders and below the windscreen)

Sta-Dri on an industrial 35 (See Tony for the colour code!) This cab was a bit small and cramped and although there were plenty sold back in the early 60s they were not all that popular with drivers. We had a 3 penny coin at the time with 12 edges(not round!) we called it the thrupenny bit and this cab got called the thrupenny bit cab because of its angular shape!
Sam

Wow Sam, that is an impressive collection of cab photos. Now I'm wishing I had a cab for my 202......Canadian made, UK or US made, ugly, pretty, I don't really care!
Tony, not sure on miking a cam shaft, it would seem to me though that to properly measure lift and duration etc. that's something best done by a machinist. Not sayin' you can't do it.....

Thanks for the cab photos Sam. The owner of the 165 has a full set of MF 100 series tractors with the fibreglass cabs. The 135 with the flexicab brings back memories, known in the tractor trade as the fertilizer bag cab. MJ

Quite a variety!

In my opinion all of those cabs except the cabcraft on the 240 look like complete afterthoughts, one of the perils of putting a cab on a tractor that wasn't designed to have a cab.

the Duplex on the 165 takes the cake though, built AROUND the loader arms.

I agree with you, 495man, they were nearly all built by
independant businesses and the truth is , they built these very
same cabs for nearly every make of tractor, and not just MFs. So
they had big problems getting everything to fit. In the case of the
MF cab ....Loader technology was not prepared in 1965 for the
fitment of cabs...It was not until 1970 that tha loader was moved
forwards about 6 inches to accomodate the cab, So the cab
maker/designer had to incorporate this into their plans. Another
point to remember was when the sun came out no-one wanted a
cab so they all had to be made with quick detach panels. Mostly
the large arable farms in England fitted cabs to get more days
work out of their tractor drivers! We only needed cabs in Ireland
to keep us dry until we got home from the pub or when making
hay and the usual Haymaker shower appeared!!!
Sam

Hi Sam,
Some superb photos. For me the 165 is undoubtedley of the most interest.
Have you come across an MF frame fitted to a pre-1970 100 series tractor which does not have the mounting points cast into the gearbox casing?
As far as I am aware some 135's at least had them fitted. This would of course entail the use of a belly bracket and possibly different front legs. There is nothing in my parts book that indicates that this bracket existed. I wonder if a post 1970 frame was modified and individual brackets made. This raises all sorts of problems as far as safety regs are concerned.
Cheers and Happy New Year
DavidP

the Duplex on the 165 takes the cake though, built AROUND the loader arms.

Click to expand...

Strange thing is the Duplex cab was the original offical MF Cab.

The 188 is a really nice original tractor

Sure, pick on poor little Tony...
Tell the truth Sam, that blue is exactly like the blue on that 3165.... with Perkins gasoline AND Coventry Catherdal on the rear castings... so? perhaps UK made for State of New York? Using the same blue???? Agh the interesting things lost to history... well, maybe not....
Thank you for post all these different cabs... now I will quit complaining about mine.

The cab on the Royal Air Force Fergie was made by Scottish Aviation, they were very common on Fregies and I have also seen them on E27N Fordsons and Farmal BMD tractors when I used to live in the land of sleet and fog! You had to clamber in over the 3 point, I dont remember ours having doors
We had a 168 Massey new from Boston tractors in Holbeach, Lincs with the Flexi cladding cab as your first photo of the 135, you could roll side sheets along the engine sides to blow warm air, exhaust and Diesel fumes in to the cab when it was cold. We also had a 65 (ADO 815B) that had a Winsam cab, you had to remove the lower bart of the front screen to open the bonnet to fill with Diesel, I think it ended up in Scotland after trading that and the 168 in for a new Ford 6600 at Doubledays in 1978. Dont knock any of the cabs in your photos, you should see the things made over here, and the locally made front loaders would really make you chuckle, unless you are trying to change a starter motor or even Diesel filters!

I guess in this area of Canada, cabs were not really common on those era of tractors, no safety legislation etc, so we didn't really see that many cabbed tractors until they were "factory"

There must of been many, many more short line cab and loader brands in Europe as I doubt I could list more than 6 of each loader and cab companies that were commonly seen here.

I plowed snow and run snowblower open station tractors, I can certainly appreciate having a cab, but would hate it in the summer. I can't recall ever seeing a quick detach style cab here.

Any idea how much these cabs cost?

Aftermarket cabs weren't a huge industry in the USA, maybe all of North America, until the late 1960's. Even then it was mostly on the larger row crop tractors. AFAIK, Year-A-Round and Hiniker never made cabs for the smaller utility tractors. If they did, they didn't sell well.

It was kind of a brief window too. Only lasted until the mid 1970's when most companies had their own factory cabs.