Can someone please explain to me why broken cab glass seems to be the norm? I'm no operator, but am I wrong in thinking I could operate any piece of equipment through its entire life without breaking a single pane of glass? Or is it the fact that most equipment is with cabs now days? Is it carelessness? Idiocy? High production individuals? Help me out here. Don't even get me started on the price of glass from manufacturers. They are making it just special enough to NOT be able to get it cut locally. Special tinting, brackets mounted to the glass, and my very favorite thing..........bonded to the dam steel of the cab to make it almost impossible for the average joe to install. Or..................................................Am I just one of the old curmudgeon mechanics that likes to bitch about dumb s*&t? It ok to call me that, just be respectful. LOL
How about broken out defrost/heating vents? whats going on there? Some people could break an anvil with a feather.
Most of the breakage issue falls under the heading of "It ain't mine, who gives a ****". Just the general quality of the work force these days. People who own stuff generally take lots better care of their stuff. And yes prices suck as well as the general state of society in general. Signed, fellow cranky curmudgeon.
Well I have broke a few panes over the years. Don't think of myself as an abusive operator and damn sure care about the equipment and cost. Once busted the front windshield of our 953C in a chert pit. I was clearing the small pines and hardwoods in advance of the loading wall. It was winter time facing the low winter time sun. Didn't see the small pine until it sprung out of the pile I was pushing and smacked the glass. Put a piece of #4 rebar through the small piece of center glass on our D5GXL, sounded like a gunshot. I was pushing concrete demo off at a dump, it was misting rain and there was a little fog on the inside of the glass. Didn't see the piece of rebar spring out of the mess until it poked a hole in the glass. Both times the argument could be made I should've waited for optimum circumstances but both times we needed to keep the jobs moving. Cracked a few excavator windshields and busted a couple Bobcat front doors over the years as well.
And yes prices suck as well as the general state of society in general.
Depends on usage. Trees and demo work are asking for broken glass. Broke the bottom glass out of excavator tracking backwards while watching clearance to what I didn't want to demo. Little piece of rebar caught in track and came around and broke bottom window. Got top 2 windows later when a tree came off the top of a pile. Employee got a couple cab windows on tlb with small trees.
Dam, I guess I'm THAT guy then! The construction company is losing cab door glass on skid loaders weekly. I just don't get that. I have seen 2 torn off at the hinges. Every single machine they own has vent louvers broken.......I keep a sack of new ones at their shop.
Give them a ball bearing, send them out into the woods and they'll be back with parts in 15 minutes.
Bingo!
Wow. LOL- we're not that bad.
Operators are operating the skid steers with the door open. If the interlock is operating, they are putting a steel shim on the prox sensor to allow operation. (at least that works on deere units)
Volvo rocker switches. They put their feet on the dash of the loaders. Yes heater vents. Our L45, has push buttons for functions on the joystick, and someone picked the rubbers off. Tell the young lads all the time, If the door does not lock open, close them. My co worker once set the concrete saw on the hood of my work truck, and I freaked. The response was, don't worry it's not your truck.
Or you unplug the wiper harness. I blew up a door on a 325G because the ground pin wasn't seated correctly in the connector.
If cat machines its the door not being latched right and pops open or they're putting a magnet on the sensor. (If Deere then it's a piece of steel on the sensor, as mentioned). See it all the time unfortunately ( I dislike glass work)
Boss asked why two trucks had three windshields replaced each during one winter. That's easy-those two jokers follow too close.
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I'm dreading the day my liebherr gets the windshield. Last I heard lower cab front glass was between 3 and 4 thousand. Its 3' tall and 9' long and its all got curved edges, not a flat pane. So you're stuck getting factory glass. Most everything else I have is flat panes, and the local glass guy will cut laminated safety glass for me. I prefer the laminated over tempered, tempered makes a huge mess in the cab when they go.
Can't find the picture but I saw where a guy had cut and glued 3 or 4 flat pieces to replicate the shape of the curve. Can't remember if he had a custom frame or not.
Most of the OEM glass is tempered safety glass that you can't just go to the glass shop and get replaced. My skid steer was at a guy's farm and they tried to claim the door glass just exploded on it's own. After 6 years it just exploded. Then they lied and said they replaced it with tempered glass and would pay half. No I ended up paying 100% and the glass was cut a little too small to boot. A glass shop suggested I put a small bead of silicone around the glass at the rubber seal so it couldn't move. Standard safety glass is nice because it can crack and still stay in 1 piece unlike tempered that shatters into a million little bits. The only good thing about is there are no razor sharp glass shards.
Flex A Fab can manufacture a bent windshield.
I lost my backhoe big window when it was open and I learned about pushing dead trees over. The limb shook itself off the tree and fell from 30-40 feet up, I hear BANG and have glass in my lap. Replaced with plexiglass.
I did a side window and one of the small lower windows in the door with plexiglass. One of the dumbest things I’ve done. All scratches and can never get it clean. Might see a glass man about it. The door one had been out so long, previous owner threw the seal out. Not sure where to start with that. Yes, I’ve used Nexus, didn’t do squat.
I just leave mine open, I may close it if I'm out in the cold doing something but that something would be plowing with the loader, not anything intricate with the hoe side.
If your in a land clearing situation, its very easy to break things, just get a nice vine maple to whip at it. Then there are bad people and kids that throw rocks too.
At the Deere ag dealer where I worked, one tech broke the windshield putting the roof back on a self propelled chopper after A/C repair. Big, big, curved and the top is wider to tip it forward to minimize dust collection. First and second replacements arrived cracked right down the middle. Box is labeled all four sides this end up......DO NOT ship FLAT. They broke one more before they succeeded. Customer not happy because because he was a week late starting corn chopping. He,s got a Claas now. Shop also had to buy a $100 tube of primer to activate the sealer that holds the glass in. Always leave a little on the frame; don’t be fussy and clean off all the old sealer, because it helps the new bead bond the windshield tight.
Depends on where and what work you’re doing. Going into the woods, I should be extremely careful. Pulling stumps, is a good way to see flying debris. Dead trees, branches getting flipped up, there are all kinds of hazards. Demoing a building, anything concrete, crap happens. Sometimes it’s just an accident, sometimes it’s the operator taking risks.