Skid Steer Door Frame Kit: Who Needs One and How It Works

A skid steer door frame kit is the mounting frame for machines that never came with a factory door. It mounts to your cab opening and gives a door proper hinge and latch points. Without it, an open-cab machine has nothing for a door to hang on. With it, that same machine can take one of our shatterproof polycarbonate doors. The kit is $599, and its additional shipping cost is already included in that price. Here is who needs one, who does not, and how it all goes together.

The Problem: A Machine With Nothing to Hang a Door On

Plenty of skid steers left the factory as open-cab machines. The ROPS is there, the roof is there, but the front opening is bare metal. No hinges. No latch plate. No frame built to hold a door.

Owners of those machines run into a wall when they go shopping for an enclosure. A door, any door, needs something solid to mount to. Big-box accessory stores answer that problem with a vinyl cover that flaps, fogs, and tears. OEM dealers often have no answer at all, especially on older models.

That is the gap the door frame kit fills. It adds the mounting structure your machine skipped at the factory. Once the frame is on, the cab opening works like it does on a machine that came with a factory door, and our door mounts to it.

Who Needs a Frame Kit, and Who Does Not

This is the easiest sorting question in our catalog. Walk out to your machine and look at the cab opening.

Most machines that came with a factory door only need the door. The old frame may stay while the OEM glass or beat-up old door comes off, but mounting varies by exact model. Some kits use existing factory points and others require drilling and bolting where the included instructions direct. Confirm your machine before starting; our installation guide covers the general process.

The frame kit is for the other machine. The one that has run open since the day it was built. Typical owners we hear from:

• The bare-ROPS buyer. Bought the machine used, open cab, and now wants to run it through winter without freezing.
• The older-machine owner. Runs a loader from an era when a cab door was a luxury option most buyers skipped.
• The upgrader. The machine does snow, brush, or barn work now, jobs it was not doing when an open cab seemed fine.

If any of that sounds like your machine, the frame kit is the missing piece between you and an enclosed cab.

How the Frame Kit Works With Our Doors

Think of it as a two-part job with a simple order of operations.

Step one: the frame. The kit mounts to your cab opening and creates the hinge and latch points a door needs. This is the structure your machine never got at the factory.

Step two: the door. With the frame in place, your machine takes a door the same way a factory-doored machine does. Our doors are CNC-cut, precision fit per make and model. The door is heavy-duty polycarbonate, the same shatterproof material from our hammer-test video, where owner Leighton smashes a hammer into our 1/2 inch thick CAT D door on camera, unedited.

Machines vary more at the cab opening than anywhere else, especially across older brands and open-cab configurations. So before you order, call or text (800) 781-8000 with your make and model. We will confirm the frame kit fits your machine, match it to the right door, and walk you through what the install involves on your specific loader. The printed instructions for that exact configuration are the authority. Never cut, weld, or modify a certified ROPS or FOPS structure.

One more note for owners of older iron. We serve machines nobody else builds enclosures for, like the Case 1845C and the Case 1840. An old open-cab loader is not a dead end. Our guide on doors for older machines digs into that whole corner of the catalog.

What the Frame Kit Costs, and the Shipping Detail That Matters

The door frame kit is $599. Read the product title closely and you will see the part most companies would bury: the additional shipping cost is included in that price.

Here is why that matters. A frame kit is a big, heavy, awkward piece of freight. It costs more to ship than a typical accessory. Instead of quoting you $599 and then surprising you at checkout, we built that extra shipping cost into the listed price. The number you see on the page is the number you pay.

The doors themselves ship separately on our standard terms: UPS 3 Day Air, $150 flat, typically 3 business days (not guaranteed). We ship across the US and Canada. Our shipping guide covers the full timeline, including production time on made-to-order doors.

Rough math for a complete setup on an open-cab machine:

Add it up and a complete setup lands between $2,144 and $2,544 all in, depending on the door your machine takes. For example, a Bobcat M Series door runs $1,695. Compare that to what an enclosed-cab machine costs over an open one on the used market, and the math tends to settle itself. An enclosed cab lifts resale value the day you install it.

What Arrives With the Door

The frame kit handles the mounting structure. The door handles everything else, and it ships as a complete kit:

• The polycarbonate door, CNC-cut for your make and model
• Handle and locking latch with keys
• Hinges
• Weather seal gasket
• Every nut, bolt, and washer the install needs

Nothing to source at the hardware store, nothing sold separately that should have been in the box. The full rundown is in our guide on what comes with a skid steer door.

Frame kit contents are matched to the job, and the exact setup depends on your machine. When you call to confirm fit, we will tell you exactly what to expect in both boxes and what tools to have ready.

Why Bother Enclosing an Open-Cab Machine

Because an open cab costs you every single day you run it. Three things change the day the door goes on:

• Safety. A shatterproof polycarbonate door between you and flying debris, with protection superior to tempered glass. Brush, chains, hydraulic hose failures, kicked-up rock, the door catches what your face was catching before.
• Comfort. An enclosure helps regulate cab temperature. Add a cab heater and winter work stops being an endurance test. Operators who close up an open machine before snow season do not go back.
• Value. The enclosure lifts resale value immediately, and it keeps the machine earning in months it used to sit.

And the door that makes it possible is built to last. Every door carries our limited lifetime warranty against door failure or breakage: one free replacement for life for the original owner, under normal conditions. Hardware is covered for 3 months.

Before You Order: A Short Checklist

• Confirm your opening is bare. No hinge points, no latch plate means you need the frame kit. A factory frame means you can skip it.
• Read your make and model off the data plate. Doors are cut per model, so the model number drives everything.
• Call before you buy. (800) 781-8000, call or text. We will confirm the frame kit and door combination for your exact machine.
• Order the frame kit and door together. One order, one plan, frame first, then the door.
• Think about accessories while you are at it. Electric wiper kits, cab heaters, side window panels, and LED light bars all pair with a new enclosure, and winter is the season most open-cab owners are preparing for.

The Bottom Line

If your skid steer never came with a factory door, the door frame kit is what makes a real enclosure possible. It mounts to your cab opening, gives a door proper hinge and latch points, and costs $599 with its additional shipping cost already included in the price. Pair it with a CNC-cut polycarbonate door for your make and model, and a machine that has run open its whole life finally closes up warm, safe, and worth more.

Find your door in 30 seconds. Pick your machine’s make and model and see the exact door built for it: [Find Your Door]. Questions? Call or text (800) 781-8000, Mon–Fri 7am–4pm CST.