Tractor hours (how to interpret)?????

[PILOON]

A somewhat better solution is an electric hour meter that gets activated by the oil pressure switch (on tractors with electric oil pressure guages).

At least the engine needs to be operating for the hours to count.

Looking into tachometers for retrofitting for a friend, I that found that there exists a sensor that counts the pulses on an injector line.
That would make for a very accurate hour meter as well.
Found it somewhat pricy however for retrofitting on an older tractor.

[art]

There are the two types of systems although most newer tractors are using the electric type units activated by the ignition switch.

Old to new, the mechanical would show about 1/3rd less from what we have seen in the field.

The amount of hours to total has a lot to do with the initial build quality. Some makes will only go a few thousand hours on any style tach before repairs are needed. Others will go 10,000 hours, big or small makes no difference here! It does make a difference when purchasing and sometimes you might never get to know it until you have made the purchase.