Tractor modifications

   / Tractor modifications #1  

centex

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2002
Messages
432
Location
Lampasas, Texas
Tractor
JD 4700
I have been doing a lot of FEL work lately and have made a lot of unintended modifications to my tractor. The latest was to turn my hood into a pile of plastic chips after a rock fell on it. This just reminds me of why I have always hated plastic. With metal I could just drag out the body tools and with a little (realy a lot) of work I could have back to like new. With the plastic junk I have to buy a new hood. I rate plastic just below computers as the worst inventions of the past millenium.
 
   / Tractor modifications #2  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...have made a lot of unintended modifications to my tractor. )</font>

I hate to bring this up Don, but plastic or metal doesn't seem to be the real issue here. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif How in the world did you drop a rock on your hood? ...and if it had been a little further back, that rock might have been bouncing off of you. We could both argue the good and bad points of plastic vs. metal, but I think the real issue is keeping those rocks in your bucket and off your hood. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Having said that, how much do you think the repair will cost? I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Do you have tractor insurance? I'm sure my insurance would cover that kind of incident.
 
   / Tractor modifications
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I am digging about 500 yards of fill from a 12 foot high cliff. There is a layer of limestone boulders on the top that each weigh one to two tons so I am being very careful to not topple one of these on my tractor and me. Beneath the boulders is a layer of packed limestone shell and smaller rocks that is about 3 feet thick and below that is caliche with an occasional large rock mixed in. It is the layer of packed limestone shell and rocks that gets me. I have the loader raised high in the air and the debris lands on the tractor and me.

I am about half finished with this job but still have a long way to go. I am filling in around a washed out bridge. I had post about this project at the beginning of the summer and I will update it soon.

I have not priced a new hood but I expect it to cost around $350. I hope I am not being optimistic about the cost. I have insurance but I do not plan to use it for this. Insurance companies have way of getting any claims back and then some.
 
   / Tractor modifications #4  
Just my opinion, but plastic and electronics don't belong on tractors. They both mean more trouble and expense down the road. All plastic I have seen deteroiates/gets brittle with exposure to UV, heat, and chemicals. Some plastics are more resistant to the effects of UV , etc than others. I do emphasize the word "resistant" I don't know of any "proof" plastic on consumer equipment.
 
   / Tractor modifications #5  
Of course I can't see it, but from what you say about it. It sounds like you might be better off having someone with the right equipment do the job for you. Before you get killed or hurt real bad. Might be cheaper in the long run. Some times we think we can do something and get by with it. But then again sometimes it don't work out like we planned.
 
   / Tractor modifications #6  
"Just my opinion, but plastic and electronics don't belong on tractors."

Yours and many others, too! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
   / Tractor modifications #7  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( All plastic I have seen deteroiates/gets brittle with exposure to UV, heat, and chemicals. Some plastics are more resistant to the effects of UV , etc than others. I do emphasize the word "resistant" I don't know of any "proof" plastic on consumer equipment.


)</font>

Yeah, and steel rusts and paint fades. Use two tractors, one with steel body panels and one with plastic, and they will both look lousy after five years worth of hard work.

As for not liking computers, if you don't like them, remove everything in your life that uses a computer. Sell your car, all electronic equipment, the computer you used to complain about computers, and your cell phone. Heck, if you really want to be a pure computer hater, get rid of everything that was deisgned or sold with the use of computers, which is just about everything we use.

Computers are definately one of the top inventions of the 20th century. The work great in the office and great in my tractor.

Anthony
 
   / Tractor modifications #8  
<font color="blue"> I rate plastic just below computers as the worst inventions of the past millenium. </font>

Wow that's quite a statement, then why not trade your tractor in for a shovel & wheelbarrow and turn off your computer, that should solve both of your problems.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
   / Tractor modifications #9  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Use two tractors, one with steel body panels and one with plastic, and they will both look lousy after five years worth of hard work.
)</font>

I htink right now, given our current materials technology.. metal is going to fare better.

My 50+ year old ford tractor sheet metal is intact.. I think if they would have been plastic hoods back then.. I think both of my tractors would have no hoods now.

As for metal vs plastic ( or fibreglass ).. I think both have their own pros & cons.

The plastic and f/g will have some give which may yeild dent resistance.. anything that doesn't break them.. they will probably 'recover from'.

Both are gonna scratch bad.. not much to do about that.

Once you are rough enough on them.. plastic will break.. and metal will bend.

Given the amateuer repair that most farmers have to do... bondo is still easier than glass work imho.

As soon as we get some 'space age' materials.. like composits.. carbon fiber.. and kevlar fibers.. I think we will see body panels with the strength of metal, but lighter, and superior flexibility and dent resistance.

I saw a dealer expo from an auto manufacturer that had optional kevlar body panels... they intentionally were hitting them with a hammer.. and then backed into obstacles... they both suffered paint damage, with the metal and rubber/plastic body mouldings, etc.. fareing much worse structurally than the kevlar material.

Kind of a trade-off right now. still.. I'm more concerned with what is under the hood than the hood itself.

soundguy
 
 
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