hours

[dennis5150]

Can anyone explain what are low hours and what are high hours on a diesel tractor?
Clearly 800 hours would seem to be low and 3000 would seem to me to be high hours, and the type of work done within those hours are important, whether by a hobby farmer, a rental yard or a landscape contractor, as well as maintenance. Any help in correlating hours to say... miles on a car just to get a basseline idea would be helpful
Thanks
Dennis

 

[scott_vt]

Can anyone explain what are low hours and what are high hours on a diesel tractor?
Clearly 800 hours would seem to be low and 3000 would seem to me to be high hours, and the type of work done within those hours are important, whether by a hobby farmer, a rental yard or a landscape contractor, as well as maintenance. Any help in correlating hours to say... miles on a car just to get a basseline idea would be helpful
Thanks
Dennis

Hi Dennis,
I think you answered part of your question yourself ! What type of work was done with the machine, how was it maintained...etc

What year tractor are you refering to ??? Quite often, the homeowners on this site that own their own CUT will only put 50 - 100 hrs per year on it. On the other hand, a landscaper thats using his CUT all the time will pile them up much quicker ! Three years ago I bought a 1986 Massey 1040 32hp CUT from a landscaper that used it mostly for loading mulch onto customers pickups. The tractor had 1340 hrs on it when I bought it. I only had to put a few hundred bucks into it and has been a great machine since that time !Thats only 75 hrs per year that he averaged.

Can you give a bit more information ?

 

[KICK]

figure one hour is equal to 30 to40 miles, thats pretty much a good way to look at it.

1000 hours is 40,000 miles.

 

[NewToy]

I've seen on the site before that the hours will not actually match your watch hour per hour depending on engine RPM's. They were saying the hours were much slower to accrue at idle vs WOT. I thought that was a bit strange.
John

 

[Soundguy]

I've seen on the site before that the hours will not actually match your watch hour per hour depending on engine RPM's. They were saying the hours were much slower to accrue at idle vs WOT. I thought that was a bit strange.
John

Why do you find that strange. What about a tractor that runs 1 hr at pto rpm vs a tractor that ran 1 hr at just above idle? Don't you feel the tractor that was run harder should show more correct time based on usage, vs the tractor that putted around showing a lower time. Seings as how most tractors use a mechanical hour meter that is calibrated (usually) to pto rpm/hhours.. that seems very -normal- to me. I.E. 1 hr at pto rpm = 1 tractor clock hour = 1 wristwatch hour.

1 hr at half pto rpm = 1/2 tractor clock hour .. etc..


I have seen some tractors with electronic hour meters that ran any time the key was on.. thus you could turn the key on.. not start the tractor, and your tractror meter showed +1 hour.... that's not a good indicator IMHO.. etc..

Soundguy

 

[Tom_Veatch]

I've seen on the site before that the hours will not actually match your watch hour per hour depending on engine RPM's. They were saying the hours were much slower to accrue at idle vs WOT. I thought that was a bit strange.
John

It's sort of like the difference in Tach Hours vs Hobbs Meter hours. The Hobbs meter is an electric clock which records "clock hours" based on the presence/absence of oil pressure. So, it records the number of hours the engine is running (oil pressure is present).

The Tachometer Hour Meter, on the other hand, is mechanically driven by the tachometer shaft and actually measures revolutions of the engine. It increments at the same rate as a clock at only one specific RPM of the engine. Turning the engine faster than that records hours faster than "clock time". Likewise turning the engine slower records hours slower than "clock time". In a way that makes sense if you are using tach time for engine maintenace intervals - assuming higher RPM wears the engine more than lower RPM.

So, use the Tach time for maintenance intervals, and the Hobbs time if you're renting out the equipment at hourly rates.

When I was renting airplanes, I always preferred those that rented by Tach Hour. The Hobbs Meter always showed more time than did the tach.

 

[NewToy]

Why do you find that strange. What about a tractor that runs 1 hr at pto rpm vs a tractor that ran 1 hr at just above idle? Don't you feel the tractor that was run harder should show more correct time based on usage, vs the tractor that putted around showing a lower time. Seings as how most tractors use a mechanical hour meter that is calibrated (usually) to pto rpm/hhours.. that seems very -normal- to me. I.E. 1 hr at pto rpm = 1 tractor clock hour = 1 wristwatch hour.

1 hr at half pto rpm = 1/2 tractor clock hour .. etc..


I have seen some tractors with electronic hour meters that ran any time the key was on.. thus you could turn the key on.. not start the tractor, and your tractror meter showed +1 hour.... that's not a good indicator IMHO.. etc..

Soundguy

I just found it strange, thats all. Never really thought about it much but I just figured an hour was an hour. So the hour meter will never run faster than an hour on the clock? If just puttering around skidding or something you'll register less than an hour on your meter in a timed hour? I guess thats OK, I'd just hate to be clicking them off faster than the clock.
John

John

 

[MrJimi]

NOT to bump heads with anyone here at all but all the hour meters I am familiar with work off the electrical switch or oil pressure. No RPM thing at all.
Thanks
Jim

 

[NewToy]

NOT to bump heads with anyone here at all but all the hour meters I am familiar with work off the electrical switch or oil pressure. No RPM thing at all.
Thanks
Jim

MrJimi, Mine is definitely driven with the tach cable. I am sure of this because my tach cable had come loose from the back of the tach. I noticed my tach wasn't working and had a few more hours of work to do and saw that the hours didn't move at all with the cable off. I had to take the cluster off the dash and hook it back up.
John

 

[dgl24087]

NOT to bump heads with anyone here at all but all the hour meters I am familiar with work off the electrical switch or oil pressure. No RPM thing at all.
Thanks
Jim

Yep, my 1975 Deere 1530 uses tach cable to record hours.