How many hours should a NEW tractor have?

[Bird]

I guess I'm in the minority again. I bought two new Kubotas from the same dealer and each time the tractor was delivered with less than an hour on the meter, even though I told the salesman I'd be glad for them to put the first 8 or 10 hours on it; run it long enough to check everything. So if you've got a dealer who runs them on the dyno, sounds good to me. Those hours on the hour meter wouldn't bother me in the least.

 

[Chet]

Ask for a list of recent customers and call them up to see how many hours their NEW tractors had on delivery, that might cause some seriuos backpeddling by the salesman. Chet

 

[OkeeDon]

It must be a large dealership if they have their own dynamometer. Those puppies ain't cheap. Never heard of a dealership with one; that doesn't mean there aren't any. Usually they're used for research at the factory or for performance improvements at race shops. It has to be a chassis dyno (one you can drive on and off); an engine dyno requires the engine to be removed and does nothing for the rest of the machine. Typical dyno time runs about $85 an hour to use someone else's machine. To be effective in finding leaks and testing the equipment, it also requires someone to change gears and such, putting it through a normal operating sequence. Seems like a waste of time and money to me; that's what the 50 hour service is for.

They may know something I don't, or they may have some kind of roller or something they're calling a dyno.

 

[BillyP]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( the rotary cutter I purchased (Kodiak 6 ft) had a broken shear pin )</font>

I'd be more worried about how the cutter sheared the bolt?

Did it happen while it was attached to 'your' tractor? No damage to the cutter?

 

[JerryG]

It used to be common for Ag dealers to run a tractor in on a dyno. That way they was sure that the rings would seat and that the initial break in was right. The dyno is PTO driven and most likely a made by M&W.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Actually, most dealers have a dyno. Not all of them have brand new fancy electronic ones but they do have a old one in the garage. I have never been to a dealer that didn't have a dyno sitting in their garage somewhere (and I have been to a lot of dealers)

 

[Bird]

Yep, Don, you're thinking of the drive on type, and where tractors are concerned, I guess most of us think of the PTO dyno. I have no idea how many dealers have them, but have seen one (with a whole bunch of driveshafts and adapters) at a John Deere dealership.

As for the type you're thinking of, I know a motorcycle repair shop (not a dealer although he does usually have some used bikes for sale) that works on nothing but Harleys and he claims to have the only motorcycle dyno within hundreds of miles at least, and like you said, it wasn't cheap. It's a little hard for me to understand anyone buying a new Harley for $20k or more and then take it straight to that guy and spent another $10k on customization, but they do it.

 

[spencer200]

We have our own dyno it is part of the special tools requirement by New Holland.

 

[OkeeDon]

Guess I don't know what a PTO dyno is. The dynos I'm familiar with are used for testing and comparing output from race cars. Attached is a picture; on a quick search, the cheapest one I found was $24,950. Not something most dealers would have.

 

[OkeeDon]

So, I did a quick search for a PTO dyno, and came up with this picture of a Mahindra hooked up. Is this typical?