Buying Advice Best engineering/technology in a tractor? Which manufacturers?

[sweettractors]

I know it is one mans opinion, but why don't you rank some of the brands you have dealt with. I would be interesting to know what you think. I am sure their are some great equipment that is superbly engineered to the point that nobody can afford to buy it.

Yes, you are correct, some of the equipment is superbly engineered to the point that nobody can afford to buy it. I have found that there is a inherent weakness in the design and engineering of all tractors and equipment. It just depends how far down the road it shows up. When it comes to tractors nowadays, there are a lot of well built ones. Distributor infrastructure and internal company politics make a lot of them unstable and indecisive, especially in poor economic times. Ken Sweet

 

[Sweden-Art]

Fendt , Deutz-Fahr.

The BMW, Mercedes and Porsche of tractors.

 

[dfkrug]

I happen to be an engineer for John Deere.

I am always looking for the opportunity to take apart and analyze modern
compact tractors. I try to figure out why the design engineer and the
manufacturing engineer made the decisions they did. I go to the World
AG Expo every year in the hopes that the tractor makers will let some
engineers out into the world for a few days to be grilled by PITA customers
like I am.

I see good and bad engineering decisions made in all the tractors I have
taken apart. I can not pick one manufacturer as the all-around best in
every way. I have always repaired, maintained, and modified all of the
scores of vehicles I have owned over the years and I love new technology
if it is reliable and makes sense.

Here is a puzzle I have not got an answer to (even from the the JD engineers
I have met): why does JD use aluminum castings in the rear structural
components of their 3x20 tractors? All other CUTs in this weight class that
I have seen use cast steel in their rear gearboxes and axle housings. Lower
weight is not a concern here, but durability is.

 

[sweettractors]

"All other CUTs in this weight class that
I have seen use cast steel in their rear gearboxes and axle housings. Lower
weight is not a concern here, but durability is."

The way a housing that has poor design and engineering behind it gets fixed and ready to build the end product for the consumer, is to build out of Cast and then if that don't work, go to thicker castings, instead of aluminum. You see a lot of that on imported tractors. Jet engines and Helicopter engines and race car engines made of Aluminum, however, precise design and engineering goes into these products. Did you ever see the castings on a Belarus tractor? Ken Sweet

 

[dfkrug]

The way a housing that has poor design and engineering behind it gets fixed and ready to build the end product for the consumer, is to build out of Cast and then if that don't work, go to thicker castings, instead of aluminum. You see a lot of that on imported tractors. Jet engines and Helicopter engines and race car engines made of Aluminum, however, precise design and engineering goes into these products. Did you ever see the castings on a Belarus tractor?

I am not sure what you are saying here, Ken. When you say "Cast", are
you saying cast iron/steel, or cast aluminum? Aircraft design is done
completely differently, I would assume, since weight is super-important,
and reliability paramount.

I never saw a Belarus tractor up close....steel/iron or aluminum castings?

 

[James Loehr]

Most of what I see on modern tractor engineering is it's engineered for cost and not for users or by users. example; my 1942 ford had both position control and draft control. No user would pick quarter inching over position control. I have both a grand L and a BX kubota. Both the engineering and Quality of these two are day and night. I guess they engineered the small tractor to be more of a grass cutter and every thing else an secondary. I don't want to offend people that have the BX. I have one too. It just seems that it's been user profiled. I think they figure the user may not require some features and if they do they can just buy something that has them.

 

[sweettractors]

I am not sure what you are saying here, Ken. When you say "Cast", are
you saying cast iron/steel, or cast aluminum? Aircraft design is done
completely differently, I would assume, since weight is super-important,
and reliability paramount.

I never saw a Belarus tractor up close....steel/iron or aluminum castings?

It kinda boils down to this, If a company cant run with the big boys and aluminum castings, they use cast iron/steel and if that dont work they use thicker cast iron/steel. Ken Sweet

 

[Egon]

Here we go; a Porsche Tractor!:thumbsup:

 

[RoyJackson]

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...mage_result&resnum=1&ct=image&ved=0CB4Q9QEwAA


Here we go; a Porsche Tractor!:thumbsup:

Hi Egon...for some reason, your link didn't show up (at least on my laptop). But you're right...Porsche did build a tractor...in the mid 1950's, IIRC.

 

[wolc123]

I think the last real engineering breakthrough with a tractor was the little n-series that Henry Ford and Harry Ferguson came up with back in 1939. Every thing since then has been just minor improvements, and I will still take my 1951, 8n over any modern tractor for many tasks including operation of my 2-row corn planter. How nice it is to be able to hitch any 3-point implement in seconds by grabbing a rear tire and rolling that little tractor forward or back to align, and to be able to effortlessly get up on the seat from either side. Never any worry of fuel gelling or hard starting in the cold winters as the little 6-volt starter aways cranks that little flat-head gas engine up within a couple of turns, even when the temp drops far below freezing.