Buying Advice Rolled over hour meter??

[Taylorkd80]

I'm looking at buying my first and hopefully last tractor. Its a 1976 John Deere 4230. The hour meter is showing 2750 hours and was working when I test drove it for a hour or so. The seller couldn't tell me how many hours it had when he bought it and was very vague about hours. The tractor is clean, and looks good....should I beware on hours do not want to overhaul one any time soon. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Don87]

IIRC about 5,000 hours is time to start thinking about a rebuild on a diesel(someone else will correct me if I'm wrong).
So you should have some time if the tractor was taken care of.

But you mentioned "couldn't tell me............and very vague"

You are there......you can hear it...........what do you hear/see?

 

[Taylorkd80]

It started/sounded good. Just dont know if the hour meter rolled over and it is actually 12000 hours

 

[Don87]

It started/sounded good. Just dont know if the hour meter rolled over and it is actually 12000 hours

Chances are slim to none.

 

[jenkinsph]

I'm looking at buying my first and hopefully last tractor. Its a 1976 John Deere 4230. The hour meter is showing 2750 hours and was working when I test drove it for a hour or so. The seller couldn't tell me how many hours it had when he bought it and was very vague about hours. The tractor is clean, and looks good....should I beware on hours do not want to overhaul one any time soon. Any advice would be appreciated

I would ignore the hour meter and look at the hours as "unknown". I would then look the tractor over and inspect it to determine whether on not to buy it. The condition of the tractor is more important than the number of hours. If you are not familiar with tractors you may wan't to have a good mechanic check it out for you prior to the purchase.

Consider this, 2750/35yrs=78 hours/year, I don't know of many farmers who can own a tractor of this size and not use it more than this.

About buying your first and last tractor, unless you have one foot in your grave you might wan't to reconsider that. Most of us here would be humored by that and would atleast recommend you start out with a younger tractor if this is your real intention.

 

[JoeinTX]

So, we've got a 35 year old ag tractor averaging........80 hours of use per year over its lifetime. Not bloody likely.

If I were buying from the original purchased new owner, maybe. With records and such.

The hourmeter may be rolling over or it may be that the hourmeter has been replaced and simply is spinning hours of use since its installation.

Obviously, this isn't the original owner and he can't confirm hour/treatment/servicing/use of the rig. He's dodgy about the details.


Get all the oil/fluid samples you can and get some definitive details you can get. Don't buy until the results are clear.

 

[sandman2234]

Hour meter meaning actual time elapsed isn't how tractors hour meters work, is it?
Should be figured on tractor work hours, shouldn't it?
David from jax

 

[jenkinsph]

A 4230 uses an engine cable driven tachometer, so the hours indicated correlate to the equivalent engine hours at the rated speed. Meaning the hour meter would show less time if you ran it at idle compared to full rated speed for equal time duration. The newer electronic hour meters simply count the time the switch is on even if the engine is not running. Who does this benefit? The manufacturer benefits, the warranty is up within a certain number of clock hours regardless of whether you idle around taking it easy or go full blast all the time.

 

[SSdoxie]

A 4230 uses an engine cable driven tachometer, so the hours indicated correlate to the equivalent engine hours at the rated speed. Meaning the hour meter would show less time if you ran it at idle compared to full rated speed for equal time duration. The newer electronic hour meters simply count the time the switch is on even if the engine is not running. Who does this benefit? The manufacturer benefits, the warranty is up within a certain number of clock hours regardless of whether you idle around taking it easy or go full blast all the time.

I can't vouch for every brand of equipment out there but most with an electric hour meter use 2 signals to run, key on then another from the engine (oil pressure, alternator amps, or engine RPM) to verify engine is running. But you are correct they just measure time like a clock, not RPM/hrs.

 

[RickB]

Nobody here has any idea whether the clock on that 4230 has rolled over or not, or how close it is to needing an overhaul or other major work. The least accurate post here is from the guy that thinks the chances are "slim to none" that it has 12,000 hours on it. There's probably a better chance of 12,700 than 2700 hours being original and correct. The tractor could also have its second or third tach/hourmeter in it. The most certain thing is that if 2700 hours wee original and correct, the seller would know it and be selling on that point.

2700 hours would show little wear on the drawbar, 3PT hitch balls, clutch and brake pedals, operator's platform, and seat suspension.