Buying Advice anyone looked at how much per hour it costs to own a cut?

[chim]

The B7500 with R4's I sold last year was 10 years old with 1,100 hours on it. For as long as I had it, I'd drive to another place about 1 mile round trip on paved road once a week during the mowing season. At 1,100 hours the fronts were really showing wear. They had a way to go before needing replaced.

The Ford 1210 with R1's had the same usage and needed the fronts replaced with many fewer hours on them. I'd guess between 500 and 700 hours.

The rears on both tractors looked like they would last at least 3 times as long as the fronts.

 

[crazyal]

Everybody that reads this thread cares. Some just don't wanna know.

Nope, I don't care one bit. My tractor's main job is snow blowing and keeping me happy. I have no plans on selling it so the entire cost of the tractor is just so I can remove snow 15 times a year. I'm sure if I sat down and did the math it would be extremely expensive. But I did it for peace of mind. When we get 3+ feet of snow I know I'll have no problems. I know that come the end of January I will not have 8' high banks of snow that need to be moved because I ran out of places to plow snow. For me I'm lucky enough to be able to not worry about cost per hour.

 

[Guesseral]

My old jubilee (1953) Has tires that are 30 +/- years old on the rear, dad replaced them around then just to get the next larger size and sold the smaller ones. I still use the rears they have probably 75 to 80% tread left. The 841 has had one rear replaced and the 621 has had both rears replaced although it was used way back when by a landscaper that drove it down the road a lot. All of the fronts have been replaced over the years and the rears have cracks but since they are tube tires there isn't any worried these tractors should never see a paved road ever again as long as they get used in the fields they should last for ever.

 

[irsmun]

I don't really care;I have the machine it's paid for,I can do what "I" need to do when it needs to be done.
If you have to worry about what the cost per hr.is ;you probably can't afford it or don't really need one.

Several people have a made a similar comment to the one above. The problem with this position is that it ignores the purpose of the question. We have to assume the OP wants numbers to figure his investment for a purchase or possibly use the machine in a commercial setting to come up with rates per hour to charge. Either way, unless your funds are unlimited or you have a substantial amount of sustainable wealth (and even if you do), then this is a good exercise before a purchase. If everyone did this then our economic situation at current would be better. Plus, a good investment brings additional joy to ownership.

Now, I am not sure you can come up with an accurate number but a ballpark is good enough. I applaud the common sense of this inquiry. I think its a given that "fun" and "convienence" cannot be mathematically applied. You have to add that value yourself.

 

[wmonroe]

Several people have a made a similar comment to the one above. The problem with this position is that it ignores the purpose of the question. We have to assume the OP wants numbers to figure his investment for a purchase or possibly use the machine in a commercial setting to come up with rates per hour to charge. Either way, unless your funds are unlimited or you have a substantial amount of sustainable wealth (and even if you do), then this is a good exercise before a purchase. If everyone did this then our economic situation at current would be better. Plus, a good investment brings additional joy to ownership. Now, I am not sure you can come up with an accurate number but a ballpark is good enough. I applaud the common sense of this inquiry. I think its a given that "fun" and "convienence" cannot be mathematically applied. You have to add that value yourself.

I think the best way is to give the tractor a "useful life", let's say 20 years and 4000 hours. At that point you can estimate yearly fuel and maintenance costs, modifications, unexpected repairs, initial investment, and on and on. Once you have the grand total divided by whatever you come up with for hours to me would be a best guess on a per hour cost. Not sure if that made sense, it did in my head. Lol

 

[dakotagun]

great thread, informative responses all.
I live 50 miles from any 'rental place' and the timing of what needs to be done makes this exercise irrelevant (i'm snowblowing/plowing at 5AM to clear roads/driveway for our commute with enough frequency, that all the summer work - mowing, moving dirt, etc, is gravy). my little scut is a sunk cost of living in the country, like my septic system is. now, my Boss v-plow is a higher per-hour cost than that tractor, and really a luxury item given I could blow snow the entire 6 miles to the highway (but then i'd need a larger tractor/cab, so the equation would be lots different!).
renting a skidsteer costs $250/day, plus the $100 for gas to haul to site, with limited schedule. there's no way I come close to that for the scut sitting in my garage.

 

[ovrszd]

Nope, I don't care one bit.

Then why would you follow this thread?? I'm putting you in the category that don't wanna know!!!

 

[California]

... We have to assume the OP wants numbers to figure his investment ... unless your funds are unlimited or you have a substantial amount of sustainable wealth (and even if you do), then this is a good exercise before a purchase. If everyone did this then our economic situation at current would be better.

Amen bro. Look at all the bankruptcies a few years ago. Those were folks who didn't know or care what their toys cost - then their income level changed.

Moving to the country where you need to clear roads, or just buying a tractor that won't be income producing, should be preceded by some rough calculation of what you are getting into and whether it will be sustainable under varying income scenarios. OP is asking the right questions.

 

[slowzuki]

Our business owns our Kubota L5030HSTC - a huge % of the cost on low hour machines is depreciation. Ours is getting close to 2000 hours now and gets about 200 hours per year. Cost works out to about 50$ per hour looking at what current resale is.

The larger ag tractors don't seem to suffer depreciation with hours as bad as CUT's.

 

[ovrszd]

Our business owns our Kubota L5030HSTC - a huge % of the cost on low hour machines is depreciation. Ours is getting close to 2000 hours now and gets about 200 hours per year. Cost works out to about 50$ per hour looking at what current resale is.

The larger ag tractors don't seem to suffer depreciation with hours as bad as CUT's.

Well stated. That's the problem with the road grader I run. Township wants to stay in a newer machine. We don't put on enough hours per year to make that look good. Causes the cost per hour of operation to be pretty high. What they get in return is reliable productivity.