Tractor Ownership, the true cost

[majorwager]

I propose this thread due to the following. A person wrote that ownership of their tractor, power equipment, and homemade solutions for tasks are practically free because everyone has this inborn ingenuity to repair, design and fabricate every tool they need, in a bubble. They buy chain saws at yard sales on the cheap, repair, restore magically to working order. They buy 40's - 50's vintage tractors, use them 40 years, no maintenance or restoration costs, workplace surplus provides Components for homemade tools and the labor is nonexistant, sprinkle in a few junkyard parts and they never need any consultation along the way. Just inherently born knowing how to do it all. And of course, all free!!

Then fast forward to this site where I'm included. First time tractor misbehaves, gravitate to this site for causal advice or a thread with problem solving advice. And more often than not the tractor is purchased new or next to new. Folks look at inventions on this site, some attempt to duplicate with some degree of success, others say, that's nice, then buy the commercially finished product. Calls to the dealer not UNCOMMON.

Some have a gift, some can design, cut, weld, shape and drill as a second nature, some don't have time, desire, tools, ability, agility or combination of these to achieve total independence and creativeity to produce and fabricate or restore from ashes, everything they need or want. If that were so, I suggest this site would not exist. THOUGHTS?

 

[Industrial Toys]

The people here come from a very broad range and yes there is sometimes a little friction. Some people only see a tractor as a means to an end and I can have a hard time accepting this. Like, I couldn't care less who made my frying pan, yet to some it is all important.

And of course, some people have money and some don't. Some do, and are tight as skin on a wiener! What can I say, Lots of different folks.

To save money, or get what I want, I would get up at four and drive three hours to an auction, or drive for days to get a chipper in Minnesota. Many would not.

What really floors me, is someone asking for the "cheapest tractor". Who would go into a grocery store asking for the cheapest food or buying the cheapest tools at Harbor Freight. That can't possibly work out well. Pay me now or pay me later as they say.

 

[dodge man]

I can fix most things myself, but my fabrication skills are not the best. Mainly because I don’t have a welder. Most of my mechanics tools I have had for years.

 

[mcfarmall]

Being a machine repair journeyman by trade, I can pretty much fix or build anything I want. If you can't, I don't have a problem with that nor do I have a problem with you asking questions.

So as to the question of the true cost of tractor ownership I guess all I can say is that if you have unlimited $$$ buy whatever you want and there's your cost of ownership. I don't have unlimited $$$ so therefore I rely on my skill set to design/build what I need and repair what I have. I usually have more time than money. Once the warranty is up, the DIY repairs begin. This forum and youtube can pretty much get me through anything.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I think the true cost of most things is actually zero when you calculate them out, perhaps land, a house and cars being an exception.

Take a chainsaw for instance, when I bought my Husqvarna 562 for instance, I hemmed and hawed about the purchase, but in honesty, it was a waste of time. It is not the best chainsaw I ever had, but for $750, the very first load of wood it cut, it paid for itself. I hate that chainsaw, but after a few months and 300 cord of wood later, its true cost is zero dollars...

My bulldozer is the same way, granted it was a steal at $10,000 in its really good condition, but considering all the work it has done, and the wood it has pulled out, it had paid for itself in the first year.

Another case in point is my Wallenstein Log Trailer, purchase price new was $18,000 dollars. This past summer I got a grant from the USDA to extend a logging road on my farm. The grant was worth $13,200 and yet a gravel contractor quoted me a price of $7,000 to do it. My wife and I realized with our own gravel pit we could do the work, we just needed to get the gravel from the pit to the road, a distance of about a half mile. The Log trailer has a dump body that goes with it, but can only haul 1 yard at a time. Still we figured we needed 400 cubic yards of gravel just for the topcoat. yet if we hauled only 10 loads per day, every day, in 40 days we would have the job done...and we did. We kept all the money, and factoring in a few loads of wood that log trailer got out, it also paid for itself in a years time.

Finally there is our old Ford 900 Farm Tractor. I think my Grandfather paid $1500 for it in 1958, but traded it in back in 1999 for $1500. That was neither a gain or a loss until a person calculates in the work accomplished with it in 41 years.

Of all the cost and expenses I have in my life, of them all I think the best money I ever spent has always been in equipment. BUT...the equipment I buy has multiple uses too so its cost is spread out over a bunch of money making ventures.

 

[tomplum]

I'm a professional fabricator. Actually, I just fabricated that. I'm a mechanic by trade and if it's worth my time to build features in or a big enough cost savings, I will. Have some tools, some skill, some imagination. My CAD program is cardboard, markers and tape. Some call that Cardboard Aided Design Next for me is a ballast box/ tool carrier and a skid plate to protect the suction filter on the hydro. TBN networking : A fellow poster Jdom has the same tractor as mine and mentioned on a thread by Lisa with a similar tractor that a skid plate should be in order on our model tractor . I thought that that could be a good thing before mowing down in the creek flats. Lots of folks on here take it way beyond the next level too. I've gotten a list of ideas from fellow fabricators plus those too that don't have the tools or fab skills what so ever.
Regarding repairs on mechanical anything, they are creatures of habit. Like the doctor that makes an initial assumption that your pain is X and seeks the answer. I get that it is a way of life for many to have things repaired, accessories built. That is what makes the world go around. That's how I eat. I eat better by performing many repairs, additions etc myself. Sometimes the "true cost" is more than if you hired it out.

 

[marchanna]

I come from a long line of do it yourselfers. In very few circumstances do I think about hiring someone else first to do a job, but sometimes I do based on available time, whether or not I have the right tools, and/or cost:benefit ratio.

Sometimes after you致e performed such a variety of tasks, some things even though you haven稚 done them before just seem to be second nature. I have several friends who consider replacing lightbulbs an involved technical task, but most things I look at for a minute or two and figure it out. I don稚 think it痴 magical inate skill, I think it is just will and a can do attitude.

 

[Rustyiron]

My CAD program is cardboard, markers and tape. Some call that Cardboard Aided Design

Tom I'm flat out gonna steal that one :laughing::thumbsup:

 

[Rustyiron]

Some have a gift, some can design, cut, weld, shape and drill as a second nature, some don't have time, desire, tools, ability, agility or combination of these to achieve total independence and creativeity to produce and fabricate or restore from ashes, everything they need or want. If that were so, I suggest this site would not exist. THOUGHTS?

Well to throw another angle at it, I'd bet that a lot of folks & farmers here had a tractor and implements here prior to having a welder, that became a necessary tool with tractor & implement(s) ownership & operation unless you had a ton of money.
That's how & why I learned to weld.

 

[4570Man]

I sold my tractor for the same price I paid for it after using it 700 hours. I doubt maintenance and repairs exceeded $1000 so my cost was about a dollar an hour plus fuel.