Do we really need all the electronic features in new tractors?

[TSO]

I saw on the news where the EPA is going after your BBQ grill now. Will need blowers and drip shields. Next will be regens on your grill for the smoke.

They're going after wood stoves again too. Apparently they want to mandate something like DPF. Luckily the states have the option to choose which regulations to adopt in this matter, and Michigan told them no. According to the article, Michigan has more households that heat primarily with wood than any other state ... So that's a big market to try to force additional emissions requirements unto.

I bought a new woodstove insert about 3 years ago, and it already has a secondary burn design that injects air at the top of the chamber to re-burn the "exhaust." According to the literature it's 95% efficient. I don't know how much extra cost was passed onto me upon purchase, but I wouldn't want to pay for DPF as well.

I'm just glad my tractor is at least tier 3 (t4i actually) and that there are lots of them out there (among the different AGCO brands) so parts will be available long term.

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By the way, the "Auto Throttle" on my tractor isn't electronic. It's literally a second cable that attaches from the foot pedal to the "throttle control" at the fuel distribution block. It's a redundant cable, and ends up attached right next to the hand throttle cable, both pulling the same lever at the block to increase fuel. It's as "mechanical" as it gets. I have driven other "Auto Throttle" tractors that are electronically controlled, and I will say, I much prefer the mechanical connection that mine has. On the others (two different Orange brands) I felt the electronic lag between pedal input and throttle application by the tractor. Not present on mine. So, I would agree that electronic isn't always better, but I definitely wouldn't want to give up that mechanical Auto Throttle on my tractor, nor would I give up the HST, the cab, heat & a.c., radio, etc.

I could give up the electro PTO though, and have a clutch and lever instead ...

 

[Steppenwolfe]

LOL

But when did they stop offering HST? Better tell the dealerships that they must be selling gray market Bota's because HST MX's are quite popular.

LS is making a "K" series tractor now. Very basic. Non synchro simple gear IIRC.

My bad... they do have an hst, I just didn't want one.

 

[coobie]

Back in the day I owned a ford 8n,john deere b,allis c,massey 1240 open station,2008 kioti DK40se open station tractors.I worked outside for 37 plus years for a living and decided to buy a 2012 Kioti DK40 cab tractor before I retired.Did I need it heck no did I want it heck yes.Got tired of freezing my arse off in the winter and sweating in the summer.Yes I do like some creature comforts since my old bones retired.I feel I earned it the hard way.

 

[Utopia Texas]

I can't wait for the Tier 4B BBQ pit. Vrooom, Vrooom!

 

[peterc38]

Back in the day I owned a ford 8n,john deere b,allis c,massey 1240 open station,2008 kioti DK40se open station tractors.I worked outside for 37 plus years for a living and decided to buy a 2012 Kioti DK40 cab tractor before I retired.Did I need it heck no did I want it heck yes.Got tired of freezing my arse off in the winter and sweating in the summer.Yes I do like some creature comforts since my old bones retired.I feel I earned it the hard way.

I'm with you. Im at the point in my life where my next tractor is going to have a cab and some creature comforts too.

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

I don't think it's an issue of complex or simple, or even electronic vs manual vs hydraulic it's more of a good design, bad design issue for me. Companies will build what the customer wants and what they think will sell. When I trade tractors it's not that my old one is worn out it's thatt the new model has more or better features. Grandad traded the team of mules for a 8N Ford, then a 861 Ford, then a 3000 Ford then a 5610. These new and improved models are consumer demands. Thats why we don't see gas engines, manual steering, tricycle frontends, non live pto, no 3point hitch, or no ROPS on new farm tractors. I have several older tractors of a simple design, 8N, Cases, Farmall and Deeres. They are fun to drive in parades or take to tractor shows but when I go to the hayfield or plant corn/beans they stay home.

 

[TJP89]

A link was posted to this in JDgreen227's thread on complexity. I'm reprinting the guts of the link here:

IF MICROSOFT BUILT CARS

1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you'd have to buy a new car.
2. Occasionally your car would just die on the motorway for no reason, and you'd have to restart it. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this, restart and drive on.
3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you'd have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this too.
4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a "Car 95" or a "Car NT". But then you'd have to buy more seats.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was twice as reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive--but it would only run on five percent of the roads.
6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars which would make their cars go much slower.
7. The oil, engine, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced with a single "General Car Fault" warning light.
8. People would get excited about the "new" features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other cars for many years.
9. We'd all have to switch to Microsoft gas and all fluids, but the packaging would be superb.
10. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
11. The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.
12. If you were involved in a crash, you would have no idea what happened.
13. They wouldn't build their own engines, but form a cartel with their engine suppliers. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it.
14. There would be an "Engine Pro" with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.
15. Microsoft cars would have a special radio/cassette player which would only be able to listen to Microsoft FM, and play Microsoft Cassettes. Unless of course, you buy the upgrade to use existing stuff.
16. Microsoft would do so well, because even though they don't own any roads, all of the road manufacturers would give away Microsoft cars free, including IBM!
17. If you still ran old versions of car (ie. CarDOS 6.22 / CarWIN 3.11), then you would be called old fashioned, but you would be able to drive much faster, and on more roads!

18. If you couldn't affort to buy a new car, then you could just borrow your friend's, and then copy it.
19. Whenever you bought a car, you would have to reorganize the ignition for a few days before it worked.
20. You would need to by an upgrade to run cars on a motorway next to each other.
I add:
21. You would buy an upgrade to run on the remaining 1/3 of the roads, but suddenly your car was twice as big and twice as heavy with the same sized engine.
22. If you upgraded your Microsoft tires, you would have to buy a new car because the tires would not be backwards compatible.
23. When you applied the brakes, a panel on the dashboard would light up saying "Are you sure you want to stop?"
24. Sometimes a message would appear on the dash saying " The gearbox cannot access the differential - do you wish to - CONTINUE - RETRY - ABORT ?
25. Dealers would constantly be trying to sell PanTechs to pensioners to do the shopping.

That is funny.....and so true

 

[Ken]

I'm really not interested all the electronic items on a tractor except wish the low fuel flashing and j..d. place finds no problem until out of warranty
Also the error code flashing a number and have to quit working return to the shop to look up the code and find the left turn bulb is open. reseating the bulb fixes the code.
The cheap plastic covers on the lights size of a cell phone costing $20+ and breaking at the slightest touch .
it is these things I can live with out.
ken

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Just remember, wheels are just a recent addition to tractors.

The first ones didn't have any.

 

[TSO]

Judge ... owners(?) ... for chosen options? Few of us care so much what the other guy wants or has, but would rather a 'minimum' of electro-gadgetry be just that .. and among our buying options. Not such a big field that I can see.

I agree ... I had just been responding to this not-so-light-hearted post:

Too many folks out there who cant think for themselves making demands that their tractors be loaded down with as much if not more electronic crap as their cars so their brainless bodies can consider themselves a machine operator.

What makes me laugh the most is that for most of the people I see posting about wanting this and that added, their use hours don't seem to ad dup to much and I really wonder why someone who only puts on 100 to 150 hours a year needs any added features. It just dosnt seem to be cost effective. I rack up that many hours in a few weeks and still don't want or need all those features.