Do you loan your tractor

[scott_vt]

One sortof neighbor once asked to borrow a tractor and batwing brush hog. He has a serious drinking problem and was a bit "tipsy" when he asked. He was seriously upset that I wouldn't let him take 60 grand worth of equipment home with him. Last I heard he was still a bit "ticked off".

Good Evenin Chuck,
And IMHO he could darn well stay ticked off !!!

 

[chh]

Hey Scott, its like my old Dad used to say, "He's got the same clothes to get glad again in."

 

[firedog]

My brother and that's about it. We loan stuff back and forth, especially implements, that way we don't have to duplicate stuff.

My rule on borrowing: If I can afford to pay for repairs, up to replacement cost, then I might ask to borrow something. If I can't then I go rent it.
Much the same with loaning stuff out. (plus how well they take care of their own stuff.)

 

[alchemysa]

My tractor, being quite old (over 5000hrs) has about 20 'peculiarities' that have to be kept in mind or they'll trap even experienced operators and cause further damage. (e.g one of the backhoe stabilizers leaks down pretty quickly. I always keep it held up with chain when not in use.)
So no-one uses it 'cept me and one particular neighbour I trust who's used it even more than me.

 

[jaybrad]

Tractor? Probably not, except in maybe one or two cases.

Implements? Depends on who's asking. My neighbors who have a tractor are good folks who would (and have) covered anything that happened - and they know I would do the same.

So far, it's never been an issue.

 

[Mike Costello]

When I had my auto repair business, I used to get a lot of walk in people out of gas on the highway. I kept a loaner gas can and charged a $5.00 deposit plus fuel for its use.
One day a guy shows up and needs the can. He whines about the deposit. I tell him he'll get his money back when I get my can back. He fuels his car and brings the can back still complaining. I give him back the deposit and he takes off. Not thirty minutes later another guy needs the loaner gas can. I start to put in fuel and the can leaks out the bottom everywhere. The first guy had punched holes in the bottom of the can!
I quit loaning gas cans after that episode. Told them to call a tow truck or join AAA.
I broke my "no tools loaned" rule one time for a neighbor and let him use some nice screwdrivers. I returned Sunday evening to find all of them broken in half on my porch. When I confronted him he told me they were "just cheap screwdrivers". He never replaced them.
I learned these lessons early on...so my tractor and anything else I own doesn't go anywhere without me attached to it. Mike.

 

[Soundguy]

At work, we sometimes get 'walk overs' from the jiffy across the street asking for jumper cables. we used to lend.. not anymore. Mechanic drove over inthe service truck and hooked up our super HD and long set used to jump heavy equipment to some bums car, and told him to let it charge for a bit before starting.. mechanic walks into store.. bum starts car fast.. grabs 60$ of cables and hauls but.

soundguy

 

[Mike Costello]

At work, we sometimes get 'walk overs' from the jiffy across the street asking for jumper cables. we used to lend.. not anymore. Mechanic drove over inthe service truck and hooked up our super HD and long set used to jump heavy equipment to some bums car, and told him to let it charge for a bit before starting.. mechanic walks into store.. bum starts car fast.. grabs 60$ of cables and hauls but.

soundguy

I hear ya! And they wonder why repair shops become hard hearted. I owned 5 tow trucks along with my repair service. Did a tow for a guy who had a classic p/u. Later, he filed a damage claim stating we had damaged his front bumper. I investigated the claim and pointed out the documentation(which he had signed) showing the p/u had been towed from the rear. His comment: "You can't blame a guy for trying"!

 

[jaybrad]

In the "not everyone is a weasel" category - - last fall I loaned out my 3PH chipper to a neighbor and one of the 3 V-belts rolled and clearly had to be replaced. Now this chipper is "new to me", but it has got to be 10+ years old since I think the company has been out of business at least that long - and this unit literally sat in the corner of a barn for a decade or more before I bought it.

I learned about the belt problem when he called to tell me about what happened, and then immediately said he had already ordered a full set of replacement belts which, with the help of another neighbor, they installed. Fortunately, the other neighbor is an experienced HVAC technician since the way these belts went on was unlike anything I had experienced in working on cars - and without his expertise, the job would have been *much* more difficult.

Many of my neighbors own tractors and are responsible folks (even though they all own orange tractors ), so I would give a request from them to borrow something more consideration than from others.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I loaned out almost brand new stihl chainsaw. It came back with a extra new chain and new bottle of fuel mix and clean.
haven't loaned my tractor. One guy wanted me to loan it to him once. He wanted to do some box blade work, and told me he would buy the box blade and let me keep it if I let him use my tractor. What he wanted to do, though, was remove a berm along his road, on the right of way. I was afraid he would dig up buried cables and I didn't want my tractor to have any part of that...