Buying Advice Done with hydrostatics

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

fitterski sure wouldn't like my Toolcat with all them electronics, A/C, heat, radio, traction control, lights, horn, back-up alarm, electric controlled hydraulics, etc....

The dealer gave me $15k for my 19yo Boomer and what I paid for the RTV 11 years ago. The hydro's do hold resale but you need more than $1k to get good ones.

Sums it up. There's a market for both.

Truth is, the "simple to fix" aspect has little value for a non-mechanic. Especially vs the comfort, safety, and convenience factors of more modern machines.

I'm hoping for an all-electric push-button Tesla tractor someday.

 

[fitterski]

Sums it up. There's a market for both.

Truth is, the "simple to fix" aspect has little value for a non-mechanic. Especially vs the comfort, safety, and convenience factors of more modern machines.

I'm hoping for an all-electric push-button Tesla tractor someday.

You're likely to get it too, gps-based autopilot and all, right into the ditch upside down :thumbsup:

One of the more serious problems with digital systems is that the design cubicles are increasingly populated by people without a brain, and the other is that the technical execution of such already faulty design policy then nullifies what little useful may have been left. My Tundra killed the engine just as I eased off the gas after passing on a 2-lane road because a small piece of 1/4" vacuum hose forgotten by some mechanic in the air duct got in and blocked the throttle valve from closing completely when I got off it. In real life on a real truck I would instinctively have cycled the throttle, the little piece of rubber would ha been ingested and that would have been the end of that with a puff of blue smoke lasting a microsecond. As it was, the whole family got exposed to a completely unnecessary lethal situation because of some vegetable in a design cubicle. Similar horror stories accompany the dreaded limp-mode triggers, causing seriously unsafe situations for the sake of (get this) a freaking pollution pump failure)!!!

Then on the execution side, cheap $5 printed boards made in china with no redundancy are controlling hundred thousand dollar machinery and sending the operators' expenses into orbit. Designed by brain-stem free monkeys these cards are then produced by computers designed by similar lobotomized half-lives. Temperature reversals cause contact soldering to break but only enough to make the fault intermittent and thus absolutely impossible to trace unless caught in the act. The farmer calls it in, the service truck arrives from 200 kms with a minimum $800 bill already printed out, the tech is then unable to duplicate because everything checks out as it should and goes home. Two days later the same thing! Finally a new card installed 'on spec' but by then the bill is thrice what it should be while the problem just goes into wait-mode for another series of temperature reversals. All this could have of course been totally prevented by a triple or quadruple authority logic circuit in series or in parallel according to the situation that makes sure that a single circuit fault doesn't get to rule the world. What's the problem with TEN dang circuits making a $5 card cost $6? That of course would again demand something material between the ears of the designers. I could write books only on this, but it's much easier to just buy and old IH instead. My next truck is likely to be '70's vintage, the type with key in the dash and nothing in the steering column that could cause havoc when breaking and falling into gaps.......

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Wow man, just wow.

Have you taken your medication today?

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Agree it's getting harder and harder to find good auto mechanics. I guess like farming and other physical jobs, people just don't want to do it any more. A good mechanic used to make decent money; it was a respectable profession and a good living without needing a college degree. And they took pride in it too. Now seems like it's mostly druggies or dead-enders, people killing time 'til something better comes along. If this trend continues, maybe more computers and circuit boards aren't a bad thing. I guess eventually you'll pull up to a huge computer for diagnosis and then a robot will roll over and fix what's wrong. We're already half-way there.

That's one good thing about the all-electric vehicles. So much simpler mechanically. No oil changes, almost no fluids of any kind. Of course no engine at all. Just four little electric motors driving the wheels.

Having had my entire suite of new appliances fail due to faulty Chinese circuit boards, I totally hear you on that. (Ridiculous to have an expensive appliance or machine or vehicle dependent on a $5 circuit board. Spend the extra 5 bucks and make it better! Heck, spend 10 or 20. ) It's a process I think. If customers demand they put in better circuit boards, they will. China is perfectly capable of manufacturing excellent quality stuff IMO. They manufacture "per spec," so it's really on our manufacturers to insist on better quality parts.

Designers are also designing to spec.

Seems like it's all about quick profit these days. I run a business too, but I can't ascribe to this robber-baron, grab the money and run, business model. IOW plenty of blame to go around, but in the end you can't stop progress.

 

[shooterdon]

And like a fool I bought a 30 year old JD 855 with hydrostatic transmission

I will change the oil in it and cross my fingers. 18 quarts shouldn’t bankrupt me. Now I need to read hundreds of pages about what oil to get.....got to love having a tractor.

 

[rScotty]

Agree it's getting harder and harder to find good auto mechanics. I guess like farming and other physical jobs, people just don't want to do it any more. A good mechanic used to make decent money; it was a respectable profession and a good living without needing a college degree. And they took pride in it too. Now seems like it's mostly druggies or dead-enders, people killing time 'til something better comes along. If this trend continues, maybe more computers and circuit boards aren't a bad thing. I guess eventually you'll pull up to a huge computer for diagnosis and then a robot will roll over and fix what's wrong. We're already half-way there.

That's one good thing about the all-electric vehicles. So much simpler mechanically. No oil changes, almost no fluids of any kind. Of course no engine at all. Just four little electric motors driving the wheels.

Having had my entire suite of new appliances fail due to faulty Chinese circuit boards, I totally hear you on that. (Ridiculous to have an expensive appliance or machine or vehicle dependent on a $5 circuit board. Spend the extra 5 bucks and make it better! Heck, spend 10 or 20. ) It's a process I think. If customers demand they put in better circuit boards, they will. China is perfectly capable of manufacturing excellent quality stuff IMO. They manufacture "per spec," so it's really on our manufacturers to insist on better quality parts.

Designers are also designing to spec.

Seems like it's all about quick profit these days. I run a business too, but I can't ascribe to this robber-baron, grab the money and run, business model. IOW plenty of blame to go around, but in the end you can't stop progress.

Uh.... Just this morning someone using your handle posted, "Truth is, the "simple to fix" aspect has little value for a non-mechanic. Especially vs the comfort, safety, and convenience factors of more modern machines."

Uh.... don't take me too seriously, and please do Pardon Me, but it sounds like you just wrote a rebuttal to your own earlier post, explaining in well-worded detail exactly what value that "simple to fix" does have to you; and to everyone.
:-?

And well-reasoned, too!

rScotty


*Here's hoping that overly complex "design for profit" is just a fad that will eventually reverse itself.

 

[rScotty]

You're likely to get it too, gps-based autopilot and all, right into the ditch upside down :thumbsup:

One of the more serious problems with digital systems is that the design cubicles are increasingly populated by people without a brain, and the other is that the technical execution of such already faulty design policy then nullifies what little useful may have been left. My Tundra killed the engine just as I eased off the gas after passing on a 2-lane road because a small piece of 1/4" vacuum hose forgotten by some mechanic in the air duct got in and blocked the throttle valve from closing completely when I got off it. In real life on a real truck I would instinctively have cycled the throttle, the little piece of rubber would ha been ingested and that would have been the end of that with a puff of blue smoke lasting a microsecond. As it was, the whole family got exposed to a completely unnecessary lethal situation because of some vegetable in a design cubicle. Similar horror stories accompany the dreaded limp-mode triggers, causing seriously unsafe situations for the sake of (get this) a freaking pollution pump failure)!!!

Then on the execution side, cheap $5 printed boards made in china with no redundancy are controlling hundred thousand dollar machinery and sending the operators' expenses into orbit. Designed by brain-stem free monkeys these cards are then produced by computers designed by similar lobotomized half-lives. Temperature reversals cause contact soldering to break but only enough to make the fault intermittent and thus absolutely impossible to trace unless caught in the act. The farmer calls it in, the service truck arrives from 200 kms with a minimum $800 bill already printed out, the tech is then unable to duplicate because everything checks out as it should and goes home. Two days later the same thing! Finally a new card installed 'on spec' but by then the bill is thrice what it should be while the problem just goes into wait-mode for another series of temperature reversals. All this could have of course been totally prevented by a triple or quadruple authority logic circuit in series or in parallel according to the situation that makes sure that a single circuit fault doesn't get to rule the world. What's the problem with TEN dang circuits making a $5 card cost $6? That of course would again demand something material between the ears of the designers. I could write books only on this, but it's much easier to just buy and old IH instead. My next truck is likely to be '70's vintage, the type with key in the dash and nothing in the steering column that could cause havoc when breaking and falling into gaps.......

Gazooks! What a wonderful full-throttle RANT. Wish I could write half as well.
Would stay and chat, but gotta go help my buddy rebuild the carb on his 1970 Chevy PU. I should have never sold him that truck.....
rScotty

 

[fitterski]

Seems like it's all about quick profit these days. I run a business too, but I can't ascribe to this robber-baron, grab the money and run, business model. IOW plenty of blame to go around, but in the end you can't stop progress.

What we're having is progress trying to happen in spite of monumental stupidity. Maybe what's needed in every development/engineering department is a team of proofreaders, people with actual real-life experience who can test a plan to see how it would perform in real life situations OTHER than the normal envelope for which it was designed but designing for which needs only a third grade diploma. The typical engineer today uses software to design and isn't capable or allowed to anticipate the unexpected. Everything I cited happened in the last few years either to me or to someone nearby, NONE of is fiction, ALL of is unacceptable. One of my neighbours is a small livestock rancher, he actually got forced into giving it all up and that I find patently revolting.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Uh.... Just this morning someone using your handle posted, "Truth is, the "simple to fix" aspect has little value for a non-mechanic. Especially vs the comfort, safety, and convenience factors of more modern machines."

Uh.... don't take me too seriously, and please do Pardon Me, but it sounds like you just wrote a rebuttal to your own earlier post, explaining in well-worded detail exactly what value that "simple to fix" does have to you; and to everyone.
:-?

And well-reasoned, too!

rScotty


*Here's hoping that overly complex "design for profit" is just a fad that will eventually reverse itself.

"Simple to fix" = all mechanical, no computer controls, i.e., you can be your own mechanic.

"Simply designed" but all computer/electronic controls, you probably ain't wrenching on it yourself.

Two different "simples"

 

[fitterski]

Wow man, just wow.

Have you taken your medication today?

No, I just finished 4 hours of work with my 426, great machine, a fly can unload into the intake without fear and with confidence knowing that there's no way that "the cat" will shut itself down because of it.