GREAT NEWS!

[StoneHeartFarm]

The latest issue of "Countryside & Small Stock Journal", along with the usual raising goats and castrating calves articles, has a small blurb with the following info:

"How Long Will a Tractor Last?"

"According to the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, you can expect a tractor to be good for 12,000 hours."

Tillage tools, mowers, spreaders, harrows, disks, etc:2250 hours.

Seeding equipment:1200 hours.

Also, they say that the average tractor in the US is used about 600 hours per year, which makes the useful life 20 years.

SHF

 

[GlueGuy]

The way I'm going, I think I'll only get around 200 hours on Lucy this year.... Which puts her life expectancy at 60 years! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Does that mean that Lucy will outlive me? /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

The GlueGuy

 

[Jag]

It is always a good possibility. Well with me it is anyway.

 

[patrickg]

Neat, I'll be sure to tell all my neighbors still using tractors over 40 yrs old, on a daily basis) that they can expect them to last until over 20 yrs ago? Howzis?

Maybe there is another interpretation to this data. Since I see so many tractors older than that in use, yet I trust your info source, it must mean that tractor life expectancy is not constant and is in fact rapidly growing shorter.

If this trend continues the'll ship them with a sealed fuel tank and you buy a new tractor when it quits or runs out of fuel whichever comes first. Maybe buy them in pairs to have one while sending the other back for refilling like a pop bottle (anyone else out there remember when botles were refilled?). Planned obsolescence, throw away society, mumble mutter grump...

Patrick

 

[radman]

Wow! Frankly I am astonished at that number. Our tractor with the most hours is about 10,000 hours and it has been rarely used in the past 10 years. It was a 1972 IH 756 (about 86hp) with a german made diesel and it was used hard. PTO clutch is shot but otherwise runs ok. Never been overhauled but has had 3-4 different transmission clutches over the years. A farm tractor with 10,000 is about the end of its life without a major overhaul. I attribute some of my midrange hearing loss to that tractor and I haven't been on it for 20 years. My Kubota dealer said he once traded a B7100 that had 10,000 hours- he said it looked like 20,000 hours!

 

[glennmac]

I would suspect that these data concern large agricultural tractors. I doubt the average compact will last that long.

 

[kubmech]

A B7100 with 10,000 hrs. Now that's impressive. These are definitely extreme cases, most of the stuff I see on a regular basis is wore the *#!$ out at around 2500 hours.

 

[TresCrows]

Hmmm, 2,500 hours is not very much really. I would hope a Kubota diesel would be capable of more than that, I suspect they are but are limited by being left out in the weather (like my neighbor keeps theirs), using non-synthetic oil (had to throw that in there) being abused no end, rode hard and then put away wet. For years I thought all farmers left there stuff out in the rain and then I went up north (Wisconsisn and Minnesota) and was shocked to see farmers putting their tractors and equipment away after use--clean no less! Why heck, down South my uncles would just leave them sit where they got off them till they needed them again, 2 days, two weeks, two years. Of course, finding your tractor after it sitting two years in Louisiana or similar deep South state may be problematic. Here in kansaw these folks talk about growing native grasses and not mowing at all--down there the native grass is a jungle and it can cover a tractor in about 3 weeks. I suppose that might have something to do with why they seemed to always be in debt for a new tractor, new truck, new ---well won't go there. J

 

[skent]

I'd have to side with Glennmac with this one. The AG tractors that get 50 or 60 hours a week will get more use in a month than ours gets in a year. Once you reach a certin age you reach a point of diminishing returns. My neighbor gets 10K hours on his White Ag tractors in less than 10 years. When you get to a point that things break/wear out on a monthly basis, maybe you and I could do without a tractor for a week waiting for a part or repair, but the AG's the BIG farmers use can't.

Other factors to figure into the life are How long the unit runs once it get started (is it a 1 hour job or a 10 hour job) Hot/cold cycling affects life, (10 one hours jobs are much harder than 1 ten hour job). Does the Hour meter run off the Tach line (running at 1500 RPM for an hour does not register on the meter as an hour) or is it electronic, as I think with the BX. Are you doing alot of BH work or pulling heavy loads (affects transmission wear rate). Is tractor kept in heated garage or outside with a tarp over it.

I have no doubt that with TLC, PM, and available parts any tractor can go 10K hours. I have a 1950 Case DC and a 1951 Case SC that are both STILL going strong, with the help available parts and proper maintance.

Steve