Holly F...ng Branson!!!!!!!

[dfkrug]

I suspect the design margins get a lot thinner as machine size increases, for two main reasons:

1. Cost. It does not cost so much to over-build smaller equipment with a little extra margin. But as things get large, it goes from "expensive" to eventually "impossible" to build in the same safety margins.

2. Assumed operator experience: The smaller machines are built on the assumption that the operators may be much less experienced than large equipment operators, and so more margin is warranted.

....and #3: duty cycle.

I remember some hoe boom cracking on a Case 580 TLB used here to dig my house foundation. I had a local welder fix it for the owner-operator. That machine had 30,000 hours on it.

Our compact tractors are not for industrial use, and would likely have stress failures in structural components like loaders in under 5000 hours of normal use.