Hour meter tampering?

[newbury]

I'll be looking for a recent (2-8 years old) compact or sub-compact Kubota to purchase. I expect that my decision will be heavily influenced by the number of hours on the "clock".

Now I'm wondering how reliable that figure will be. Is hour-meter tampering common among tractor resellers? Is it technically simple (or, even possible) to do a roll-back as is done with car odometers? Is the practice even illegal with tractors?

My strategy will probably be to inspect service records and hopefully the numbers of hours will be noted on each receipt along with the date. But, what if there are no records, as when a seller has done all maintenance himself rather than at a dealer?

Thoughts?

I've found the hour meters to be extremely accurate and reliable.
As long as you know what the heck they are measuring!!
Time, what is time?

There's clock time and PTO speed time.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...150221-b7610-hour-meter-tach-revolutions.html

Some measure hours as in clock time:
I turned it on at 10:00, let it idle, and at 12:00 it showed two hours.

Others like mine measure it in PTO speed time:
I turned it on at 10:00 and ran it around a lot, pushed a lot of dirt, played with the backhoe, all at about 1800 RPM and at 12:00 it showed 1 hour.

 

[Duffster]

I've found the hour meters to be extremely accurate and reliable.
As long as you know what the heck they are measuring!!
Time, what is time?

There's clock time and PTO speed time.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...150221-b7610-hour-meter-tach-revolutions.html

Some measure hours as in clock time:
I turned it on at 10:00, let it idle, and at 12:00 it showed two hours.

Others like mine measure it in PTO speed time:
I turned it on at 10:00 and ran it around a lot, pushed a lot of dirt, played with the backhoe, all at about 1800 RPM and at 12:00 it showed 1 hour.

What RPM is PTO speed.

It should have shown more than one hour.

 

[newbury]

What RPM is PTO speed.

It should have shown more than one hour.

Forgive me - those were just examples - I haven't ACCURATELY measured RPM and time. But I spent a LOT of hours initially with it working where I'd do some bucket work at moderate RPM, put it to idle - dismount, fiddle with stuff, and it never kept time with the clock.
When I've been operating the BH at about 2,000 RPM lately it racks up the hours a lot quicker. I think PTO speed is about 2600 RPM.