Hour Meters

[big bubba]

I did some work digging and trenching last week. Never shut my tractor off for 7 hours. Never stopped to eat. It was working all the time, but at about 1800-2000 rpms...that's all it needed for the job. PTO speed is 2400.

The meter registered a little over 2.5 hours.

so if someone is looking at a used tractor with that type hr meter, he can expect that the tractor will have many more operating hrs on it than what the meter is showing....wonder how that works for maintenance intervals. the 1st 50 hr service could actually occur after many more hrs than that. personally, i like the electronic cable method better.

 

[ovrszd]

so if someone is looking at a used tractor with that type hr meter, he can expect that the tractor will have many more operating hrs on it than what the meter is showing....wonder how that works for maintenance intervals. the 1st 50 hr service could actually occur after many more hrs than that. personally, i like the electronic cable method better.

For the same reasons, I prefer a simple tick, tick electronic meter. It accurately displays the hours the machine was in operation.

 

[big bubba]

x2. an analogy might be a cop car that is stationary & idling for several hrs a day. so do the maintenance intervals go strictly by mileage?

guess kubota has this all figured in since cable hr meters have been around forever. truckers too leaving rigs idling many stationary hrs...... just thinking aloud. one reason to maybe change engine oil either annually or every 100hrs, whichever occurs first. just an academic argument here

 

[CobyRupert]

Most engine hour meters record revolutions. Reason being the distance the piston travels in the cylinder is what matters. Some machines have both revolutions and time recording meters.

Ahha!! :thumbsup:

...but then.... How do we measure if was under load or not under load? Point being, no matter which style, there's no true meter to express engine wear.

So for tractors that have a rpm based "clock" (which is really a revolution counter with mis-labeled units), if you rent one, should you run it at a low an rpm as possible and save yourself some money? (let that hydro whine baby!)
Or conversely, if it's a real (tick-tock) time based clock that runs off the key switch, I guess you should stop it (and start it) as much as possible (heat/cool cycle that turbo, engine, work that starter! )).

 

[ovrszd]

I guess the most accurate would be large AG tractors that run wide open 95% of the time. At least their meter would be consistent although not necessarily accurate.