I don't understand something.

[DK35vince]

Is that in your manual?

My hour meter is cable operated.
The faster the engine spins the faster it turns the cable.
At idle speed it takes twice as long to = 1 hour on the meter.
My previous tractor (JD 850 worked the same way)

 

[2manyrocks]

OK, I don't understand a lot of things, but that's another thread.


My little squirt is approaching 4 years old (wow, has it really been that long?) and it approaching 500 hours, or around 125 hours a year.. I don't use it very much. It sits for weeks sometime between tasks if I don't have to mow.

But I keep seeing threads and posts about 20, 30, 40 year old tractors with hour readings that work out to 20 hours a year or less. Is it that they have more than one machine and each gets lesser use than if they only had one? How do you spend $20,000 or so on something you use so little?

Tractors used to be less expensive. I bought a small tractor years ago that has beenly used to keep the road graded and do minor cutting of areas that the bigger tractors missed. It doesn't have a lot of hours on it, but it was the right tool for the small jobs that needed to be done here and there.

 

[friendlywithbears]

Well be run around taking care of livestock on the quads, they are the go to transport on the property. I do fair bit of hunting and foraging on my Rancher and use it to tension fencing, haul stuff,etc. It's almost a mile around the pond, so it all adds up. Everyone has their own including our Grandkid, little 50 for now. The ATV are quicker and cheaper to run than the tractors.

I'm jealous, ATV is top on my list of things I don't have but could really use. Would help to not have to squeeze the full size through the woods and loading up the tractor or swapping implements over to "carry" implements is a real chore.

 

[ljjhouser]

I think some of us buy some sort of power machine to solve a problem. (enter the tractor).
I bought my tractor to solve a problem. I have a gravel road (about 800') and maintained it with a shovel. I used a small trailer, filled with 30 5 gal buckets. Shoveled them full, put on trailer, repaired the road filling ruts and washouts.
I had to work on the road anytime there was a downpour 3" or more. The last load of rock I shoveled was 22 tons.

On time it rained hard and washed out. I repaired it - took 2 weeks, everyday. It looked pretty good.

2 days later, it happened again. I told my wife I am too old for that. I was 73. We bought a tractor.

The day they delivered the tractor (wanting the use the tractor) I put on the box blade and started work on the miserable road. I added rock, formed the crown, and it looked GREAT. I sat there near the top of the road, and thought it never looked better, I then looked at the dash of the tractor and realized the hour meter showed only two hours of work - best buy I have made.

Now, 5 years later, the road does NOT wash out and needs finishing maybe one time a month. I no longer need to buy 20 tons of rock each month. 400 hours on the tractor.

But I use it for many things. But I bought it because I could not maintain the road.

I never expected to break even on cost on the maintenance and cost of the tractor. But still, I could not do without it.
Besides, I love that damn tractor!

 

[4570Man]

An hydraulic chainsaw running of the remotes.

Not gonna lie, I've almost done it but end up putting that project on the back burner.

That would only appeal to me if I was working in a bucket truck. And even then not really. Gas saws are better then they used to be and battery saws are way better then they were even a few years ago. Dragging around a hydraulic saw on the ground would really suck.

 

[Thomas]

Not waiting on contractor list or rental equipment also planning on the weather.

 

[ArlyA]

We'd love to have a tractor plus this and that tool and accessoires for it. Nothing like the feeling of getting some job done and you didn't need to return the tool to the rental location or hoping some volunteers might do it (they don't). If we can afford the tools, we get them. If anyone is interested in price points, our 6x6 Outlander with various accessoires needed for winter operations with cost us about 30K. Ya, it is worth every penny to us. (all work, not a play atv)

 

[Gordon Gould]

22 years ago I bought a new tractor, rear blade, and logging winch for $18,000. So that's $2.25 a day. Independent of the hours, it's been worth it just from the enjoyment stand point. And the cost is probably less than most people spend on lunch or coffee in that time.

gg

 

[Williy]

Anyone who owns a tractor should
have a parts list for their tractor so
is someone tells them about a part
they can find it. Also a parts list has
part numbers so if need be you can
order or find the part you need.

willy

 

[hornett22]

For me there is no $$ return on my tractor investments. They currently lose me money, though they give me and my two grandsons a GREAT deal of pleasure.

I have three, including my MILs since she is 77 and will never operate it, it might as well be mine. I have a dedicated ZTR for mowing, I do bushhog with my small tractors sometimes because they are easier to get in tighter spots than the MILs large tractor. I also just enjoy bushhogging in the open air (no cab), even if it takes longer.

I don't put a lot of hours on a tractor and I have bought tractors, used them for a year, two or five and sold them for almost what I paid for them. So that is a pretty good investment if you ask me. They save my back, my time and $$ since I don't have to hire a lot of things done.

Also, I get to help all of my tractorless neighbors out here, they get snowed in at least once or twice a year and I take my MILs heated cab tractor and dig them out. She likes that she feels like she is helping her neighbors at 77 years old, she just uses me to do it, and I'm happy to oblige. : )

When we tell people we live in the country on 5 acres they say "oh that would be so nice". They never think of what it takes to maintain acreage. But we really maintain more like 8 acres with my MILs property and a couple hundred acres (rented out as farmland) but my wife and I maintain barns, waterways, ditches, large driveways, and the equipment to maintain all of that. It is a Lot of work, sometimes I do complain that the list never ends.. but I wouldn't trade it.

It would not be possible without the tractors and with all of that said, I still do not put more than probably 160 hours a year on all combined tractors. That does not include the two ZTRs we use to mow ditches, yards and barn lots. Probably another 150 hours a year on those.

Even if it costs me money, I enjoy it and it beats the snot out of city livin'!

It costs me less than what some people pay for cable. Now THAT is a piss poor return on your $$