Is 4500 hrs a scary number?

[sjvalin]

I was at the local Kubota/NH dealer. They had a 3 year old Ford/NH 1720 with 4500hrs, loader, box blade, and new Woods rotary cutter, for $9500. The tractor looked like it had been well cared for, and sounded fine when run. Of course I would drive it before I buy it. It had the 12F/12R with shuttle sync tranny. I won't be putting many hours on it, so as long as the drivetrain is in good shape now, it will likely stay that way. Question is, is 4500 hours at the end of an engine's life? How does one determine the condition of a diesel engine? Compression check? Does the price seem reasonable?

 

[JimBinMI]

sjvalin,

I have done limited questioning on the hourmeter variances between tractors on this board. What I can tell you is that I own a <font color=blue>New Holland TC18</font color=blue>, it records one hour for every hour at an engine rpm of 1833. However, my engine rpm at 540 rear pto is about 2450! A couple Kubota owners that responded reported that their tractors recorded one hour for every hour at engine rpm that brought the rear pto to 540 rpm, this engine rpm seemed to be in the area of 2400.

When I did the math, it came out that when I use my NH for 45 clock minutes at pto speed, it records an hour on the hourmeter and when the sample Kubota operates for one clock hour at pto speeds, it records an hour on the hourmeter. So the sample Kubota records only 75% of the hours that my NH records.

IF,IF,IF, these figures follow through the line of tractors (NH & K) then the hours recorded on the 1720 that you looked at would only be 3,375 on a Kubota.

I have no experience with how long a diesel engine lasts, but from reading this and other boards I've heard that you don't even have to think about an overhaul until 6,000-8,000 hours!? If properly taken care of and serviced! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Just in case my above comments cause any kind of controversy, I apologize in advance! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Hawgee]

No controversy here? I agree with JimBinMI in regards to the overhaul hours when regular maintenance is followed. As to the amount of hours, I am told by a local golf course that 1000 hours per year is average. I know this is less than the average home owner and closer to rental or commercial machines. If not sure of diesels, I would take a knowing friend along for the test drive.

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

 

[PaulB]

All depends on how much loving care was given the tractor. At work we have a 10 year old L2850 Kubota, and it is literally as good as new at 1000 hours. It is so well maintained that it will be as good as new at 5000 hours I am sure if it ever gets used that much. At 10 years old I would gladly pay what it cost new, and get a bargain. One day I was coming home from work and stopped at the local tractor dealer to check out his used machines, and he had the EXACT same model with 900 something hours on it, and visually at least it was a pile of scrap metal. I would not have paid $500 for it for fear that it still had the factory motor oil (or maybe even no oil at all) inside it. Same exact tractor, different maintanance philosophies, and vastly diffferent end results. Can the dealer produce a maintanance log for the tractor you are looking at??

 

[ejb]

4500 could be scary, depends on how well it has been treated and maintained over the years...most dealers I have talked to (green and orange) seem to agree that 5000 hours is about the time you *might* start spending some serious dough for maintenance, but again, it depends on how hard those hours were. Then again, if you get a tractor for a good price, spend a bit on rebuilding the engine, you could possible get several more thousand hours of use out of it.

Good luck.

 

[W5FL]

Look through the topics on the board and you will find a long writeup of a Kubota tractor that from new had over 8000 hours put on it and still in constant use.

Most Ag tractors don't see engine problems until 8-10,000 hours. That only take 4 or 5 years for them, but would probably take you 40 or 50 years. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Look at it from a point that a B series Cummins is rated to go 300,000 miles. If you average 40 MPH, it is equal to 7,500 HRs. If the engine is in good shape, I would say you have at least 2,000 to 3,000 HRs left. At a hundred HRs a year = 20 to 30 years.

Good luck,
Joe