looking for another tractor

[Cruiserdog]

If everything else on the tractor s Ok, and you liked it, why not simply rebuild the engine? It would doubtless be a bunch less $$ than buying a new one. For $10 k you could probably buy a new engine. Older Diesel engines
aren’t that complex-if you’re willing you could probably overhaul the engine yourself. I am NOT a mechanic by any means but I rebuilt a 25 horse John Deere (Yanmar) 14 years ago. (Had the crank turned, new bearings, rods, pistons, head rebuilt. Local shop did the head and crank, I tore her down and put it back together. I had less than 1k in it in parts and it was still running when I traded it many years later)

 

[paulfun9]

If everything else on the tractor s Ok, and you liked it, why not simply rebuild the engine? It would doubtless be a bunch less $$ than buying a new one. For $10 k you could probably buy a new engine. Older Diesel engines
aren’t that complex-if you’re willing you could probably overhaul the engine yourself. I am NOT a mechanic by any means but I rebuilt a 25 horse John Deere (Yanmar) 14 years ago. (Had the crank turned, new bearings, rods, pistons, head rebuilt. Local shop did the head and crank, I tore her down and put it back together. I had less than 1k in it in parts and it was still running when I traded it many years later)

This is the solution!
Rebuild it, if you are not able place an ad someplace looking for someone who can. You just might be surprised that someone nearby is able to do the job for a lot less than the dealership.
Around here I coold recommend a few people because they are well known by those of us who do this kind of stuff but when people who don’t travel in our social circle need this type of work they have no clue who or where these people are.

 

[SenileTexasAggie]

If everything else on the tractor s Ok, and you liked it, why not simply rebuild the engine? It would doubtless be a bunch less $$ than buying a new one. For $10 k you could probably buy a new engine. Older Diesel engines aren’t that complex-if you’re willing you could probably overhaul the engine yourself. I am NOT a mechanic by any means but I rebuilt a 25 horse John Deere (Yanmar) 14 years ago. (Had the crank turned, new bearings, rods, pistons, head rebuilt. Local shop did the head and crank, I tore her down and put it back together. I had less than 1k in it in parts and it was still running when I traded it many years later)

This is the solution!
Rebuild it, if you are not able place an ad someplace looking for someone who can. You just might be surprised that someone nearby is able to do the job for a lot less than the dealership.
Around here I coold recommend a few people because they are well known by those of us who do this kind of stuff but when people who don’t travel in our social circle need this type of work they have no clue who or where these people are.

I am not terrified to overhaul the engine -- after all, I helped my dad overhaul 3 different engines (2 cars and 1 truck) back in the late 1960s. So I know the basic idea. My problems in doing the overhaul/rebuild are: (1) I am a lot older (nearing 68) and thus not nearly as strong as I once was, (2) I don't have enough equipment I think I would need to disassemble/reassemble an engine, such as (a) a ridge reamer so that I can remove the pistons, (b) a boring machine (it almost certainly will need to be rebored, considering I ran it without oil for 2 hours), (c) an engine hoist (for the head, if nothing else), (d) a transmission jack to hold the transmission while I removed the clutch and pressure plate. I am not sure how I could remove the flywheel and harmonic balancer from the crankshaft, but maybe the machine shop could do that, (e) lots of other tools that don't come to mind, (3) locating the engine parts at a much lower cost than what the dealer estimated (which they said was around $8-10K).

After all, I am not running a business, so I don't HAVE to have another tractor, at least not right away. It's just that I would really LIKE to have a tractor soon, as I have a good bit of things that need doing, such as picking up brush in the pastures I have leased for haying (they should not have to do that). I will look into advertising for someone who can do it and a place that sells parts. What forum do you folks recommend? Craig's List? Tractor House? Other?

Comments?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[fried1765]

I am not terrified to overhaul the engine -- after all, I helped my dad overhaul 3 different engines (2 cars and 1 truck) back in the late 1960s. So I know the basic idea. My problems in doing the overhaul/rebuild are: (1) I am a lot older (nearing 68) and thus not nearly as strong as I once was, (2) I don't have enough equipment I think I would need to disassemble/reassemble an engine, such as (a) a ridge reamer so that I can remove the pistons, (b) a boring machine (it almost certainly will need to be rebored, considering I ran it without oil for 2 hours), (c) an engine hoist (for the head, if nothing else), (d) a transmission jack to hold the transmission while I removed the clutch and pressure plate. I am not sure how I could remove the flywheel and harmonic balancer from the crankshaft, but maybe the machine shop could do that, (e) lots of other tools that don't come to mind, (3) locating the engine parts at a much lower cost than what the dealer estimated (which they said was around $8-10K).

After all, I am not running a business, so I don't HAVE to have another tractor, at least not right away. It's just that I would really LIKE to have a tractor soon, as I have a good bit of things that need doing, such as picking up brush in the pastures I have leased for haying (they should not have to do that). I will look into advertising for someone who can do it and a place that sells parts. What forum do you folks recommend? Craig's List? Tractor House? Other?

Comments?

Senile Texas Aggie

Ask friends and neighbors, and friends of friends and neighbors.

 

[rScotty]

I am not terrified to overhaul the engine -- after all, I helped my dad overhaul 3 different engines (2 cars and 1 truck) back in the late 1960s. So I know the basic idea. My problems in doing the overhaul/rebuild are: (1) I am a lot older (nearing 68) and thus not nearly as strong as I once was, (2) I don't have enough equipment I think I would need to disassemble/reassemble an engine, such as (a) a ridge reamer so that I can remove the pistons, (b) a boring machine (it almost certainly will need to be rebored, considering I ran it without oil for 2 hours), (c) an engine hoist (for the head, if nothing else), (d) a transmission jack to hold the transmission while I removed the clutch and pressure plate. I am not sure how I could remove the flywheel and harmonic balancer from the crankshaft, but maybe the machine shop could do that, (e) lots of other tools that don't come to mind, (3) locating the engine parts at a much lower cost than what the dealer estimated (which they said was around $8-10K).

After all, I am not running a business, so I don't HAVE to have another tractor, at least not right away. It's just that I would really LIKE to have a tractor soon, as I have a good bit of things that need doing, such as picking up brush in the pastures I have leased for haying (they should not have to do that). I will look into advertising for someone who can do it and a place that sells parts. What forum do you folks recommend? Craig's List? Tractor House? Other?

Comments?

Senile Texas Aggie

Well, it's good to see that you understand the process... and kind of disappointing that so many of us with the knowledge and ability to do simple repairs are rapidly getting to the age where we prefer to spend out time doing something else. I wish I could direct you somewhere. There are still a few who do this kind of work, but not so many. It took some digging, but I've found enough locally to keep my own machines maintained (I'm older than you). But the guys who do it aren't young either.
The key is having a local engine machine shop to do the boring, cranks, and heads. As you and others point out, the rest is just bolting it together. It used to be there were engine machine shops in most towns. Now they are becoming rare.

Owner repairability is actually a big deal in the tractor industry and has been a subject of tractor industry discussions for some time now. It's a common subject at Ag shows, too. Texas and Nebraska are particularly active. There are proponents on both sides of the issue - i.e. owner repairability vs dealer-only repairability. It's big enough that there are legal challenges right now going on over things like the ownership of proprietary manufacturing designs vs. owner having the right to tinker with their own machinery. Both sides even have lobbying organizations. Some of it initiially grew out of emissions control software, but the whole industry was quick to see the $$ value of restricting repairability to dealers only. So it is now a bi-partisan issue.

BloomBerg Business Week did a long article from a John Deere perspective in their March 9 issue this year.
rScotty

None of which helps you get closer to a new tractor.
And although I favor repair when you can, I sure wouldn't miss this chance to have a new spiffy tractor as well. Especially with over 100 acres...

 

[Hay Dude]

I am new to the forum, having just joined Sat, Apr 25. I am hoping you folks can provide me with the professional help my wife is always telling me I need.

My previous tractor, a 2005 New Holland TC48DA, died a painful death a few weeks ago. It was no fault of the tractor but the idiot who was operating it (me). So now I am in the market for another tractor, new or used. I am looking for a good source of reliability info, akin to what is available from Consumer Reports for used cars, but instead for tractors. That way, I hope to avoid tractor manufacturers or models with a history of trouble.

Here is what I have: 160 acres, with ~80 in pasture and 80 in woods. I currently have no plans to cut the woods except to perhaps built UTV trails through them. I do cut the woods along the edges, where they have encroached into the pastures. Currently, 50 acres are leased to another farmer for hay cutting, with the other 30 being a bit overgrown (lots of trees interspersed) which I cut. I have the following implements: shredder/rotary mower, wood chipper, box blade, landscape rake, (SSQA) bucket, grapple, tree shear, stump bucket, hay bale spear, pallet forks.

I appreciate whatever advice you can provide.

Senile Texas Aggie

Rent a tractor for a year and have the engine rebuilt. New DPF/DEF engines are very complex and require more $ maintenance. IMO, the tractor you have is a good one.
I have 4 pre-DPF tractors and although they have some electronics, they dont have exhaust treatments. You dont want them, either.

 

[Beeenvenue]

Are you serious? I looked at renting for my first year and the cost rapidly approaches 1/2 of an entire new unit (much greater if you rent day or week at a time over a year).

And if you haven’t run the new tier 4 engines, then perhaps your fear is based on some of the early ones - I didn’t own one of those and I’ve heard the horror stories, but you don’t find very many at all for tractors made post 2017 or so. (Yes problems exist but not many as a percentage of tractors sold).

 

[Hay Dude]

Are you serious? I looked at renting for my first year and the cost rapidly approaches 1/2 of an entire new unit (much greater if you rent day or week at a time over a year).

And if you haven’t run the new tier 4 engines, then perhaps your fear is based on some of the early ones - I didn’t own one of those and I’ve heard the horror stories, but you don’t find very many at all for tractors made post 2017 or so. (Yes problems exist but not many as a percentage of tractors sold).

Yeah I’m serious, but I should have specified a used tractor on dealer lot. Were you thinking I was referring to a NEW tractor? :laughing:
Many dealerships have a used tractor lot and they will allow you to use one as a “ loaner “ while yours is being fixed. I did this and they let me use it free for a couple weeks.

 

[Bigfoot62]

I really liked it. It had a manual 12x12 transmission and all of the power I needed except a time or two when the loader (LA 16) could not pick up a log or tree truck. I would gladly buy another one if I could find another in decent shape. I looked on tractorhouse DOT com and there were only three listed in the entire USA. along with only 3 for its bigger brother TC53DA. It was an open station style tractor. If I buy another tractor, I am considering a cab.

. . . On Monday and Tuesday a couple of weeks ago, I cut down every cedar tree I could get to in the pasture that I mow, part of my thinning out of the trees in that area. Unknown to me, sometime on Tuesday a tree or limb bent my oil dipstick tube, causing oil to blow out of the crankcase. On Wednesday, I went out to pick up all of the cedar trees I had cut down. I noticed that there was a small amount of oil on the shop floor on the right side of the tractor. I decided that I would look into the source of the leak when I got finished picking up the cedar trees. While I was picking up the trees, the oil pressure light came on. Here's the bigger idiot part -- for some reason I thought that the oil pressure light was on the left and the light that was on simply meant that the tractor was not running. I thought that perhaps I had dislodged the wire, as I had done that numerous times with the neutral safety switch (I finally had to bypass the neutral safety switch because it kept getting torn loose by brush). So I kept working for 2 hours or so with no oil in the engine. Finally, as I backed into the shop, the engine started making a really bad knocking sound (I wonder why ). Once I went into the house, I looked up in the owner's manual just exactly what that light meant. When it said oil pressure, I became physically ill, and it hit me that I had most certainly ruined the engine. . .

If you really like your tractor, why don't you check with the dealer about the cost of a total rebuild, or replacement of the engine. If that's all that's wrong with it, I'm quite sure it'll be cheaper to replace the engine than the tractor.

 

[Beeenvenue]

The ones I looked at were like used cars - good condition but has been rented before. I looked and called and couldn’t find anything except for short term rentals and yes those were still $$$. Perhaps my location south of Dallas means there is a higher demand, or perhaps 25-40 hp CUTs (what I was looking for) rent at a higher % of actual sales price.