Comparison Plastic versus Paper, I mean Metal.

[eee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> But not all plastics are the same there! Done right, they withstand UV like crazy, while the paint can chalk off the metal and it rusts. </font> )</font>

Some plastic is stronger than metals,we have plastics now that would lay outside a 100 years and never rot. We have some plastic where I work a piece of it 2" thick you could not bust it with a 14 pound sledge hammer. They use plastic in electric percolator coffee pots.
I have seen a line 36 " wide and about 12 feet long full of plastic and a high pressure water truck (10,000 PSI ) would spend days trying to cut through it.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Aviation is great example. No expense spared on UV protectants for resins and coverings and the plastics themselves, but they are still affected. Their useful life has ended long before any visual damage has taken place. Their strength has been greatly reduced by UV damage and regular inspection and replacement of these items is required. )</font>

Aviation is subjected to far higher levels of radiation than we experience on the ground.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( There is a small dent in the hood of the Kubota B2910, it will cost about $400 to repair )</font>

400 bucks to repair? what are they replacing it vs repair ing it?

For 400 you could have a car body shop remove it, sandblast, beat the dent out putty it and repait the whole tractor.. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( will the metal hood have rusted through? )</font>

keep that paint intact..


Soundguy

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="red"> ( Aviation is great example. No expense spared on UV protectants for resins and coverings and the plastics themselves, but they are still affected. Their useful life has ended long before any visual damage has taken place. Their strength has been greatly reduced by UV damage and regular inspection and replacement of these items is required. )
</font>

<font color="green"> Aviation is subjected to far higher levels of radiation than we experience on the ground. </font>

Comparing a tractor hood to an airplane cowling is actually pretty silly. When was the last time a tractor hood was REGULARILY subjected to 300 mph windloads?

The reality is that a tractor hood is there to help cover up the engine and make the tractor look pretty, and oh yea, it keeps some of junk out of the engine, air intake, etc. Fenders are basically deflectors. These pieces, regardless of their material (plastic or metal) are mostly cosmetic and safety and are rarely, if ever, structural. Even if a plastic part becomes brittle two or three decades from now, it will likely not be noticed UNTIL something lands on that part with a resounding thump. That same thump that may shatter that plastic part 30 years from now will also wreak havoc on a metal hood, that will likely be rusted in the same amount of time, especially where it bolts into place, etc.

Personally I think the whole arguement is much ado about nothing. Plastic is easier to maintain and just as durable, at least for the first 20 or 30 years. Metal has its place and its fans. I like them both, but for upkeep I prefer plastic.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="green"> For 400 you could have a car body shop remove it, sandblast, beat the dent out putty it and repait the whole tractor..
</font>

NOT WHERE I LIVE YOU CAN'T!

$400 was the cost estimate 2 years ago to remove the hood, pound it out, and repaint it. The estimate came from the dealership. Personally I don't have enough time to mess with making a working tractor look pretty. I'd rather spend my time on a restoration tractor than this.

 

[Soundguy]

Not sure where this post falls.. but I know the heavy equipment we buy for work at the GC I work for.. comes in metal body panels.. cat, JD kobelco.. hyster.. etc.. All the major manufacturers are using sheet metal.. not plastic for the body panels... ( and I'm sure you pay for that as well.. )

Soundguy

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="red"> All the major manufacturers are using sheet metal.. not plastic for the body panels </font>


Ingersoll Rand and JCB are using a lot of plastic and fiberglass on their newest generation of industrial & commercial units from asphalt rollers to TLBs. And from the looks of the CAT asphalt roller I see every day as I drive home through road construction, I strongly suspect that very curvy body work is probably fiberglass or plastic. But I could be wrong on that one.

Again, I think it boils down to choice and some like one and others like something else. This is much ado about very little indeed.

 

[Dutch445]

I'd bet that a lot of people don't even realize the extent of composite body panels in the auto industry. Saturn advertised it, but there are several GM models going back years with composite fenders, etc. The Transport/Silhouette vans were mostly plastic, and I bet a lot of others that I don't know of.
Funny thing about cars... most of them won't last 15 years anyways so who cares if they don't rust!
(I guess that doesn't apply as much for non salt using areas in the South)
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Soundguy]

I havn't seen those pieces of equipment.. so not disputing what you saw. Also.. none of the contractors are using IR equipment here either.. pretty much JD, cat, komatsu and kobelco. .. some older fiat and some older japanese stuff for the little contractors.

We don't do any asphalt work.. so have no asphalt equipment to compair that to.. most of our stuff is ground engaging, or finish grade prep. So far all the equipment we've got from cat and JD this year ( loaders, dozer, pan and road grader ) have been all metal body panels.

Just checking myself here.. but I just ran out to our yard.. and checked everything from our gradealls to the various vibratory, steel wheel and rubber tire rollers.. mixers.. various loaders and dozers... found nothing more than dash plastic ( and some metal dashes ).. and a few bits of cowling and weatherstripping as rubber or rubberized plastic. otherwise.. sheet meal and cast iron. Kick over to our semi trucks.. and yes... all fiberglass cab-overs.. etc.

I don't doubt that we will see some plastic soon. I've seen some large rubber tracked ?challanger? tractors and they appear to have plastic contoured body panels.

I think the issue is that when someone goes and pays 120K or 250K for a piece of yellow metal.. they want it to be 'metal'.. not plastic...

Soundguy

 

[rockyridgefarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I began to wonder some, how are the plastic fenders and all holding up and do they still look pretty good in the few years versus the metal ones denting and or rusting? Or should I not worry about it?
)</font>

To answer the question, the (JD) plastic is holding up very well. I am glad that I got it, and like it better the metal on my old tractor. The plastic isn't junk.

There are some very good metal skinned machines, I never meant they aren't good, just that the Deere plastic isn't junk.

There may also be metal, fiberglass, and plastic machines that are junk.

But you should not let a plastic hood and fenders keep you from at least considering a machine. Owners seem to be very happy with all types.