Simple Reality - Tractors com with maintenance costs

[Ford tractor]

My one and only real exasperation is with an apparent mindset that can joyfully spend $20-30K for a tractor and then, seemingly, be-grudge spending virtually anything above the very lowest priced, budget, no-name products he can possibly find to use in maintenance.

Scratching my head a little. Shouldn't maintenance costs be factored in when considering tractor ownership? I don't know.
If you can't afford to pay, can you afford to play?

You don't deal with "customers" directly, do you:laughing:

 

[varmint]

I have wrestled with which fluids to buy, as well. After reading endless arguements on different websites, searching the internet, ad nauseum, I decided to play it safe and get Kubota filters and hydraulic fluids, but I use non Kubota synthetic engine oil. I figure that changing it every 40-50 hours is going to be the best insurance, long term. If you buy your filters in advance, using the internet to shop, then the cost is not that much more for the real deal. Plus, who knows what's the best, unless you are in the business?

 

[harpoonalt]

My neighbor bought a cub cadet lawn tractor 3 years ago. He hasn't changed the oil or a filter yet, runs over stuff instead of picking it up and already broke his snowplow mounts because he puts everything together with a hammer. He's cheap and pays the price. I won't help him fix stuff anymore because it's from neglect not use. I had a wheelbarrow I gave him that I had for 15 years and it was in great shape. He had it 3 years, left it outdoors, never tightened a bolt, and brought it to the dump last week totally trashed. A wheelbarrow? Some people just don't care I guess. The old adage about "pay me now, or pay me later" still holds true. The neighbors cub has been in to service 3 times already and he'll be lucky if it runs another 2 years, but he's saving money on maintenance

 

[TripleR]

For the occasional user fluid brand/cost is not an issue, but for those who use theirs a lot, I can sure understand looking for a good product at a lower cost. Replacing 15 gallons of fluid at a change gets expensive quick. Most farmers I know don't use the name brand fluids.

 

[shaley]

I just priced the hydraulic filter on my New Holland. $103.60. Really? What makes a filiter cost 103 dollars. It must filter very fine particules or something. Maybe it's made with fiberglass mate vs cheap pleated paper? Most OEM's don't publish any performance specs so it's hard to compare aftermarket products. I know Dodge sells the same oil filter for $16 that Fleetguard/Cummins sells for $7

 

[RFB]

The contrarian view while acknowledging the caveats of th OP:

My SOP is to perform in-depth research prior to purchase of items, with the scale being commensurate with the value.

What I have found as an almost universal rule is that if a dealer frequents this site, they will be knowledgeable and priced on a market value. The significant majority (with the exceptions counted on a few fingers) of dealers that I have consulted that do not frequent this site are uninformed regarding their products and uniformly overpriced. When I start to talk to a dealer and they give me information that I know is in error (based upon published specifications), and upon courteous and polite correction they continue to argue the point, and then we get out the data and their response is either "well you don't need that" or "no one around here does it like that", I am out of the door.

My experience with that behavior has been the norm since I entered the tractor planet about 5 years ago, and it seems that the same zeitgeist is infecting other products as well.

 

[brain55]

I think there is a difference between being cheap, and trying to find the best price. Trying to find the best price means doing the research and knowing that you are getting a comparable item for a lower price. Whereas being cheap is finding the cheapest part that fits, whether it has comparable specs or not. I agree with the OP if you just bought a $30K machine and you don't want to spend the $500 (or insert your price here) every 2-3 years for fluids and filters you really should have considered that before buying a tractor.

Now as a professional that was taking care of hundreds of pieces and spending in the neighborhood of $500K a year on parts, it was part of my job to be as cost effective as possible. I wasn't buying fluids or filters from the dealer, except in cases where there was no alternative. I was buying name brand fluids and filters for much cheaper. Buying bulk oils in 55 gallon drums for nearly half of what you pay in the store. I found a source for Donaldson filters for 40% less than my Napa master installer price. We starting doing all of our own tires for nearly half of the price of retail. We even bought our own brake lathe to be more cost effective.

When I first started as an equipment mechanic in a Kubota dealer, our pricing on Kubota filters was better than aftermarket. And that was with our 100% markup. Today that is not the case.

Brian

 

[shaley]

Brian,
Does that Donaldson delaer have a website or contact info.
PM please.

 

[brain55]

Brian,
Does that Donaldson delaer have a website or contact info.
PM please.

Unfortunately, that was a short lived deal. Donaldson made promises that weren't kept, and it became increasingly difficult to get filters in any kind of timely fashion, eventually my source quit carrying them. With the size of fleet I was dealing with, taking over a month to fill an order wasn't acceptable, especially when dealing in case quantities. But I certainly took advantage of the pricing while I could.

Brian