Time, what is time? or how does your tractor count hours?

[newbury]

It's tractor selling/buying time again and lot's of people are comparing tractors and often they compare clocks.

I'm not trying to establish if 5,000 hours is an "old" tractor or 500 hours is a "new" tractor.

I'm trying to figure out if there is any general rule that brands/models use to track time on their clock.
from the past:
2007

The answer is different depending on what tractor you are talking about. Most models made in the last 10 - 15 years have electric hour meters that count clock hours anytime the engine is running, regardless of engine speed. Older tractors that had mechanical, cable driven tach/ hourmeters, counted clock hours only at rated speed. If rated speed was 2000 rpm, and the engine was running at 1000 rpm, it would register 1/2 hour for every hour run. Neither type needs to have wheels rolling like an odometer on a car.

This is wrong. My B7610, made the same year of that post, counts hours based on PTO speed. here.

You need to check for your particular tractor.

My 4110 is PTO speed hours. That is, it counts clock time only if I'm running at PTO speed. It counts less if I'm running at lower RPM. In a sense, it's counting engine wear, so people can do their maintenance based on the hour meter.

Cliff

And there is "time when the clock is on even if the engine isn't running":

My daughter has left the key turned on in my JD lawn tractor twice and it has more than 150 extra hours on the meter. It doesn't stop clicking until the battery dies. Luckily she doesn't drive my 5205.

On my M4700 turning the key off doesn't stop the tractor, I have to pull a lever (and push the same lever in to start it, before turning the key). I'm sure that I would have several hundred MORE hours on it if it counted all the time the key was in the "ON" position.

A recent thread

<snip>
Is 4600 hours really THAT many hours? One thing I have noticed about this tractor is that the hours go up no matter what the rpms. If it idles for an hour it puts on an hour. If I mow at 540 PTO (2200 rpm) for an hour it puts on an hour. Seems like that hour mowing is much more wear than the hour idling. I'd say 95% of my work with this tractor has been below at low RPMs.
<snip>

Some of us leave the tractor idling rather than turn on/ turn off when we are doing stuff like loading a trailer, having coffee, etc. If I leave my tractor idling for an hour the clock doesn't change.

Does anyone have a link to a database that tells how different makes track time?

If I tracked time like my tractors do - only counting minutes operating at full speed - I'd probably still be a teenager

 

[brown40]

Don't know about a database, but mine never stops ticking, whether its key on or PTO speed they all rack up the same. I try to avoid idling after its warmed up between tasks--just in case I'd ever trade/sell. Would probably have 5-10% more hours if I had it count my time dragging cable, hooking chains, gathering brush, shifting rounds, setting up workspace, etc.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I'm pretty sure my little Massey GC2400 counts hours by engine rpms...I think 1800 rpms is the baseline, meaning 1 hours of running at 1800 rpm=1 hour on the clock.

 

[crashz]

I never really considered it but have looked at my hour meter and found it to be odd. Like I worked all day, the tractor running most of the time, and hours didn't add up. Now I'm really curious.

Most heavy equipment dating back to the sixties (I reference our old Hough loader and IH TD15 dozer) record running hours on the key. The Hough's hour meter broke back in the 80's and I think it registers 9K hours. WE figure about 20-25,000 hours now. But she hasn't been used in a long time.

 

[davesl708]

My BX starts timing the moment you turn on the key.

As to 5000 hrs being old it is subjective. Depends on how well it was maintained. My friend has a 30yr old Kubota L with over 20,000hrs. Still works fine.
500hrs would be broke in.

 

[Will_C]

I bumped the key getting off my RTV and put 45 hours on it before the battery died. It went from 12 hours to 57 without being started! I don't think it will be a problem, as I plan to keep it indefinitely.

Will

 

[DK35vince]

My BX starts timing the moment you turn on the key.

As to 5000 hrs being old it is subjective. Depends on how well it was maintained. My friend has a 30yr old Kubota L with over 20,000hrs. Still works fine.

Your friend averages nearly 700 hours per year for 30 years ??

 

[DK35vince]

My 2001 Kioti DK 35 hours is based on engine speed. Near PTO speed for 1 hour= 1 hour.

 

[davesl708]

Your friend averages nearly 700 hours per year for 30 years ??

Commercial use and 10 acre lawn. Get year round use.

 

[ch1ch2]

I find it hard to believe a tractor counts hours on PTO speed. I use the FEL 90% of the time. If it was PTO time my tractor would still be brand new.