Considering the extreme wear and condition of most of the tractors i have resurected, plus looking at the hour meters.. for the ones that have meters.. or for the meters that were still working.. or looking at where they stopped.. I can say.. at least for my machines.. they had plenty of -work- hours on some of them. 3pt linkages with egged draft link holes, bent support and lift members, etc... telltale that high draft forces were encountered.
wear on running gear, bearings and moving parts and general wear / tear on drivetrain components, along with evidence of decades of repairs give proof positive that these machines were not bought, parked for 40-60 years, then sold to me.
I have one unit, a 58 ford that was used for public works around paving. had decades of layers of tar and asphalt products on the underside. had to use diesel and heat, and chipping hammers to remove it. the strata gave details to the era's change as you saw differeng aggregate like chip and slag materials in different layers.. also you could see evidence of lean mix layers like asphalt emulsions, vs tars.. etc. Being in the road contracting business myself for the last 22 years, it was almost like a trip to the past working on that machine.
Mind you I also have machines that saw very little use. For instance, a 55 ford that has the original proofmeter as far as I can tell from looking under the dash, etc.. it has about 550 hours on it now.. that's about 10hrs a year or so.
Not having a laugh at your expense.. just trying you let you know that your opinion that every single item inthe universe that is older is always automatically inferrior to any similar item made now.. is well.. only just that.. an opinion. just looking at statistics.. making most kinds of absolute statements puts you on shakey ground.
Just for the sake of clarification, I have more than 10 ac.
Also for clarification, I have a decent assortment of tillage and cultivating equipment, and do have a garden plot. The fact that I only own 13 ac does not mean that I've never ran a plow on property I don't own. Both sides of my family were farmers, including current family on my stepfathers side. The earliest memory of my grandfather was riding onthe running baord of his ford tractor as we drove down the road from his house to plots of land to disc up.
To assume that someone has never done a particular task because they don't own or farm 10000 acers using articulated 8wheel machines with gps tracking on them misses the mark with a wide margin for error.
This has all been stated before, in case you are having problems remembering a post not too long ago where I actually posted what hours my equipment was getting, per piece per year. I never claimed all my tractors ran continously. I have many of them in completer storage, on jacks with no batteires inthem, engines fogged and oil in the sumps.. etc. I have others that solely run the parade route and hit shows.
My parade machines are my Allis chalmers G and now, my 541 offset.. though the offset did pull my cultivator for this seasons garden.. just because I felt it should do something it was actually designed for.
My machines in storage are my JD B, 2n, IH cub. The 8n is in semi retirement.. though does get used to run the cone spreader for fertilizer application in the spring, and rye seeding at the end of fall.
My main workers are my 660, 850 NAA, 951 3000, 5000 and 7610s.
the 3000, 5000 and 7610s are mowing machines with fairly specific duties. the 3000 takes care of the R.O.W. and 'causeway' mowing at the horse community I live. Also is used to maintain my trails in the small wooded section at the back of my property, and close trimming around my farm structures.
the 5000 and 7610s are for open mowing due to their mower sizes.. I like to trade off every few weeks to make sure both are getting equal usage. bahia and pasture grasses in florida, provided you have enough moisture grow decently for 9+ months out of the year.. enough for weekly mowing. ( been wet this year.. grass has grown more this year than in the past 2.. mowing was near constant for me. )
the 850 pretty much solely has the task of moving the round hay bales. of all my loaders it has the most HD running gear, and tires well suited for heavy loads without rutting up the pasture.
Occasionally the 660 helps move some hay.. but i prefer not to.. has less HD running gear, and it has a nice intact maneuer bucket that gets obvios work tending horse stalls and turning the 'pile'. general loader duties also get taken car of with this machine as well as general 3pt duties.
the 951 is a mobile crane and due to the single wheel NF configuration and good gearing, gets the work needing fine maneuvering.. like work around structures and animal pens where I need to be able to creep slowly and literally turn on a dime. the 951 recently underwent a hyds upgrade so she may now get some more general duty 3pt work as well.
the naa has been a work in progress I had gotten her to mow as my 3rd tractor .. but put her up as I collected a few more, and needing to rebuild her steering box. I got around to that this year and put a laoder on her. right now she's general purpose crane duty where I need to lift more than the 951 can handle due to it's single front wheel configuration. I've added a good set of vintage tires to her I got at auction that were on a massey ferguson.. they are 16.9-24 turfs.. to replace a near bald also, vintage tire. with fluid and ballast in those tires, plus a rear counterweight, she's also set for quite heavy lifting.. I have been prepairing her for a hyds upgrade to convert her single acting plumbed hyds into something a little less primitive with the addition of a fender mounted valve and the capability for remotes if needed.. waiting for the alst part to show up in the mail right now.
I know you like to poke fun at my hobby farm because you don't consider it a real farm.. but we all can't have a few sections of land to farm.. si I'm happy with what I have... the chickens , pigs and small amount of cattle i raise provide food for consumption.. and the horses.. well.. they are just freeloaders....
It's sad that you absolutely think that anything old is automatically worthless, and that any farm under thousands of acers without articulated air conditioned equipment with gps hookup is not a real farm.
soundguy
No wrath, but definitely amusement at comments made with no knowledge of the times being talked about. It could be alleged that those 50 year old tyres have very few working hours on them out in the field pulling ground engaging equipment.
I have seen how long 1950's tractor tyres last when used on a working tractor. I have also seen how long vehicle tires from the 50"s lasted.
So fellows have a laugh at what you think may be my expense but remember; I've seen the critter!
I'm quite happy with the tires I buy in this modern age.
And I'm also very glad "They don't make them like they used to"
And last but perhaps not least Egon does not buy cheap tyres but prefers top of the line name brand tyres.
Now with 10 acres and no cultivation I always wonder how one can get any amount of hours on an assortment of tractors???
Hobby farming and making a living farming just plain be different but one should not allow that difference to skew their impression of viability of the equipment they may use.
