When has a tractor paid for itself?

[FULLPULL]

My tractor is not late for work,it dont call in $broke or sick it dont break handles out of my tools,it rakes all the rocks off of yards and burrys them and dont complain.Purty good laybor in my book it will pay off in a few years.

 

[Lumberjack_jeff]

My Ford 1720 enabled me to build a house essentially by myself. Not just ditches, driveways, earthmoving but also hoisting, material handling, scaffolding, logging, and the occasional odd-job for friend$ and neighbor$.

After 18 months, the house is nearing completion. According to the bank, it's worth about $180k more than I have into it. By this math, it paid for itself the second month.

 

[fattyfat1]

price of tractor-13,000$
rate i charge people per hour for tractor work- 50$
monthly payment- 130$


the feeling i get not having to do tractor work for other people
the feeling i get hauling wood, brushhogging head high grass, mowing my lawn
the look on my kids faces every time i start her up!
the look on my face every time i start her up!
the day my wife realized how useful she is and said "that is the best tool you ever bought. i'll never argue about tractors & how much they cost again."



priceless.................

 

[knute_m]

Over the last 40 years, I've bought quite a few really awful looking tractors that were in generally good mechanical shape. Some basic maintenance, a little paint, maybe a new seat, a new battery (or crank), and probably some new decals -- and I could generally sell them for half-again, to as much as three times what I paid for them. In the mean time, I'd get a couple hundred hours use out of it. Except for an old Allis-Chalmers C, I don't think I ever lost money on one.

But, I just don't have the energy I had 20, 30, and 40 years ago.

I bought my first-ever new tractor last year. What a pleasure to know that I don't have to fix something before I use it.

I took a 3-year loan on the new tractor that will be paid off in less than one year. Between all the work this little tractor has already done, and knowing it will probably outlive me -- I don't care if it pays for itself. It's like a best friend, and you can't put a value on that!

 

[CDsdad]

Knowing it's there to get on when I need (or want) to is enough. My time at home is short. The more I can get done in a shorter period of time, the more time I have for Momma and my babies.

 

[john_bud]

I bought a used TN70A, 168 hours. Now it has 308 hrs (less than one year).
I paid 22K for it. 140 hrs x 50/hr= 7K.

So, in another 300 hrs will the tractor have "paid" for itself?

Bob

Bob,
I think you forgot some stuff in the equation.

Let's figure that you would rent the machine on Friday and have it delivered then and picked up Sunday afternoon. Delivery and pickup charge is (??) $75.
You get to operate the tractor 4 hours on Friday, 10 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday for 22 hours. At $50 and hour that's $1175 including delivery.

So, $22,000 is equal to 19 hard weekends of work.

Of course, you have to do the maintenance on the tractor if you own it, so figure that would add an additional weekend's rental in. So in 20 long hard weekends of frenetic activity you would have equaled the investment of buying it. Naturally, some weekends it may rain like a bear and you may want to get off the machine and enjoy time with the family by the fire drinking hot cocoa --> but you laid out a grand and dern if you're gonna let it go to waste! And that rain may make it muddy, so you have some "character lines" in the lawn. Or you may get the machine only to find that it is inoperable from poor maintenance, prior user or accident and it has to go back for repair.

Oh, and by the time you reach that $22k, the rental tractor is about to fall apart and has 5000 hours of pure abuse, so the last few weekends may not have been so efficient.

 

[LBrown59]

It's $40 an hour for me or 40 dollars an hour for somebody else.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

When your figuring if your tractor has paid for itself, you have to add in what you could sell it for. That is, it you bought a tractor for $30,000 and could sell it today for $28,000 you only have to have received about $2,000 worth of good use out of it to be even. Since tractors retain their value pretty well, tractors are really pretty cheap.

Cliff

 

[Bob_Skurka]

When has a tractor paid for itself?

Simple, the very first time you realize that your back doesn't hurt anymore.

 

[jpm]

i feel mine has allready paid for it's self but the bank wants 30 more payments