Who builds Cabela's brand tractors?

[TomSeller]

I'm baffled by people complaining about manufacturing efficiency, and those with nostalgic eyes waxing for the "craftsmanship of yesteryear."

Things are cost prohibitive to rebuild these days for a number of reasons:

1) Efficiency of manufacturing obsoletes manual refurbishing.
2) Speed of improvements and design change makes parts warehousing cost-probitive since NOS parts are unlikely to be purchased.

Engines of yesteryear in comparison to the state-of-the-art engines of today are crap. Those old engines could be rebuilt because their design replacement only happened once a decade and new engines were so expensive that refurbishing an old engine made good money sense. Old engines were designed to be rebuildable because they also wore out faster. 0.60 over pistons on a six-over bore job because the engine wore out the five previous sets. These days metallurgy is so much better that short shirt pistons are used in diesel designs to limit parasitic loss of power and chrome-lined cylinder bores outperform any hardened surface from yesteryear!

Really want to see how far a new engine can go? Do a valve job every 3,000 hours and refresh the rings and pistons at 6,000 hours and diamond hone the chrome bore. At 12,000 rebuild the bottom-end. With regular oil changes, new engines should outlast any engine of yesteryear simply because they are better engines to begin with!

But wait, doing rebuild work is cost prohibitive because of manufacturing efficiency and because there are less and less mechanics in the world.

And the lower cost of buying a whole new engine is a bad thing?

As I said, I'm baffled by a line of thought in this thread.

Once computers starting being used to design engines, so many little flaws were worked out of the engines. That and the materials as you mention are major reasons new engines often perform so well

 

[94BULLITT]

The stuff is very complex, and you have so much more to learn......but turning brakes is not one of them....they just slap on new rotors now....and that I think is just wrong.

After a set of pads is wore out the most rotors are down too close to minimum specs to turn.

 

[Cherokee140]

After a set of pads is wore out the most rotors are down too close to minimum specs to turn.

So you tell me you replace all 4 rotors every time you do a brake job?

I have a Subaru with 240k miles still on its original discs. And clutch for that matter and that shocks the heck out of me.

I know it is a different application but my race car would eat a set of pads each weekend, but the rotors stay fine....the material on the pads was made to be very disc friendly. I could not go every weekend replacing the rotors on an Opel GT, (yes the front had stock rotors, back had willwood) It all depends on the pad material. I admit I take all my new stuff in to have work done, and do all my classics myself, but I do not recall having to spring for rotors with a brake job first time around.

 

[94BULLITT]

So you tell me you replace all 4 rotors every time you do a brake job?

I have a Subaru with 240k miles still on its original discs. And clutch for that matter and that shocks the heck out of me.

I know it is a different application but my race car would eat a set of pads each weekend, but the rotors stay fine....the material on the pads was made to be very disc friendly. I could not go every weekend replacing the rotors on an Opel GT, (yes the front had stock rotors, back had willwood) It all depends on the pad material. I admit I take all my new stuff in to have work done, and do all my classics myself, but I do not recall having to spring for rotors with a brake job first time around.

Yes, most cars and trucks you replace the rotors when you change the pads. The brakes on your Subaru are probably way below the discard at thickness even if you just threw a set of pads on it without having the rotors resurfaced.

 

[the old grind]

Being a type A personality, wanting to control every part, being ruthless, and not stopping at any obstacle made him (Henry Ford) a successful business man.

He knew how to get what he wanted, and what buttons he needed to push to get them, and if the continue pushing of those buttons killed his own son, oh well.

Like all business men of his ilk, he was a jerk (I had other words I wanted to use, but they would get stared out)

O'l Henry was despised as a **** sympathizer and anti-semite, wrote as several others that Jews were a scourge on World financing and industry. He bought out investors in an attempt to buld the Model T in perpetuity and believed, as did those who pushed to eliminate the US patent office in 1911 or so, that everything needed for modern life had already been invented. The company (Henry) was steered toward reality and the company toward keeping up with Chevrolet, Oakland, and others who failed in their own right by Edsel Ford, the unsung hero of FoMoCo's survival despite the old man's stubbornness. btw: Edsel's poor health and early death was undoubtedly exacerbated by the stress of dealing with his father and stern master.

Sorry to go OT on this, but history is history and I'm sure that no one who new Henry Ford didn't fear his displeasure. He was far from the Prince that the company's success suggests, rather a tyrant and shamefully abusive father to the man on whose labor and devotion let the old prick die a successful man. Grandson HF II, another tough guy well known by many of our generation, was a total Boy Scout by comparison. The Fords are wonderful folks to this day, just not so much the company's founder.

Anyway, we might better not fuss too much about where an engine is sourced from in this global market. Joint ventures and contract production have blurred the lines of distinction. Company A may make Co B's engines to Co C's design. Gotta give credit to modern manufacturing methods and quality standards. Sleeved or 'parent-bored' might as well be a Ford vs Chevy debate anymore. IMO it's good that we bring out our opinions for those who don't want to be misled by assumptions or hearsay. Pretty good thread here, despite the meanderings?

Listen to TYM owners. Darn fine tractors, and perhaps a plus to buyers of Cabelas' line. If they don't back 'em up with service I'm sure there are those who will. "Do you fell lucky today".

 

[roadhunter]

Yes, most cars and trucks you replace the rotors when you change the pads. .

What is this based upon? I have no doubt that there could be some cars like this but there are plenty of vehicles that you can simply turn the rotors and put a new set of pads on.

 

[Hiltz]

An educated and thoughtful post. Nice read.

 

[Dillier23]

Looks like this thread is a dead one, nothing to do with the original question anymore.

 

[94BULLITT]

What is this based upon? I have no doubt that there could be some cars like this but there are plenty of vehicles that you can simply turn the rotors and put a new set of pads on.

This is based on experience. Vehicles from about the 90's up are this way.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

This is based on experience. Vehicles from about the 90's up are this way.

Exactly. Put away the Ammco brake lathe.

It has to do with lightening the vehicles up to increase CAFE standards and marketed as lowering unsprung weight for better handling.

Sadly, piles of nicer Ammco lathes are now on craigslist for 1/4 what they cost new.