Who builds Cabela's brand tractors?

[MinnesotaEric]

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.

 

[murphy1244]

I'm baffled by the amount of double posts again.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

And all the while wonder just why 'merca can't make or fix anything anymore. Where did all those jobs go....you know, the ones that actually worked with machines, knew how to run a line hone or......

Eh screw it. 'mericans don't want those jobs anymore, everyone is to go to college and make tons of money while there are no electricians, mechanics, plumbers......the people that actually make something in this country are look down upon, I guess I am old but I miss the days of actually fixing things, doing it yourself....popping down to the dealer buying a new engine and putting it in does not make you a mechanic, it makes you a parts swapper.

Yea I know it costs less, and all that BS....they have made it that way. At one time it did not cost less to keep something, they don't want you to keep it, they want you to consume....keep the credit flowing....keep buying.

Eh, in a bad mood this morning.....watch this.

I'm all about Mike Row's view of the trades but in the last shop I worked as a tech, there were five techs and three bays, and two shifts. Same shop today has one tech, one shift.

Why? The business isn't there anymore. Vehicles are simply more reliable.

Moreover, a typical tech in my last shop earned 50-80K a year depending on business. Now. The last tech makes only 50K and he works on everything that comes through the door. He also has 70K in tools.

70K in tools, and continual continuing education classes to keep up on tech.

For lower education costs, the same guy could start up a HVAC company with nice equipment and make twice as much without nearly as much pressure from people.

 

[buickanddeere]

Nope just happen to be a student of history.

Interesting how US and German history books about WWII contain such different content. US civil war accounts recorded by the South vary from the North's account re the same battle's events and philosophy.

 

[jd870]

I wonder where those cat/perkins engines used in those tyms are actually built.?

 

[MHarryE]

I wonder where those cat/perkins engines used in those tyms are actually built.?

Not sure where TYM's supply comes from but the C2.2 is originally a license built design from Shibaura. The originals used a lot of parts from Shibaura shipped to and assembled in Peterborough, UK. They also started assembling the engines in USA, I believe Georgia, several years ago. I think they are also assembled in a Caterpillar/Perkins plant in China. Country of origin should be on the engine plate. It is possible the China built engines are only for lesser emissions countries so no matter what a Cat engine for a Korean tractor would then come from UK, USA, or Japan.

Just because a product is built in China does not necessarily mean its inferior. I am on my third iPhone with no problems, all China built. They are the first cell phones I have had that have not failed due to my rough use. Reason for third phone is I upgrade when features demand - my first iPhone is still working fine.

Remember too that Cat has engines, the C3.8 comes to mind, that have nothing but the Caterpillar name and paint. The 3.8 is totally Kubota. I can't remember all the sizes and their history but Mitsubishi is/was a supplier of Cat engines and of course Perkins started supplying Cat engines 6 years before Cat purchased the company. One of my early jobs at Cat was to fit the Perkapillar 3054 engine into a machine replacing a core Cat 3114.

Something Cat gives to the engine owner is a parts source when something fails. I have never waited less than 7 business days to get a not in stock part for my Kubotas but every not in stock part I gave needed for my Cat mini-excavator is order by 5:00 PM one day and the part is at the dealer at 7:00 the next morning. I respond to every Kubota survey on warranty repairs with the lowest possible mark for parts availability.

 

[MHarryE]

I wonder where those cat/perkins engines used in those tyms are actually built.?

Follow up - Caterpillar Wuxi (China) plant has a facility that is a Perkins/Shibaura joint venture for producing this size engine for Asian companies. Still that doesn't mean the THY engines come from that plant - checking the engine emissions plate is the identifier.

 

[Cherokee140]

Interesting how US and German history books about WWII contain such different content. US civil war accounts recorded by the South vary from the North's account re the same battle's events and philosophy.

And I thought I had a gift to side track threads.

 

[murphy1244]

And I thought I had a gift to side track threads.

:rotfl: That was so funny

 

[Cherokee140]

I'm all about Mike Row's view of the trades but in the last shop I worked as a tech, there were five techs and three bays, and two shifts. Same shop today has one tech, one shift.

Why? The business isn't there anymore. Vehicles are simply more reliable.

Moreover, a typical tech in my last shop earned 50-80K a year depending on business. Now. The last tech makes only 50K and he works on everything that comes through the door. He also has 70K in tools.

70K in tools, and continual continuing education classes to keep up on tech.

For lower education costs, the same guy could start up a HVAC company with nice equipment and make twice as much without nearly as much pressure from people.

I quoted your shorter one, but I do agree....but I really think that this country has lost its way to make/fix things. However I do think that the current cheaper to replace then to rebuild is a result of how they want us to continue to consume. Look at the prices for parts. Orange parts, Green parts, they are all insane. They really don't want us to keep that old machine running they want us to get the new one and "recycle" the old machine. I am not even going to the is it more "green" to keep a machine then to actually build a new one from start to finish.

There is no doubt just with engines they are much "better" all the way around, more power, more efficient, lighter, in every way. But they are still able to be rebuilt.

I had a friend that tore a hole in a zero turn mowers oil pan....killed the engine in nothing flat. It was cheaper for him to buy a new mower (exact same one) then it was to even replace the engine in his. That is just crazy. He tells me the shop tore his old one down for parts.

We really got side tracked, but that is part of the fun of forums like this to me. But I really think that if we still had a country that used their hands to make things and we angled our culture that way it would not be more expensive to buy a new engine then to just do a simple rebuild.

I do know a little bit about the car business, I worked at GM in the mid 80's then for dealers before that. I am not sure if you are talking about cars, trucks, tractors.... but you are correct...but back then it was 10k in tools.

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.