Stuff like seals, gaskets, etc are designed to fail at a specific number of hours. How long does your hot water heater last? 14 yrs, 11 months right? So you have 1 month of warranty left & will go buy the same brand of HW heater to save a few $$$, Then it goes out with a month left on THAT warranty. Engineered obsolescence, ought to be illegal.
pet peeve
Ken,
My
BX22 has >300 hrs & I've had to replace the hoses on the FEL, that stoopid HST fan, and the top link. The fan & top link were my fault. The fan would've been ~$1100 in labor for a $2 part. :smiley_aafz: I paid $9200 as new old stock in 2003. She came with FEL, BH, & 54 MMM, :thumbsup:
I致e added a thumb, 50 B2781 SB, 60 Woods rear blade, Merry Mac
chipper, 48 Befco tiller, new (real) alternator, 3-6 lights, & a Bro-Tek rear Plate. :licking: IF I had to sell it I'd probably keep the SB, Tiller,
Chipper, & the rear blade.
The BX would keep the plate, FEL, BH, & I'd probably get more than I paid for it. Well maintained, with the all the receipts, in the log book.
Would I buy it again? In a heartbeat. :cloud9: I have 1 acre, 1/2 wooded, 1/2 grass, I mow every other week. I run more during the winter than summer for snow duty (FEL & SB). Worth every $$$ I've ever spent. Would I get a B or an L, no too big for my needs. I MIGHT get a 24 or 25 for the extra HP, but I haven't needed more HP so I don't need it.:drink:
Is my BX as good as my uncles Sterling? :tractor: Oh h3ll yes, I hate shoveling coal into that miserable back busting, face searing, lung burning pile of junk. :mur: (It looks really cool at the County fair at the old timers display & it gets me in free. LOL) Would I want to mow my grass, or plow snow with it, ummm no, the turning radius is somewhere around a 40 ft radius, & those steel tires would leave ruts 6 deep, in concrete.
But would I use my BX to plow 200 acres, pull out stumps, pull boulders the size of a Buick out of a muddy field? :laughing: Ummm no, not a snowballs chance. Different needs, different machines. Will my BX still be running in a hundred years, probably not, but my uncles Sterling is an exception, I've never seen another one like it, but I know they were made. I can get on my BX, turn the key start it up & go. The Sterling has to be filled with water, the coal bin filled, & the boiler started up. After about an hour of tending the fire it might have built up enough steam to move, slowly. Best to wait another half hour, then it'll go all day with only a few of shovels an hour doing anything your heart desires. At the end of the day, it's another couple of hours of cool down (BTW draining it hot is a VERY bad idea, DAMHIKT) & clean up, & the EPA would probably have a heart attack over the boiler water that has to be drained. :ashamed: So I'm not so sure that the good old days were as good as we sometimes think. :confused2: When this beast was still in regular service some 40-50 yrs ago, none of the younger kids (like me) were allowed anywhere near it, especially if the PTO was being used. The belts were 8?10 wide 1/4"-3/8" thick leather maybe 30ft-60ft long. If a belt broke (& they did) it could take somebody's head off. I do remember it knocking a hole in the barns' wall when he was running the saw mill with it one summer. 1" thick vertical siding, splinters. :thumbdown: :shocked: What is the worst that can happen with a shaft drive of today? Generally it'll twist itself into a pretzel, clank around some, throw off the far end of the shaft, make enough noise to let you know it's broke, so you can shut it down. Generally speaking it won't try to kill you. Those old belts would, or if you put too much coal in the boiler you could overpressurize it & split a seam (death by scalding), it could pop its' rivets (death by shrapnel), or even explode (death by explosion). Diesels don't do that unless you put gas into a HOT engine. Then most of the time the engine will just quit & refuse to run anymore. Major PITA to repair, but not fatal. A lot less work the horses though and ate less too, my uncle traded his Perchon team for the Sterling. At least the Sterling wouldn't crap, kick, or bite you.
:2cents:
T-Man.
