Rear end failures.

[acem]

It seems like they held up very well when new here.  15-20 years of hard work later they were sometimes needing some love.

[Big Bud guy]

On 11/24/2024 at 12:34 PM, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

“Lots of failures” is a relative term. I know lots of small operators that never put 5,000 hours on a tractor in their entire career. Other guys run machines way over 10,000 in relatively short order. I hear people say such and such tractor is bullet proof because they’ve had it for 30 years and never had a problem, when in reality it’s never really done that much. I consider most major failures under 5,000 hours to be a bad design if it was not abused. Every color of tractor will have major power train failures if it is worked hard for tens of thousands of hours, most well before that. Lots of machines working hard equals large maintenance and repair bills, there’s no way around it. I remember stories of guys destroying 1066’s and 4430’s in just a couple of years, but it was always the same guys asking way more of them then they were designed for. Old 4wds being worn out in less than 5,000 hours was common. 

You can take out any rear end.  Some will just take the punishment longer than others.  

[acem]

Big 4wd tractors probably have the hardest life of any tractor, especially older ones.  There are few jobs for them other than heavy tillage and they get pulled hard for that.

[Matt Kirsch]

18 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

You can take out any rear end.  Some will just take the punishment longer than others.  

That's the objective view of it. 

Have you ever known a guy who flogs on his tractors, breaks them, and says, "Well I guess I deserved that. After all I was pushing it pretty hard," though? Nope. It's ALWAYS the tractor's fault, or more accurately, the manufacturer's fault for making such a piece of junk.

[Chester5732]

3 minutes ago, Matt Kirsch said:

That's the objective view of it. 

Have you ever known a guy who flogs on his tractors, breaks them, and says, "Well I guess I deserved that. After all I was pushing it pretty hard," though? Nope. It's ALWAYS the tractor's fault, or more accurately, the manufacturer's fault for making such a piece of junk.

Same with automobiles. That’s why I can’t deal with people anymore. One time a fella’s dog chewed up the interior of his new pickup. He was he!! Bent for election that we should cover the repairs under warranty. 

[acem]

A friend runs alot of stocker cattle and raises Turkeys.  He has several hands.  He buys new tractors, hay equipment, etc.

Told me recently he can't get over 2000 hours on any tractor.  It becomes a mechanic magnet and can't keep it running.

They are very hard on equipment.  Running JD now but has run others as well (had a Fiat/Hesston years ago).

[Chester5732]

21 minutes ago, acem said:

A friend runs alot of stocker cattle and raises Turkeys.  He has several hands.  He buys new tractors, hay equipment, etc.

Told me recently he can't get over 2000 hours on any tractor.  It becomes a mechanic magnet and can't keep it running.

They are very hard on equipment.  Running JD now but has run others as well (had a Fiat/Hesston years ago).

He would probably be farther ahead if he downsized to a two man operation. 

[acem]

4 minutes ago, Chester5732 said:

He would probably be farther ahead if he downsized to a two man operation. 

Nope.

He's just as bad as the rest of them.

He makes money off of cattle and grass not equipment.  It's just a tool for the trade.  You should see what he does to late model used trucks!

He normally runs over 2000 head of stocker cattle.  However these high prices have slowed down his buying. 

[Jacka]

16 minutes ago, Chester5732 said:

He would probably be farther ahead if he downsized to a two man operation. 

A lot of times it's not only the hired help.I seen personally my neighbor destroys new or almost new equipment in a very short order.I think sometimes he thinks it shows how "hard he works" to have tore up stuff, shields and sheet metal off,welder out all the time.I also know another man"top farmer or so he thinks" with thousands of acres,that has volatile temper lose it and rip and tear like you wouldn't believe. Neither one of these cats would EVER be allowed on my stuff even though they both look down on my equipment and think it's junk. 

[Big Bud guy]

3 hours ago, Matt Kirsch said:

That's the objective view of it. 

Have you ever known a guy who flogs on his tractors, breaks them, and says, "Well I guess I deserved that. After all I was pushing it pretty hard," though? Nope. It's ALWAYS the tractor's fault, or more accurately, the manufacturer's fault for making such a piece of junk.

I agree but I do have to say my cousins would be the outlier when it comes to their 6030s.  They are proud of the fact they took the finals out only twice in about 9,000 hrs and the pto out couple of times pulling choppers.  This is a tractor that had the front weight package and chloride in the front tires and the front would still come off the ground cresting a hill. 

[pt756]

I always wonder about the 8 wheelers pushing silage up, the constant back and forth up the pile would seem to me a hard job for any tractor,

[brewcrew]

1 hour ago, pt756 said:

I always wonder about the 8 wheelers pushing silage up, the constant back and forth up the pile would seem to me a hard job for any tractor,

I’ve seen videos of the big guys pushing and packing in circles so they don’t have to be constantly changing direction. This seems like it would be easier on the tractor, but either way they are putting a lot of hours on them. 25 years ago you could find old 4x4 tractors with low hours because they only did tillage. Now they do tillage, sometimes planting, pull grain cart, and some are packing silage too. It can add up quickly!

[Gearclash]

1 hour ago, pt756 said:

I always wonder about the 8 wheelers pushing silage up, the constant back and forth up the pile would seem to me a hard job for any tractor,

They would last forever doing that. Other than wear on the reverser possibly. Takes only a fraction of available power to do the job and they can’t possibly get all the power to the ground anyway.  The only way to work them hard would be to push at 10 mph + and that doesn’t work because they will start to pitch or scallop at higher speeds.  We have used wheel loaders to push silage for most of 25 years and it works them harder than it does any kind of tractor. 

[Shell1066]

Always shake my head when I see a later model pick up at the sale barn that has all the fenders bashed in, half the lights out and a seat the dog has tore to smithers. If I was paying that kinda money for a late model truck I'd be paranoid as all get out.!! Shoot my 97 I dont wanna scratch ! LOL.

[acem]

3 hours ago, brewcrew said:

I’ve seen videos of the big guys pushing and packing in circles so they don’t have to be constantly changing direction. This seems like it would be easier on the tractor, but either way they are putting a lot of hours on them. 25 years ago you could find old 4x4 tractors with low hours because they only did tillage. Now they do tillage, sometimes planting, pull grain cart, and some are packing silage too. It can add up quickly!

My 4366 has less than 5000 hours.

That's pretty low for a 75 model.

[sd186man]

10 hours ago, acem said:

Nope.

He's just as bad as the rest of them.

He makes money off of cattle and grass not equipment.  It's just a tool for the trade.  You should see what he does to late model used trucks!

He normally runs over 2000 head of stocker cattle.  However these high prices have slowed down his buying. 

Haha, that’s not big enough to justify tearing up machinery