Changing tractors and cost of ownership.

[Dead Rabbits]

Our feeding tractor is a 2013 JD 7200R. It has recently had a mechanical failure. The splines on the transmission input shaft have worn badly, wearing off the splines on the yoke. This also happened about a year ago and we replaced the yoke and continued on. Talking to our independent mechanic he reckoned anywhere between $12-$18k for a dealer to replace the input shaft. Called a dealer and he reckoned that would be about right, never having done that model before. Keep in mind JD is £100/hr here in the shop. £130/hr mobile plus £3.40 per mile travel.

My thinking is: Replace yoke, potentiality weld it to the shaft, and immediately trade the tractor off. I have nothing good to say about JD R series and they have no business on a dairy. It’s been an expensive tractor with constant exhaust filter, sensor and controller Failure.

Would it be more cost effective to peddle the tractor independently, and purchase independently? Let it go to the dealer and negotiate? (Sales are poor right now). Or pay a trusted neighbor who is interested in selling and buying a replacement for us.?

I’ll get some numbers to put up on our options as we go but my instinct tells me a more basic older tractor would run cheaper for us than a newer model under “ warranty “. I place not much value on warranty these days. Also the independent mechanics are £56/hr. I think an older magnum or 10,20,30 series Deere would be the way to go. 175 horse minimum.

Who knows the true cost of ownership for their machines?

Currently have a 7230,7430 and 7810 that have a combined 35000 hrs. Only one was ever cracked open for a head gasket. All have had
hard lives but been amazingly trouble free.

 

[daveydiesel1]

What stuf is for sale in ur area? Thers always a bargain about if uv got patience to look for it. A big renault would be cheap if any of them about like an 8 or 9 series

 

[Dead Rabbits]

What stuf is for sale in ur area? Thers always a bargain about if uv got patience to look for it. A big renault would be cheap if any of them about like an 8 or 9 series

I’m in ‘Merica no Renault’s here.

 

[balerman]

I hope youre not thinking of bodging it up then trading it without telling the truth,i know a lot do but I would be uncomfortable doing so myself

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I hope youre not thinking of bodging it up then trading it without telling the truth,i know a lot do but I would be uncomfortable doing so myself

that’s exactly what I’m doing and I will sleep soundly. John Deere is a ruthless corporation that does nobody any favors.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

where is merica if you google it its an old saxon area of uk?

any old big hp tractor should be much cheaper mf, jd, case etc just get somthing you have then you have a bit of experience

 

[Dead Rabbits]

where is merica if you google it its an old saxon area of uk?

any old big hp tractor should be much cheaper mf, jd, case etc just get somthing you have then you have a bit of experience

Sorry that’s kind of a rural joke over here. I live in the US in Missouri. Also agco products are probably not an option.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

ha ha old case or jd then!

i believe there are issues with the direct drive ones here in the uk

 

[quattro]

that’s exactly what I’m doing and I will sleep soundly. John Deere is a ruthless corporation that does nobody any favors.

Trouble is it's not jd your likely to hurt it maybe some farmer who invests a lot of his money and gets shafted

 

[Dead Rabbits]

If selling private I would tell the individual. Not telling JD, they would pass it on without notifying the buyer or fixing it. Seen it several times. If someone was looking at buying it from JD and called me, I’d tell them.

Not going to tell the dealer about it. They are so incompetent I could get them to quote a price to repair it, then trade it to them and they wouldn’t figure it out.

 

[kiwi pom]

How many hours on it and what sort of condition is it in.
Could you keep trading in for new every couple of years on a lease deal, how many hours a year does it do?.
If you want to run older gear to high hours you really need to know a GOOD mechanic, forget about their hourly rate, if they're good, they'll save you money. Trouble is they can be hard to find.
If you buy something older and the engine scatters itself you're back to square one.
10's, 20's and 30's are fairly reliable so their second hand value is high.

The biggest thing with the emissions stuff from what I've heard seems to be too much idling of the engine, not working them hard enough and not doing regens properly.

 

[Wellytrack]

What are your Indy mechanics like locally? That seems like a hell of a bill for what it is.

 

[Farmer Roy]

The next tractor I buy as my main arable / farming tractor, will either be a reconditioned Case 7140 Magnum, JD 8400 or NH 8970 Genesis. I think that was about the peak of mechanical reliability, with enough “modernness” to be user friendly, but without too many complicated electrics. Retrofit with autosteer & good to go for another 10,000 hours ( far more than I will use over the next 20 years )

 

[Dead Rabbits]

How many hours on it and what sort of condition is it in.
Could you keep trading in for new every couple of years on a lease deal, how many hours a year does it do?.
If you want to run older gear to high hours you really need to know a GOOD mechanic, forget about their hourly rate, if they're good, they'll save you money. Trouble is they can be hard to find.
If you buy something older and the engine scatters itself you're back to square one.
10's, 20's and 30's are fairly reliable so their second hand value is high.

The biggest thing with the emissions stuff from what I've heard seems to be too much idling of the engine, not working them hard enough and not doing regens properly.

She has around 9k hours on her. Cosmetically it looks really good and everything works on it. Gets maybe 1200 hours a year on it. It has only pulled a mixer wagon since new.

We could trade every couple years but lease deals are totally unaffordable.

It actually does matter what a mechanic costs. John Deere rates are insane. Our mechanic just quit John Deere and is an excellent mechanic. He is a farmer as well and understands the importance of getting something going.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

What are your Indy mechanics like locally? That seems like a hell of a bill for what it is.

Both of the independent mechanics are from John Deere. Both very good. You guys are lucky to pay peanuts for your mechanics and your tractors also seem cheaper.

My friend is a man in a van in Devon and only charges £30/hr. Nobody would get out of bed for that here. Ridiculously cheap. I can’t hire any service at that hourly rate.

 

[Wellytrack]

Both of the independent mechanics are from John Deere. Both very good. You guys are lucky to pay peanuts for your mechanics and your tractors also seem cheaper.

My friend is a man in a van in Devon and only charges £30/hr. Nobody would get out of bed for that here. Ridiculously cheap. I can’t hire any service at that hourly rate.

How much of that 18k is labour?

As an example I paid a mechanic recently for a timing belt change on my mother’s diesel car. New belt, tensioners and idlers plus water pump. I bought the parts, he fitted and added some coolant.

£80. A job like that on your side would probably be $400 plus.

The prices we have here are what they are because of what money is in the entire job imo. The US does seem to have a larger scope and capacity for earnings than here but I understand that’s not applicable everywhere.

 

[Finn farmer]

Both of the independent mechanics are from John Deere. Both very good. You guys are lucky to pay peanuts for your mechanics and your tractors also seem cheaper.

My friend is a man in a van in Devon and only charges £30/hr. Nobody would get out of bed for that here. Ridiculously cheap. I can’t hire any service at that hourly rate.

30£/hr is dirt cheap. Here you'll be looking at 75€+/hour + travel (so we'll pay atleast 75€ extra for the driving).

 

[kiwi pom]

She has around 9k hours on her. Cosmetically it looks really good and everything works on it. Gets maybe 1200 hours a year on it. It has only pulled a mixer wagon since new.

We could trade every couple years but lease deals are totally unaffordable.

It actually does matter what a mechanic costs. John Deere rates are insane. Our mechanic just quit John Deere and is an excellent mechanic. He is a farmer as well and understands the importance of getting something going.

What I mean regarding hourly cost is one guy could charge $50 an hour one could be $100 but the dearer guy could be twice as fast and do a better job, stand by their work etc while the cheap guy is cheap for a reason.
Of course expensive guys can be rubbish too.
There's some very good indie mechanics in the UK, there's some crap too, couple of years at college a year at the dealers and they know it all.
Same with you I guess.

If the tractor is otherwise reliable, get your guy to fix it properly and carry on.
Better the devil you know sometimes.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

30£/hr is dirt cheap. Here you'll be looking at 75€+/hour + travel (so we'll pay atleast 75€ extra for the driving).

That’s still not an unreasonable rate. Our John Deere dealer got bought out a little over a year ago and everything went up drastically, with service quality going down. I think they are one of a 24 store enterprise now.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

How much of that 18k is labour?

As an example I paid a mechanic recently for a timing belt change on my mother’s diesel car. New belt, tensioners and idlers plus water pump. I bought the parts, he fitted and added some coolant.

£80. A job like that on your side would probably be $400 plus.

The prices we have here are what they are because of what money is in the entire job imo. The US does seem to have a larger scope and capacity for earnings than here but I understand that’s not applicable everywhere.

My guess is 3/4 of the bill is labor. Here many mechanics won’t do a job if you supply them the parts. They can’t mark them up.