USA and Canada running older kit

[2wheels]

Look at what the tractors do though. A lot of the time all there used for is to back up to a big drill, drop the pin in plug a few pipes in and away.

They don’t want to pick heavy implements up on a linkage at row ends, do heavy draft work or bounce all over the country hauling trailers on roads as they use trucks.

So all they need is something big simple with wide tyres, autosteer and air con that can pull something big and wide at speed.

makes you wonder who is doing it right.

 

[brentnz]

All ways wondered how the biggest of the fendts would do on them big farms against the artic machinery they use

Watch Mike Mitchell on you tube.
He just parked his 1050 up and hitched up a quadtrac to finish the job when conditions got tough. He really likes his fendts.

 

[Drillman]

makes you wonder who is doing it right.

They are.

Using tractors for haulage is daft really, low payloads and heavy on fuel. We only do it because licensing laws make it tricky to run trucks And our wetter climate and European truck design aren’t compatible on anything less than a firm surface

 

[adam_farming]

One thing I've noticed is that they tend to have mechanics and very rarely do they work on their own kit. Getting a bit like that here too, many won't even change the oil.

Not necessarily. On our harvest run we ran 5 combines, cut around 50,000ac and I could count on one hand the amount of times we had a JD mechanic in the field. This was mainly for an injector/ECU issue on one of the engines. We changed a final drive on a combine ourselves twice, and countless other running repairs and services were done within our own team. We were fairly well equipped with dedicated service trucks but nothing that a farm workshop wouldn't have, we just needed it to be mobile.

 

[DrWazzock]

we do that here. Potentially can get my tractor going again for £12 to replace this bearing. A lot of work and disruption but I compare that against going over the road and paying £35k for a second hand tractor that does the same job, and think the rebuild time isn’t a bad use of my time.

 

[Donkey Oaty]

Not much else to do over the cold winter? Overhauling a tractor in a nice warm workshop sounds like a good idea.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s a reasonable idea but don’t underestimate the complexity or knowledge required. I am no expert on transmissions but scrape by on older kit. I wouldn’t even attempt newer more complicated systems. Even with older kit you theoretically need a fair number of factory jugs and gauge pieces to set things up and a detailed manual. You can improvise, use judgement and wing it to an extent but there is a limit to what we can realistically expect to do in a farm workshop.

 

[D14]

Yes but why keep overhauling old kit ?

Because its far far cheaper than buying new. I have family in both the USA and Canada and they think were all stupid over here because we have been cloned, as they put it, into thinking machinery only has a short life cycle. They say now the big manufacturers like Agco and JD have cloned us in europe they are now trying to do the same over there but the farmers aren't having it.

 

[D14]

Watch Mike Mitchell on you tube.
He just parked his 1050 up and hitched up a quadtrac to finish the job when conditions got tough. He really likes his fendts.

'Finish the job' though to him means he still has 20,000 acres to drill with 5 drills. Approx 4000 acres of drilling still left to do per drill in what appears to be catchy conditions presently is a nightmare don't you think?