Wore Out

Anyone truly wear out a tractor?

Yes grandfather basically wore out a C and D17

C needed to be held in 3rd gear steering was so sloppy you had to always correct the wheel. Was on its 2nd motor. He wasn't hard on it he just racked up a huge amount of hours on it.

The 17 was rebuilt several times, jumps from 2nd and 3rd. Clutch linkages had a fair amount of wear and the loader has been welded many times. Now the 17 is mine and is basically just a reminder of him and what he thaught me as a tike so far doesn't have a role.

I was thinking about the Allis Engineers comment that Farm tractors would need to be replaced every 7 years due to wear and tear due to the pace of farming at that time (50's).

DougS wrote: Generally those things don't wear out at the same time. You can drive a tractor with worn steering linkage. You can use a tractor with worn brakes if you farm level land. You can use a smoky tractor that desperately needs an overhaul. In the end you expect these items to wear out, but not at the same time. You fix these things as they need it. There's a point where it becomes neglect.

When I was farming, milking cows, I never had time to fix things the way they should have been fixed, complete repair. I would fix things just enough to keep things going.

I think when a major casting or frame member cracks or bends is the point you scrap or part out a tractor, the wear parts can be replaced but when metal fatigue sets in on the body of the tractor is when you could say it is "worn out".

Hadda JD 420 gas, that was plumb wore out.  Prior to me buyin it, it musta threw a rod, cause 1 cyl wall was all scratched up, and there was a crack up the block, on the carb side.  I drilled and tapped a 5/16 bolt, into the upper end of the crack, to stop it spreading upward.  When I got rid of it, it had 60 PSI compression, on 1 cyl, and 90 on the other, so I'd say it was wore out...

HudCo wrote: if things are repaeired as needed not when it wont go any more then it will probley stay in service another 70 years.     the only reason things turn to junk is abuse and neglect

DougS wrote: Generally those things don't wear out at the same time. You can drive a tractor with worn steering linkage. You can use a tractor with worn brakes if you farm level land. You can use a smoky tractor that desperately needs an overhaul. In the end you expect these items to wear out, but not at the same time. You fix these things as they need it. There's a point where it becomes neglect.

I got the feeling this comment was meant toward me.


If I remember the story right his C was new in '46 for many years it was the only tractor while grandpa milked 18 to 22-24 cows plus the young stock covering roughly 80 tillable acres not to mention a bit of custom work. At some point a used WD or WD 45 showed up and in roughly '77 a used D17 replaced the WD or WD 45. In its early years the C did all the field work plus ran a belt pulley hammermill and plowed snow with it during the winter.   Based on how easy it is for us to rack 400/450 hours a year on a 6080 I don't doubt grandpas C put on 600-800 hours a year in its prime. He milked for 46 years, ground feed for me and my uncle for another 10 after that with it. Thinking back he the driveway/ yard was snow plowed by it for 62 years. You can call it neglected if you want it put on a LOT of hours it wasn't neglected it worked. Wouldn't shock me if it had 25,000 to 30,000 hours.


Yes he could have replaced everything that showed wear but what would be left of the original tractor? Frame and tin work?

What will it cost to matinee todays new tractors when they are 60 years old like some of the tractors we are using today?     MACK

The 1967 190XT that I am currently restoring.  Story was that it was the main tractor on a dairy farm responsible for most of the tillage.  When I bought it, the tach was not working but only read 4500 hours - definitely not working for a long time.  Jumped out of gear - so I rebuilt the transmission.  The 93 hp engine was only putting out 77 - complete rebuild.  Turbo did not work - put a new one on.  3 Point hitch welded up and very worn - replaced with a tight one from a 200.  Brakes would not stop - new brakes.  Basically, I bought it because the sheet metal was straight and complete and the price was right.
Currently have over $22,000 in its restoration.  Working on getting everything put back together.  It is a lot of money, but compare that to the price of a brand new 100 hp tractor.  By comparison it's a hell of a deal...

victoryallis wrote: DougS wrote: Generally those things don't wear out at the same time. You can drive a tractor with worn steering linkage. You can use a tractor with worn brakes if you farm level land. You can use a smoky tractor that desperately needs an overhaul. In the end you expect these items to wear out, but not at the same time. You fix these things as they need it. There's a point where it becomes neglect. I got the feeling this comment was meant toward me.

You don't have to maintain them in like new condition and you certainly don't have to repaint them every 10 years. It's just that wear parts do need to be replaced as they wear. This includes an engine overhaul when needed. I'm not saying that if you buy something that is already worn to where you only expect a few more years of use that you should bring that tractor up to good condition again. This is where it gets to be too expensive.  This is a matter of previous owners allowing the machinery to go too long without maintenance.

I have a couple tractors I use that have some problems that would cost more to fix than
I can go buy a running and operating same model tractor.It just wouldn't make sense to
spend the time and money to fix them.Example is the David Brown 780 I rake hay with
it has some major hydraulic issues but I've used it to rake hay for about 15 years now wouldn't make any sense to repair the hydraulics that I don't need and can buy another one for about the cost of the repairs.So I'll just keep running it until something major happens that I can't use it,then I'll turn it into a parts machine.

I gotta MF 205 compact with a bad PTO, jams up, stalls motor, when you put the PTO in gear. Looked in the blue book, says something like 20 hrs to fix... Its a toyosha, so parts are likely made of unobtanium, so its only duties are 3 point hitch, non powered attachments... There's wore out, and there's wore out...