[AT] Tractor treatment ramble

[HaliganBar at aol.com]

Unfortunately, there are people out there that view tractors, especially 
older ones, as consumable items. I was talking to a guy that had an older MF 
loader/backhoe that was in desperate need of some attention. It was probably worth 
about $5000 and all told I'd guess needed about $1000 worth of parts if he 
addressed everything on the tractor. When I asked him about it he said that it 
wasn't worth his time, effort or money to repair the tractor. His philosophy was 
that he'd run it until it was dead and then replace it with another one.

Personally, I would have put about $500-700 worth of parts into it. That 
would address the big issues and made the tractor very serviceable for at least 10 
more years. I guess my outlook is just different. 

Karl


In a message dated 3/6/04 12:40:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, gwill at toast.net 
writes:

<< OK, here is something to talk about. I hope I'm not
 > stepping on too many toes with this... I looked at the
 > Massey Ferguson 40 that Tim posted. Notice I didn't
 > call it a Massey Harris Ferguson.  :-)
 > I see an awful lot of tractors that look like that or
 > worse and I can't help but wonder when I see one what
 > kind of mindset was going on to get it to that stage.
 > The grill is damaged and that can happen and it can be
 > an expensive part to replace but the head light is
 > shining on the tree tops (I doubt it works at all) and
 > the plow light is trying to light Mars (if it had a
 > bulb in it). I see a lot of tractors at sales that I
 > look at in awe of how badly they have been treated.
 > Scott and I constantly look at tractors and say "how
 > in the hell did they break that?"
 > Don't get me wrong, we often joke about my old rustys
 > and everything I own needs work of some kind. The
 > difference is that my stuff has worked regularly for a
 > long time and still has not been broken up, badly
 > dented or seriously abused. A number of you have seen
 > a few of my tractors and some that have visited have
 > seen more. I've never been much for fancy but I still
 > try to take care of stuff and make it last. My MM-R
 > and my little Allis C have both been to Portland with
 > new paint. I like them painted but I never shoot for
 > fancy show quality work because I know that I am going
 > to bring them home and put them back out to work. They
 > will get scratched and dirty all over again. I am
 > actually more proud of the condition of several of my
 > original rustys. My CUB and my Super MTA have both
 > been to Portland and while the finish on both needs a
 > whole lot more than turtle wax they are both good
 > original tractors that have done a lot of very hard
 > work with out being beaten half to death. My MF
 > 165D-HA is down with a broken internal driveline
 > breakage but the outside of the tractor is in better
 > general condition than many tractors that are just a
 > few years old. The engine runs perfectly. The internal
 > breakage BTW was not due to abuse but from finding a
 > RR cross-tie that somehow got into a grassed area and
 > was buried in tall grass with a 6' bush-hog. The shear
 > pin failed to shear so something inside did. Time
 > permitting it will be going again before summer.
 > I would be slow to bid on one like that one on Ebay
 > just because it screams out to me "I don't give a $#!t
 > about this tractor!!!". If they treat them like that
 > on the outside how much oil changing and greasing have
 > they done. It would be OK to buy to restore for show
 > but I would expect one treated like that to be a money
 > pit. I would be slow to by a tractor for field use
 > that had been treated that way.
 > I would be quicker to bid on a Farmall M, Deere A or
 > Allis WD-45 etc. that had been treated that way than
 > something like that 40. If they needed innards you
 > could go to almost any tractor salvage yard and get
 > parts. I don't recall seeing any of those 40's in the
 > yard I go to. That would call for a lot of parts
 > hunting or new part$.
 >
 >
 > "farmer"
 > >>