[AT] Too many tractors

[Herb Metz]

Greg,
Tell the guys at the coffee shop that you were advised to CHANGE coffee 
shops.
Herb(GA)
P.S. Yes, changing 3pt implements can be time consuming, disgusting, chore, 
especially if PTO powered.
Back in the 50's few dealers would have done that; today very few if any.



-----Original Message----- 
From: Greg Hass
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2017 1:35 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Too many tractors

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have four tractors for my 110
acres. Some guys at the coffee shop have told me I am crazy to have so
many for so little. I have them for several reasons. First off, they are
all over 28 years old so its not like I have hundreds of thousands
invested in them. In fact if I sold them all I would only get around 50
thousand for them all. Second; as others have mentioned, with my bad
back and being older, I can no longer keep changing equipment all the
time. I can put things on a tractor and leave them on for the season
without changing them every day or so. Third and maybe the most
important; due to our changing times, no one will help you out anymore.
If a tractor breaks down you are ------- out of luck. First of all, it
takes one to two weeks to get anything fixed where when I was younger,
unless very serious, you had your tractor back in a couple of days. I
had my IH 856 first for many years before I got the JD 4255. However, I
still pull the same equipment so if the 4255 should break down the 856
will still handle the equipment. Same with the IH 574 and the JD 3020;
both are about the same and can basically be interchanged. You will get
no help from the dealers, at least not around here. Years ago it was a
lot different. For 3 generations we have used red equipment until IH
went out of business. In the late 50's my dad had a IH Super C and
pulled a IH 45 hay baler and also did custom work with it. One day the
end of the drawbar broke so he just shortened it a little ( mine you I
was under 10 at the time so I remember a little of it but was told some
of it) . What he didn't realize  was that he also shortened the distance
between the pto shaft. A couple of days later he went through a deep
furrow and the pto bottomed out and bent the tractor pto shaft inside
the tractor. Because this was a real odd thing to happen it was going to
take at least a week to get parts. Without my dad even asking, the
dealer pulled the complete pto unit out of a brand new tractor and
installed in my dad's tractor so he could keep baling; at the time that
was the only tractor my dad owned. Today the chances of this happening
are several miles south of zero.
             Greg Hass