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Bill: I do take exception to your thoughts on 6,000 to 8,000 hours being the life of a tractor. While I agree that what you are saying has probably happened to a lot of them. Every American built row crop diesel out there was capable of 25,000 to 35,000 hours with proper service and operation. I had 4 of these tractors in my farming days and yes every one of them saw 10,000 or very close before any major rebuild. I know that all but one of these tractors are still going and yes a couple of them are getting close to the 25,000 hour mark by now. Now I will agree there will be a lemon now and then. I am just stating what tractor is capable of. In my home town the forest industry used machines with many of the same components as IH and Deere farm tractors. Some of these guys are doing 3,000 to 4,000 hours per year. You look through the photo adds on this site, you see 06, 56, 66 and 86 series tractors with 4,000 to 8,000 hours on them. Some of these tractors especially the ones stored outside probably rusted apart from lack of use. Farmers traditionally have cried hard times. Perhaps they may have been much better off had all these tractors listed above had 25,000 hours on them by now. In my day a new tractor was not fesable unless you were going to do a minamum of 800 hours work per year, and they certainly had to last more than 6,000 to 8,000 hours.
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