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Opinion Poll #2 Tractor longevity.Can we make them last???

M

mike1972chev

Well-known Member
Hey guys,
I liked SGT Bull's last opinion poll.

My question is how long do you all think our 40,50-60 + year old tractors will go?????? I pride myself on keeping things mantained and in running condition,and with the invention of the internet and aftermarket parts mfgs AND great folks like you guys on this sight,MANY,MANY aspects of tractor resto/repair has gotten better!

Things I am concerned about:The SMALL farmer is kind of going away.BIG farmers wouldnt even think of using an M farmall for much.NEWER generations of kids do not seem to be interested in old equipment as much as I was as a kid.Our tractors are valuable to us,but what is the future for our valued machines????Will future "NON interest" send them to the recycler???? Will ANYONE have any use for them in another 40 to 60 years???? I am from the LAST of a generation whos family loved and knew an M Farmall.(Can you tell I had a few beverages??? lol:)

What is your opinion????
 
Three days ago I and a friend made a end plate for a Starter motor in a 1929 Graham Paige tow truck. It was made from decomposing pot metal originally and was in 8 pieces. It is indistinguishable from the outside, and 40 times stronger than original (T-6 billet aluminum).
We can keep them going for as long as anyone cares.
In my opinion till the sun burns out some 4 to 5 billion years from now. Jim
 
Mike, I think you have nailed it when you say it is up to the next generations to prserve these old gals. However they do not have the same "skin in the game" as we do. They did not sweat out farming with the first or second generation tractors on tractors with no canopy, cab w/ac. Todays tractors all have ginormous HP that reduces hours spent in the field.
As far as the tractors themselves, these old girls can last well past 100 years if properly cared for. All metal is solid, blocks are awsome and there are no complicated or electronic parts that may become obsolete, as in newer models. So... the way I see it, it is up to us to get our kids and grandkids involved in the hobby to preserve these grand old machines.
 
IMHO, the A john deeres M farmalls and the like will still be here long after the the new stuff has been sold to China for scrap because the d*mn computer/ electronics failed and it cost more to fix than the tractor is worth. Also you have to have a masters in electrical engineering to fix the problem. The old tractors all most anyone can keep them going.
 
This topic comes up regularly in classic British motorcycle circles ( Norton, Triumph, BSA, Ariel, etc.).

The best way to preserve these tractors is to use them, wear them out, fix them, and rebuild them. No one will contimnue to make parts if there is no demand.

Greg
 
Well, I'm 25, I Intend on keeping a few old farmalls around and running as long as I can. Which basically means there will be at least a few running another 50 years. I've got a few friends my age who will most likely do the same. -Andy
 
Look at what the Air Force is doing with the B-52s. When I signed in to K.I. Sawyer Air Force base as a 2Lt in 1985 they told me our lowest time bird was around 4,000 hours, they were built for 2,000 hours. 27 years later we're still flying the same bombers they must be close to 6,000 hours now and I hear they intend on flying them another 20-30 years. In 1985 we were launching sorties where all the crew members were younger than the aircraft they were flying or with all 2nd generation B-52 drivers, I betcha we got some that are flying the same aircraft their grandfathers did and they'll be another generation to follow yet.
 
Look at the T38s. Bunch of those still flying have over 15,000 hours. Northrop only guaranteed 7,000 hours or 20 years whichever occured first. I had one student who was assigned at K.I. in the KC135s, I believe, after pilot training. He was elated since he grew up near the base.
 
77 years old and still plows about 15 or so acre a year and a little discing. Still has the wire on the gov housing with the lead crimped seal. never been overhauled or restored. she's still got the poop too, 32 horse on my dyno. I prefer original tractors, and do my best to keep them that way

PlowDay028.jpg
 
If we use modern oil,support the parts venders,teach our Kids/Grandkids to resepct/use/enjoy i would think a 100 years is easy!! Of course my model T Ford will be 98 July 3"rd.1958 460D,just a youngster.Bud.
 
I can't help but wonder if anyone will ever be restoring the current stuff.. with so much complicated electronics that run the systems, its not like you can just switch them back to a a simple, plain jane tractor.. but then, the new generation of kids understand that stuff way better than I do, so who knows? Parts availability will be the biggest hurdle.
100 yrs for a tractor is nothing, if cared for. I have a '36 B that I hope to see reach the hundred yr mark, and its my son's favorite so it probably will stil be cared for and in the family.
 
I know one young girl that I can't keep off of tractors! She loves to help out and has been around them and taught all about safety since she was 2.
2farmalls.jpg

0605110931.jpg

My daughter, Samantha.

Stumpy
 
All things change. From false teeth to an M&W throttle lever to the fact that life replaces cells (married to a different wife) every 7 years or so. Jim
 
I have one that is 90+ yrs old, guarantee the next 90 won"t be near as hard as the first 30. I have one that is 14, don"t expect it to run in another 14 and if it does it won"t be in my possession!
 
Higher scrap metal prices could make many of them disappear.

But mechanically speaking - as long as all the parts that wear can be replaced, they should last forever.

Funny (or sad) thing is - what'll finally kill them is you won't be able to find a machinist who knows how to bore a block or grind a crank - let alone own the equipment to do it.

... what am I talking about - you won't be able to find a machinist PERIOD.

It'll be prohibitively expensive to send an engine block to calcutta for machining. Or heads to china for a valve job.

That's about where the hobby will have to end.

Unless people start retrofitting more modern, disposable engines into the old tractors - which makes me shudder.
 
"Funny (or sad) thing is - what'll finally kill them is you won't be able to find a machinist who knows how to bore a block or grind a crank - let alone own the equipment to do it.

... what am I talking about - you won't be able to find a machinist PERIOD"

I find that to be an interesting statement...

I became a machinist for a few reasons. 1. It's been a good trade for many people I know, providing them with good jobs for most of their lives. 2. I knew that I would be working on various pieces of farm machinery and etc. for the rest of my life, machinist's skills would be valuable for my projects.

I am one of the lucky ones... I got a co-op job while in High School, The shop hired me full time when I graduated, It turns out I got hired by a pretty good shop, as I Served my Apprenticeship and now am at Journeyman pay rate, which in my shop is Below, but comparable to, tradesmen in the auto industry.

I do see how/ why young people are being turned away from a trade like mine, and that has created an Industry- wide push to train younger folks. You figure many of the machinists are like it is in my shop- we'll loose about half of our workforce in the next 10 years. There are articles in trade magazines about the comming shortage of people. I think we'll see quite a push to interest young people in jobs like being a machinist. It's Definetly not what it used to be- at least in most shops. I think people got turned off to the idea of machining by the old-school stories of filthy shops and sometimes crappy pay. I think that has *mostly* gone to the wayside.

Anyway, I think there may be a shortage for a while- but I think that as wages go up to entice expirenced workers, there will be a corresponding increase on people choosing such a trade for their own. We'll see. I doubt there will be a time when my trade is nonexistant in the US, but time will tell. -Andy
 
I arrived at K.I. in 76, left 3.5 years later. Just this week the number 49843 popped into my head. I think it is the zip code for K.I.
My brain is getting to be Swiss Cheese.
SDE
 
The way I see it, many people are restoring old tractors today. They should last at least as long as they have so far. If the tractor is 60 years old and freshly restored, it should last at LEAST another 60. However, it's second half of life shouldn't be near as hard as it's first, so you can figure, maybe, 50 percent more time. After that, it is hard to tell.

SF
 
In years to come, they will be as obsolete as a steam traction engine, but they will still be here. Maybe not running because of no fuel.
 
Well there'll always be somebody to fill the need, as long as there's a need. But they'll be few and far between.

I was just thinking about this whole question when I was getting a head done a few weeks ago.

When I was a kid, there were several places you could bring an engine block to be bored - heads done - etc. You had a your choice.

Now all those places have shut down.

There's one guy who used to work at my favorite place that I go to now.

He's got all the old equipment in his home shop.

He's an older guy, and doesn't have any help there. When he closes up shop, there's nobody he's passing all his knowledge on to, and I imagine all the machinery will go to scrap.

So - my point is if this continues at the same rate - by the time my kids get my age, they'll probably have to drive 5 hours to have any machine work done.

Overall, that will make things much more expensive and inconvenient - and the more expensive that kind of thing gets - the less likely it is to be done.

So I think the tractors will last - but I really don't think the skill to keep them running will. It'll just be too rare a commodity, and too expensive.

There will be SOME people out there keeping them alive - but nowhere near as many as today.
 
Well, for my two nnalert worth… I am much younger than most people who run or restore Farmall tractors, but in the unusual position of having grown up using a Farmall M all the time. My Dad did start buying newer tractors and newer machinery, but somehow I just can't enjoy them like I do the Farmall M. When we cut hay, the other boys are out there with the big disc mowers and four wheel drive tractors. I just keep running with the 1939 Farmall M. I cut with the 7ft GL-25-VO mower, rake with a three bar side delivery rake and tedder and bale with a Number 45 baler. The Farmall M runs them all and I wont have it any other way. Crops are seeded with a 1939 Sunshine seed drill, also pulled with the Farmall M. They are harvested with a Sunshine 6B Reaper & Binder and the M has no trouble at all. My Dad sold his old AW-7 Diesel tractor when I was away, but when the chap tried to buy the Farmall M he said: "No, my son would never talk to me again". Not quite true, but he knows how I feel about that tractor. So in the last year I added a 1940 Farmall H, which we put on steel wheels, and a 1947 Farmall M on rubber. Don't need air conditioning, don't need radio, don't need a cabin and don't need 12 volt electrics either. My grandfather worked the farm with an F12, then a Farmall H and then the Farmall M I learnt to drive on. If he could do it with those machines, so can I.
SadFarmall
 
As long as people are interested they will keep going and that my friends is the problem. Last tractor show I attended the evening entertainment there were no young people there except for kids to young to say "I'm not going". But no teens..... because to them it was boring. Sorry but these kids we wnat to take up the slack for us as we get older we drive away because we are trying to keep things they way they are an not embracing things to keep them interested. Heck I'm 56 and I found the entertainment boring and I was only there looking for someone. The teens were in the camp grounds playing their gameboys and the young adults were off the grounds at a bar with a live band. Now I'm not saying we have to make everything their way but if we don't include them in all areas they get the feeling that we don't care about them other than as a labor force.

On another note sustainable farming is becoming a popular college course. Most programs are pushing for smaller farms and telling the students "if you can afford only one tractor"......small older tractor with a 3 point. Reason given are ease of repairs and the ability to find implements including new ones if need be. So even the H's and M's are off the list of tractors but the ones that replaced em with the fast hitch are on that list.

I know some of you guys are going to try to flame me over my thoughts but take a good hard look at your next tractor show.

Rick
 
Eventually there will be inexpensive machines (the descendants of today's 3D printers) that will make anything your grandchildren want.
 
That was one of my concerns as well.

I have watched A LOT of local machine shops go under.We still have quite a few,but they are SLOWLY being handed off you YOUNGER folks.I truly hope the American machine shop survives??? My whole "fix it" hobby relies on it!

I often thought of going to school for it,but I barely have time to do what I am doing somedays.
 
What is normal for military stuff?

We have birds pushing 30K that are about 10 years old. But they're flying 10-14 hours a day.
 
The old traction engines are still around. Back when these things became obsolete they were worthless junk and nobody gave a second thought to "preserving our heritage."

Heck, we even had two good old fashioned "the side the hurls the most iron at the enemy wins" wars between then and now.

Now we're a nation of PACK RATS, on a quest to preserve EVERYTHING.

Somehow I don't think the old tractors will ever completely go away. There may not be tens of thousands of them out there but there will always be some.

Regardless, we've got books and pictures and websites and all sorts of records that these machines existed. Even if they all go away the memory will be preserved, and isn't that what's really important?

I've said this many many times; if we hung on to everything ever made, we would literally be up to our EYEBALLS in junk, and it would all just be sitting around rusting away for no good reason.
 
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