Is it an Age Thing Or...?

Is it just me or is it an age thing that makes me want to sell some of the old equipment to buy a new piece to do the same jobs as two of the older ones? I'm getting tired of working on the older machines such as tractors which operate fine but I would like something a little more modern sometimes. I have a Farmall H with a belly mower that I use to mow about 4 acres all summer long. It works and runs fine. Changed oil today and found the copper gasket on the oil filter canister bolt to be broke. Couldn't find one in town. Have to order it from the dealer. If this were a newer tractor it would have a spin on filter. This is what I'm talking about. Just me I guess.

Well, there is one thing. On the H you have everything right out there in the open, right at belt-level, easy access to all of it. Very easy to work on every last thing. You won't have that on any other tractor.

Yep. Get a new tractor with DEF and a snake's den of wiring/electronics and plastic parts, then report back in a year or two of how all that worked out and how many trips to the shop it's taken!

Well I do not have any "new" tractors but I do have a 2002 JD 5210 tractor. It is only 47 PTO HP. It starts Great even when colder. It is easy to get on and off of. It gets used just about everyday for something.

So you do not have to go to BRAND new to get something more reliable.

This site is for guys that like old iron. That does not mean you have to ONLY use old iron.

I drive a car with power steering, electric windows, and AC. So even though I am looking for a 1952 Chevy pickup I would not be driving it everyday.

So just update to some thing newer than fifty years old. Your four acres can easily be mower with several type of garden tractors or zero turn mower faster and easier than an IH "H" tractor.

About a year ago I stopped at a local CIH dealer and they had a new 15 hours on it little utility with a cab and loader. The fly wheel had stripped it s teeth. My 1961 still has the original ring gear. Just saying, you have to work on all of them, some just a lot more often.

Speaking of your "H", about 30 years ago, I converted one of those to accept a Chevy one quart spin-on oil filter. It is still being used, although just not as much as it got used back then. It's very clean to change oil now.
Speaking of your thoughts that newer machines don't break down so often, my brother's 2009 JD combine destroyed it's engine last fall. The John Deere tech told him that it was the third JD combine in a few weeks that had come in with the same, identical problem, a complete engine that had been destroyed by the #4 cylinder, the cylinder that seems to take the EGR gasses. My brother said the repair cost $16K.
Don't assume for a minute that newer machines have cheaper downtime costs.

I would rather keep the old stuff. Stopped in at a machinery dealer the other day to pick up some parts. Also sells Kubota. I wandered around looking at the displays of lawn mowers and smaller tractors. I just laughed to myself and was glad that I don't farm anymore and need some new machinery. Everything is made of plastic and Chinese rubber with an outrageous price tag.

Check with the dealer re warranty replacement for that engine...sounds like what my renter went thru a few years ago...along with a number of others in the neighborhood.

You could have stoped at a hardware store and got a nylon washer and it would have worked.

I've been working on equipment nearly all my life, but I only lay claim to the 29 years, since my 18th birthday, for professional purposes. In that time I've run up on a field repair, or two, that I've been taught or had to figure out on my own. So, here's one of those nuggets of field expedient wisdom.

Next time take the side of a milk carton and make yourself a washer to replace the copper one. It will work just fine as al you need is something softer than the bolt and housing to make a seal.

When your doing that, think about the newer machine. It probably has a bunch of plastic parts on the engine that will eventually crack (just replaced a plastic front cover on a JD for a customer for the low price of about $800 plus parts...at least they made the new one out of aluminium ), or the oil fill neck has a special sized/thickness (metric usually)O-ring, instead of a gasket, that will get hard and start to leak (same machine as the front cover), or even special sized, and composition O-rings on the cylinders that are available only through the dealership (((and you have to buy $150 worth of seal kits to get the parts you need, along with twice as many that you don't)))), or it might even have one of the bolts with an oversized head that has a groove cut into it that also takes a special sized/thickness O-ring to seal it.

In any case a milk carton won't solve your problem with the new machine, but it will get you a long way on an old one.

I could go on about the stuff I have seen when working on newer equipment.

I could also go on about how completely special things are now, and how dependent you will be on the dealership (((and how much you'll pay and pay)))) nearly every time there is a problem.......and how the local hardware, auto parts house, or whatever will often get you buy on the older stuff at a price much lower than the dealership would.....

I could even remind you how how having to rely on the dealership will cost the heck out of you in time when you break down on a Friday evening, and there is no one to get you up and going until Monday....if they aren't booked up that day already.... BUT how you can often fix the old stuff yourself and be up and going in a few hours......

But I think you can get the idea from what I've said so far.........

almost all the modern machines I bought break down easily, constantly & I can't find parts or repair information. Or it's too expensive to fix.

Just happened to remember I saw an assortment of copper washers at HF the last time I was in there. For around $5 you can get a whole set of them. Whether the one you need will be in the set or not I couldn't say, but places like NAPA can also get them in various sizes if you find someone who knows what they are doing on the other side of the counter.
Copper washers

No, it's not just you. I have sold my AC "B", and the "C" is no longer used, and is for sale. I bought a low time NH TT60A, and a used Woods 7', three point finish mower. I can get on and off this tractor! I have live PTO. Power steering. OEM three point hitch. Roll bar, lights, two way remote, comfortable seat, and on and on.................

I'd rather have the older stuff,just sold a 1995 model tractor I bought back in 2005 at a bargain and bought 2 Oliver 1550's with the $$$.You can get an assortment of those copper washers off ebay for about $15 BTW plus most any auto parts store has them.With older tractors ebay is your friend plus I can buy a of bunch older tractors for what one newer one would cost and just park it for awhile until I get it fixed when it breaks down just go get another one to use from
'inventory'.

Of course that H with a Woods mower will probably wear out about a half a dozen Zero Turns.Rows of broken down Zero Turns at sales these days and most say the parts to fix them is more than the mower is worth.

Yep,I hauled three manure spreaders to the scrapper and headed right to the dealer and bought a late model.

That's my attitude. Haven't yet decided to pick up a spare 12 ton loader (tire), but one was advertised here cheap. Never asked the Cat dealer what something like that new would cost.

Maybe I could buy one, but why? Not much demand for the old ones, they're amazingly cheap.

Use them, and things break. I lost a plastic coolant housing on my Audi in Key West (Fla), a $1000 tow to a dealer. OR, a short tow to my friend's house where I ordered the part on the internet. Not so bad, but my old Cats never had critical parts made of plastic.

I am feeling the same way, but when I go to a dealership and look at 40-50hp utility tractors, and the stupid high prices they have on them, I leave and come home alone....

I have a 1950 Farmall H w/6ft belly mower. i installed power steering on this tractor and it is sure a pleasure to mowe with,but not as fast as a 0 turn. More comfort and less costly to repair.

That sounds like a good opportunity to cut back on the area of lawn that needs to be mowed "all summer long". Four acres is a lot of lawn, LOL.

John,
I get sick of wrenching now and then too. My tax lady told me I could use another writeoff and might want to consider a new tractor. I went and priced a new JD 5075 4wd w/loader just to see... Over $50,000 = $700/month for 6 years.

Suddenly a little wrenching now and then on my "older" equipment seemed ok. Im bought six tires, a quick attach for the loader and some other miscellaneous upkeep. I should be good for another 5-10 years.

I have WAY less than 50K into my loader tractor, dozer, backhoe, dumptruck and tree spade. Ill keep my used equipment.

Rick

When you look at the price of a new tractor --the old one still looks pretty darn good !

Larry --ont.

Many years ago when I started up my part time/weekend /evenings farm .. I had to decide if fixing old worn out equipment..especially tractors was a productive activity. I decided it was a waste of time and that time spent on fencing, breeding stock,and handling facilities, farm management, et al.. was significantly more productive that fixing old tractors. I realized that there were two different types of part timers.. those who were machinery centric and those who were business centric... In 1980 I bought a new tractor and never looked back. I became a business/farm centric part timer who in his retirement is now a full time farmer. Constantly fixing old tractors to do a job a more modern tractor should do is just plain ridiculous .. unless your business is fixing old tractors and not making a profit out of your labors. I like to concentrate my focus on crops, breeding stock and growing my customer base not in fixing old crappy tractors.