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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

What is a reasonable number of hours for old tract

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Newtotractors

08-19-2005 06:01:51




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I have been asking various dealer "how many hours she got on her" in my quest to buy my first tractor. Problem is that I have no clue if 5500 hours is excessive for an early 1970's tractor or if it is way too low and I should be suspicious. How many hours do you think is normal for a 35 year old tractor? Thanks




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wolfman

08-20-2005 18:21:05




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 Re: What is a reasonable number of hours for old t in reply to Newtotractors, 08-19-2005 06:01:51  
Bought a SMTAD a couple years ago that looked like it was only driven to church every third Sunday. It was solid as a rock. A couple weeks after I owned it, I discovered that tiny little hour meter they had and it read 12,000+ hrs. I guess church was a long drive!



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John (MO)

08-19-2005 09:27:55




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 Re: What is a reasonable number of hours for old t in reply to Newtotractors, 08-19-2005 06:01:51  
I'm afraid that what you are doing by asking a dealer about hours, is telling him he's got a sucker on the line. Very very seldom will someone really know the actual hours on a tractor. Even if they do, there is a lot of difference between hours put in plowing and hours put in raking hay, just as an example. How the tractor runs and sounds is more important than the hours. Information about an overhaul can be important, if it can be documented. If you just have to have some numbers, you might ask about compression. A good compression check can tell you a lot. A poor one however may just hide something. By the way, transmission or rearend problems can sometimes be much more costly to fix than engine problems, so don't concentrate too much on just the engine and forget the rest of the tractor.

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old

08-19-2005 08:31:27




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 Re: What is a reasonable number of hours for old t in reply to Newtotractors, 08-19-2005 06:01:51  
Hours don't really tell you much. You never know if they are true and also you never know if the engine has been rebuilt at some time which will also make the hours sort of untrue. I look at the numbers but never do more then that I go by what they look like and how they run. Sort of like buying an old farm truck it may look ruff but if it purrs like a kitten it maybe a good buy.



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Mike M

08-19-2005 06:18:44




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 Re: What is a reasonable number of hours for old t in reply to Newtotractors, 08-19-2005 06:01:51  
Be very weary of hour meters.Many were replaced and or the drive cable may of been broke for many years. Nothing wrong with a high hour tractor that was maintain well.And just because of low hours if it wasn't maintained it could be worse. For something that old I'd guess anything under 10,000 would be low ?



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dhermesc

08-19-2005 07:36:20




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 Re: What is a reasonable number of hours for old t in reply to Mike M, 08-19-2005 06:18:44  
Think about it, 5500 hours over 30 years, that comes out to 183 hours per YEAR, Some tractors have close to that put on them in a couple weeks or less.

But if you are talking to the original owner just look around the place. If it looks like he's been retired (or near retired) for 20 years it could be accurate.

I wouldn't trust an hour meter on a 30 year old tactor anymore then I'd trust the odometer on a 30 year old car. Condition and DOCUMENTED maintenance are of greater issue.

Unless they have paperwork, a verbal claim of an overhaul means little. My brother bought a 1456 that the owner claimed only had 6000 hours and "just had an overhaul". He bought it on the assumption that the old guy probably wouldn't lie and his farm looked like it been rented for the past 20 years. He eventually found the shop bill for the overhaul - performed in 1978.

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