Hours VS. miles/ equivalent

I have a '61 Ford 2000 Industrial Tractor/backhoe & loader that was always used as a backhoe/loader for digging trenchs and laying field tile on farms. And always loaded and off-loaded, never driven to the work sites.

It has 5400 hours on it and was wondering what that may be in approximate terms of actual mileage if it were used for farming and associated work in fields ? Thanks for now... JIM

Might make more overall sense just expressing it's average lifespan in engine-hours.

One problem with the miles analogy is - a 100K used to be considered near end of life in a car, now 20OK or more is more common.

Some engine companies now express engine life by gallons of fuel consumed. That takes much more into account.

A well cared farm tractor engine can last 7-10,000 engine hours. Yes, some less and some more but that's the usual average.

Years ago in the 1960-1975 era they said 35 miles equals 1 hour.

That's just what I was told. It may be different now days.

The reason equipment uses hours instead of miles is because equipment uses 80% of its power 80% of the time. But an automobile uses 80% of its power only 20% of the time.

its hard to go by that on machines as well as on cars and trucks. it all depends on how they were used and cared for I have seen machines that have 2k on them and they were junk pounded into the ground, I have seen the same machines with over 7k on that were in like new mechanical condition starting on the first turn no leaks good pins and bushings etc. you have to look em over and listen to your gut. the first thing i learned on stuff like this is your going to pay for it when you buy it (meaning a good machine) or more down the road ( when try to use or fix it) Just my two cents

Now days vehicles with overdrive the engine really don't have the miles on it as the odometer reads.

The mileage displayed is only on the drive train not on the engine. With over drive the drive train turns faster than the engine, unlike older vehicles without overdrive.

Older vehicles w/o od the drive shaft would turn engine speed, causing the engine to turn more RPMS than if it would of had overdrive.

Basically saying is that an automobile with overdrive the engine has to turn less revolutions per mile than an automobile without overdrive.

I hope this makes sense.

My "07 Duramax Diesel chevy has nearly 2000 hours on it and 78,000 miles. So, in the case of a truck I guess I have an average speed of around 40 mph per hour on the clock. Keep in mind that some hour meters on tractor really only start counting "true hours" at 540pto speed, or some I"m told. My 2 pennies.

Yes, but you could say that about any car, any time, OD or not. A car with a 3.08 rear and no OD had an engine turning less revs than a car with a 4.56 rear and OD. My 92 Subaru 4WD wagon had a five speed with overdrive but the engine spins 2800 RPM at 65 MPH.

My Ford diesel F250 had 4.10 axles with OD.
My Chevy diesel K10 has 3.08 axle with no OD.
Both have the engines spinning around the same RPM at equal speeds.

Some vehicles work easier and last longer with NO OD and high-number axles.

Getting away from all that, my 1966 Ford F100 with a column shift three speed stick and 240 six-cylinder lasted me 280,000 miles and was stil running when I sold it. So, old stuff could last also. My 87 Chevy diesel Suburban with 3.73 axles and NO overdrive made it to 520,000 before the engine blew to pieces. Many with OD didn't last 1/4 that long.

None of this proves a thing except there isn't any perfect way of expressing, or predicting longevity.

The idea being used now in doing it with "gallons consumed" seems to be the best way of taking into account how hard an engine gets used, instead of just miles or hours.

The other differance is modern engines are fuel injected - at low RPMs the fuel is metered to exactly what is needed. A carbed engine isn't nearly as efficient and excess fuel washes the cylinder walls and dilutes the oil at low speeds. Thats why Ford 302s and Chevy 350s were good for 100k-150k tops when carbed, after they went to fuel injection they were good for half again or more miles.

If you say OD has nothing to do with it I will say that the rear end ratio has nothing to do with it.

I'm wrong by saying that but we're still talking gear ratios whether in the tranny or rearend.

I believe 40miles to the hour is the typical conversion. That's what we use for extended oil drain intervals. Something to remember with most tractors is that the hours were at rated PTO speed. It may run for 2 hours at 1/2 speed and only show 1 hour on the clock. As others have said it doesn't tell you how its been used either. 5000 hours of plowing is different than 5000 hours of raking hay. I would say yours probably hasn't had a hard life. Your hyd system has probably had a harder life than the engine has. Either way Good maintenance will always save you money!

Much comes down to how the vehicle is used, and how hard it's used. A truck used to heavy towing with high-number axles and no OD is likely to work less hard, but turn more revs.

I didn't say having OD, not having OD, etc. has "nothing" to do with this, I AM saying it is not neccessarily a determinator of engine life.

Hour meter readings aren't always reliable either. In our Deere shop, many crawler-dozers only last 3000-4000 hours before an inframe rebuild was needed. But, farm tractors that tended to see more steady loads often lasted 10,000 hours.

This is why the system of "gallons used in a lifetime" is becoming more popular with heavy use engines. An engine worked easy uses less fuel. Worked hard it uses more. An engine on a genset might spend much of it's life running in standy-mode with no load on it etc. An hour meter with 5000 hours can be 4000 hours of hard work for one, and 4000 hours of doing nothing for another.

One problem with the "gallons in a lifetime" is, there is usually no way to know what a vehicle or engine has used. It's more used for engine companies to predict engine life instead of the B-number system.