I've never seen the benefit of not doing preventative maintenance that is routine, or further repairs when you have something apart, unless you know its 100%. I think its wise and money ahead to do the best you can on keeping any piece of equipment well maintained with timely repairs or convenient repairs, still not a guarantee, but the odds are a lot better, than say going the other route, which I've always thought is more costly, pay now or pay a lot more later.
The farmer I used to help had a 6620 combine and though I've never run one of these, I did grease it, and he watched over me to help locate all the fittings, except that one that is accessed under the seat, it got hot, could have burned up the combine, the repair in the field was expensive. I was surprised to hear of this during corn harvest that November and knowing how long he had this combine, it was overlooked. I had been helping during the oats harvest, we had some trouble with the grain head, we did a repair to the auger, it came apart on the end, had to replace those pans inside, replaced all the knives as well, + had the dealer service and repair the A/C, was kept in decent shape but 2 time consuming repairs causing downtime when it needed to be working, it certainly makes sense to make a serious effort on maintenance, though he was smart with a buck, some call that tight, his equipment was more maintained than not, you could do a little more, he seemed to subscribe to the philosophy that grease is a lot less expensive than parts or down time in the field. For most of their years in farming they had a shop that all the equipment would fit in, after the fire, not sure why, but the new 3 bay shop was did not have high enough doors or ceiling, so we worked outside or in the pole barn, I think part of this is having a decent set up for repairs, some guys just leave everything outside and roll the dice on break downs.
I have an old worn out 850 Ford at home here, should have been scrapped or parted when I got it, however, over time I repaired many things on it, and at times gone over it, maintenance, looking for things that would stop me or be a problem when in the field and for the most part in 11 years, one fan belt left me in the field. Late last summer, I spent numerous afternoons working on it again, just so I could have the satisfaction of knowing it would be highly likely I won't break down in the field, mostly mowing, and now have another 7 acres to cut, as the field is no longer in use by the farmer. Lights work, so if it gets dark, no problem, oils are changed and its kept greased properly, needed wiring repairs, about the 3rd time since I've owned it, this time solder and shrink wrap, try to keep it in the garage, at minimum all winter, weather just hammers some things. Its an old ugly beast, power steering not working, (another project) but I have kept ahead of it otherwise, and looking back it owes me nothing, it paid for itself and I've made money with it doing jobs, that would not be the case if I tried to do the bare minimum. It will be the first thing I replace, as I need something a bit newer, but for now it has to do and for that to happen reliably, it does require looking after on a regular basis.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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