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Being hard on equipment

N

notjustair

Well-known Member
Anyone want to weigh in on what is the hardest thing on a tractor? I was thinking about this as I was moving snow today. I won't blade snow with my loader tractor or a field tractor unless I absolutely have to. I have a tractor that blades all of the snow but only runs about 5 hours a year otherwise. Blading is hard on a machine I think. Backing into piles, the torque of an angled blade on the three point, etc.

A field tractor has a fairly constant pull on it from the drawbar when cultivating. While it may be a tough pull I don't think it is especially hard on a machine unless you are trying to run too fast or with something too large.

Some folks are really hard on loader tractors, but I use mine for chores and it doesn't see any real dirt or rock work - something a skid steer is designed for.

I know some folks are hard on a machine no matter what is hooked to it. Those aren't the ones I am talking about. I'm thinking of an implement that you hook onto for its designed purpose.

So what implement is hardest on a machine?
 
Pull type forage harvester. Run em full and It will really work the engine & cooling system. Plus you are pulling the weight of the wagon as it fills. You can be pulling through less than ideal conditions in corn silage.
 
(quoted from post at 15:03:35 02/05/14) Anyone want to weigh in on what is the hardest thing on a tractor? I was thinking about this as I was moving snow today. I won't blade snow with my loader tractor or a field tractor unless I absolutely have to. I have a tractor that blades all of the snow but only runs about 5 hours a year otherwise. Blading is hard on a machine I think. Backing into piles, the torque of an angled blade on the three point, etc.

A field tractor has a fairly constant pull on it from the drawbar when cultivating. While it may be a tough pull I don't think it is especially hard on a machine unless you are trying to run too fast or with something too large.

Some folks are really hard on loader tractors, but I use mine for chores and it doesn't see any real dirt or rock work - something a skid steer is designed for.

I know some folks are hard on a machine no matter what is hooked to it. Those aren't the ones I am talking about. I'm thinking of an implement that you hook onto for its designed purpose.

So what implement is hardest on a machine?
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A loader....tractor I bought in December.



Front support and frame had been welded and broken a number of times....
 
Ever moldboard plow, or chisel plow? Those can be harder than running a grader blade....now if you are trying to move frozen piles of snow with a grader blade, well....your just asking for problems!
 
Our ground is fairly consistent and no rocks - a plow here pulls pretty even. Sure, it loads up but it pulls straight without jerking you around. Really, all cultivation here is fairly straightforward. Sure, a deep ripper is a handful but that's not a regular occurrence.

I've been more concerned about breaking something mowing a pasture than being in the field. I'm not sure how I didn't tear off a front wheel in a washed out waterway this summer.
 
When I was growing up we usually left the tractor running when we went in the house for lunch. Same school of thought - it is much better for it to sit there and run. I put lots of fuel through machines that could be shut off but I don't like to do that to them. I heard once how much a 466 diesel uses to idle but I don't recall. It was many hours before a gallon of fuel was used. That's lots cheaper than a starter or battery.
 
The hardest work on a tractor on our side of the water is scraping dairy yards. Dairy farmers seem to hate tractors over here! I bought a Massey 165 last night from a 300 cow 3 times a day milking farm. They bought the tractor at 2 yrs old in 1972 and it has scraped cow muck 3 times a day every day since. He told me it would have been running for at least 1 1/2 hours a day....and he never ever changed the oil!.... It finally seized last week. All he would say was "How's that for service?" "Look at the money we saved in oil!" The drawbar is broken in two, it has no bonnet(hood) or mudguards(fenders)And is fitted with international wheels. I will post a picture when Iget it home!.......You all can be the judges...........

Sam
 
I see what you're saying, but how much harm can really be done? How many times has someone hooked up to a ground-engaging implement that wasn't set correctly? Set it in the ground and it drags the RPM's down and kills the engine, or it loses traction. Or maybe you find a gopher mound with the mower. The way I see it, pulling a tractor up to it's capacity one or two times times a year at the fair is less abusive than things that can happen every day on a farm. Now, if we're talking about tractors that have had the fuel turned way up with no thought to the other components and making the pulling circuits all summer...that's a whole 'nother tube of grease. Not starting a war, just offering up my thoughts.
 
my 2 cents, a front end loader, especially on smaller older tractors like Ford 8N's or NAA's. It stresses the entire drivetrain...axles, clutch, engine, gearbox, and steering.
 
Pounding over frozen turds on the feeding grounds with 2 bales on the front end loader an 2 bales on the 3 point hitch.
You need a Belarus to handle that;)
mvphoto3330.jpg
 
DING! DING! DING! We have a winner. Allen in NE answered correctly...A PULLING SLED! I've seen lots of parts fly and noises develop whilst a tractor is hooked to the sled.
 
A poor operator who doesn't know when to shift down or sometimes up. usually they lug the engine down until the tractor nearly stalls . I have also seen the operator racing the engine as fast as it will go rather than shift it to a higher and more efficient gear.
I do know that some believe that the only way to run their tractor is with the throttle as far open as it will go.
 
(quoted from post at 16:20:14 02/05/14) A poor operator who doesn't know when to shift down or sometimes up. usually they lug the engine down until the tractor nearly stalls . I have also seen the operator racing the engine as fast as it will go rather than shift it to a higher and more efficient gear.
I do know that some believe that the only way to run their tractor is with the throttle as far open as it will go.
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I think that's about right. Take your average citiot with his new $25K shiny JD/Kubota/MF/NH lawn limo and have him try to do some actual work with it. 100% certainty it's gonna bust. Same thing putting a no nothing op on any larger piece of equipment, it's gonna get busted.
 
i broke my main loader frame arm 3 days ago carrying a single bale of silage (about 1800lbs), snapped it clean in two just rearward of the quick attach pivot point - right on the weld of the reinforcing plate... it's a case 520 loader... great bend made it i think... not a bad loader, but i think their welding leaves a little to be desired... welds seem to let go on it fairly regularly, pivot bushes especially... yes it gets greased, but -40 is hard on metal...
 
I would have to say trying to dig out stumps with the backhoe. It sometimes feels like the tail wagging the dog. Not only slams the snot out of the machine but also the guy (me) operating it. Every part of me, mostly my back, hurts after working on some stubborn ones.
 
Reminds me of an old Leave it to Beaver tv episode, when June says to Ward,"weren't you a little hard on the Beaver last night".
 
Not unless you over weight and over power. You put a field ready tractor on a transfer pulling sled you only tax it in the last few feet and spin out or kill the engine. Not near as hard as pulling a plow all day. The abuse is not the transfer pulling sled.
Over power and over weight anything and something is going to give. I pulled my Oliver 77 for over ten years and when I quit pulling I switched drawbars back and put it back on the baler. The only thing I put in that tractor in the ten years besides gas and oil was one new battery.
 
In my neck of the woods it would be pulling a huge manure tank. They're weighing somewhere in the 100,000 pound range, up shifting and downshifting constantly. Next would be pulling a 1000 bushel grain cart driven by a young buck on the wheat harvest. I have seen the bottom of the rear end of the tractor break out. I've seen a 250 horse tractor with a broken drawbar and the grain cart tongue gouged into the ground.Jim
 
I think in my situation towing logs, when traction gives out and you try a few tugs to see if you can get through it, and of course if you have any sense, you'll stop and make some changes. Sometimes I think moldboard plowing can be hard on it too, depending on how it goes. I do have a lot of respect for what my old 850 can and has done, as well as all the other tractors similar or not, they sure are a work saver.
 
I have no qualms about moving snow, think there are a ton of worse abused. It is all about respecting the limits of the machine and the environment it is in.
 
Bret Actually you would not believe it. We sell about 300 Kubotas a year being devided about a 1/3 to real farmers, a 1/3 to professional folks like country clubs, sod farms, house builders and other contractors and 1/3 to the folks you call city slickers. By far we see more mistreated units by the professional users and here is why. First they hire a guy and tell him dig this dirt then expect him to do a days job in 1/2 day or you get the drift , just plain try to do too much too fast. Most of the Coty slickers you elude too are in no hurry and love their tractor and thus DO not miss treat the unit. Just my experience after 30 years.
 
The operator's manual on a 44 Massey I once owned said not to run the tractor under load at anything less than full throttle.

Don't know if it still applies.
 

Pulling a big manure spreader in the winter. Over salt brine slush covered roads a mile each way. elctronics will be shot in two years. Easiest job is pulling transfer sled. At two thirds of it's "working" weight it spins out before it starts to work.
 
(quoted from post at 18:58:31 02/05/14) Bret Actually you would not believe it. We sell about 300 Kubotas a year being devided about a 1/3 to real farmers, a 1/3 to professional folks like country clubs, sod farms, house builders and other contractors and 1/3 to the folks you call city slickers. By far we see more mistreated units by the professional users and here is why. First they hire a guy and tell him dig this dirt then expect him to do a days job in 1/2 day or you get the drift , just plain try to do too much too fast. Most of the Coty slickers you elude too are in no hurry and love their tractor and thus DO not miss treat the unit. Just my experience after 30 years.
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Not much difference between an idiot working for a landscaper and a citiot trying to show off for his buds. I've fixed a lot of broken orange metal, exclusively owned by citiots, who loved them like the Marquis De Sade "loved" his girls. It's not that Kubota/JD/MF/Kioti/NH/etc make junk, it's the bone head using it!
 
That's pretty good. Would be 23,000 hours if 1.5 hrs. a day since 72. I'd say he might of been exaggerating a dab. Of course it sounds like he had plenty to do each day other than equipment maintenance!
 
It's GOTTA be loader work. I've seen more tractors torn up under a loader than anything else.

Neighbor has a 4240 under a loader. Broke so many front hubs, he finally bought a set of 8 bolt hubs. this tractor is used almost exclusively for hauling 6 by 5 round bales front and back. And he's not a bad abuser of tractors.


Loaders have my vote.
 
Any winter time work is going to be harder on a tractor in my opinion. And I am talking "real" winter where the temp frequently gets down below zero farenheit. Sure the block heater makes it start as easy as summer but all the oils are so stiff that they will hardly circulate for the first little while. Steering and hydraulics are slow and stiff. It takes a long time to properly warm up those diesels if they are not working hard enough just doing light chores. Condensation will start to show up in the fluids under those conditions and that is never good.
 
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