How many hours is to many hours?

This has always been an interesting thing to me.
I saw a tractor that was a 2006 with 1400 hours and then I saw a 1986 tractor with 500 hours.
I was wondering what the max amount of hours is for a tractor?
I was also wondering what to look for hour wise when it came to hours as well?

That depends on a lot of things... my neighbour
and i have the exact same tractor, his is two
years older than mine with 2 and half time the
hours, 12000 odd vs 5500 (mine), his engine is
untouched, mine needs it's third head gasket, he's
redone his powershift clutches (as a precaution -
they weren't that bad once he had everything
apart), mine spend two months in my shop while we
tried to figure out why the hydraulics wouldn't
work properly...

Given a choice i would opt for the newer higher
houred machine... 1000 hrs per year is not
uncommon for tractors working everyday, whilst a
tractor very low houred older tractor suggests
it's either done nothing or has had parts changed
(hour meter, and if they won't tell you that has
been changed, what else aren't they telling
you)...

Analogue or digital tack. Digital tack will add one hour for ever hour the key is turned on, regardless of engine speed. Analogue puts on one hour a 2200 rmps on most tractors. so if a tractor was run at1400rpm for one hour or 60 minutes, the tack would indicate less that one hour. This is my understanding. A diesel tractor that is given normal maintenance should easy last 10,000 hours. I have a 730 Case with 12, 700 hrs.

It depends on the model of the tractor and the usage/care it has been given.

My 1993 JD 6400 has 16,000 hours on it. The engine only has had the head redone as it blew a head casket. The bottom end is still all original.

I have a 1980 JD 4440 that I bought with under 300 hours on it. It has right at 12,000 hours now and the basic engine has never been touched. The injection pump and injectors have been rebuilt but that is it.

I have a 1996 JD 325 lawn tractor that I bought new and it broke the balancer guide out of the back of the block with only 350 hours on it. It is a single cylinder Kawasaki motor. I have seen other mowers with this same exact motor running well with 2500-3000 hours on them. So sometimes it is crap shot.

On true farm tractors any hours under 2000 is low houred to me. Most tractors of any brand will go 4000-5000 hours with little needed other than routine maintenance.

The smaller compact tractors would be a little lower in hours of use. Like 3000 hours would be the cut off for me.

On lawn equipment usually 1000 hours is about the top end of what I will buy to keep.

I just read an article about a JD 4020 with 28,000+ hours on it.
It has never been rebuilt. They think it might be a record.

Hi
Something you have to remember with tractors is
the clock resets at 10.000 hrs on most. you have
to start looking a ware on linkages clutch and
brake pedals to see how warn dimples are on them
and other general stuff like tires being original
or half worn replacements.

I have personally seen some that the only way a
guy new it was 16.000 hrs not 6000, was the guy
was honest and told me.
The tractors had high standards of
maintenance/service and 1 or 2 drivers assigned to
them from new with the farm they were on.

Just had to tell a guy thats had a 1830 Deere
from new it's mechanically worn out at 16000 hrs,
only thing appearance wise wrong was 1 odd tire
and some rot in the rear fenders on an early 70's.
tractor.
I know another guy got a 5000 hr 4010 clock works
but when you look at gear shift linkage and other
ware its closer to 15.000 hrs and worn out to.

Older low hour tractors can be a pain just the
same as low mile vehicles. A guy babied it the
next guy puts hard work on it then everything
that fell off the rest of them under warranty
falls off when you own it, and have to pay to fix
it.
There is no real easy answer to it. I would
rather have higher hours well maintained/ all
updates/ warranty work done. than low hours never
greased or serviced, updated personally.
Some of this stuff out there is 1 careful lady
owner and 99 idiot drivers from what I see round
L.O.l. That can be on 2 year old expensive stuff,
which gets real worrying, when dealers clean it up
and fix the damage.
Regards Robert

You don't give us much to go on.
Are they gas or diesel? How big or how many hp?
A diesel will generally go much longer than a gasser will.
But it's not always just about hours either. Brand makes a difference too.
Also parts availability is a big factor.
If that 86 with 500 hours is something you can't get parts for and the 06 is something that parts are readily available for then hours don't mean much.

(quoted from post at 17:52:51 03/23/14) You don't give us much to go on.
Are they gas or diesel? How big or how many hp?
A diesel will generally go much longer than a gasser will.
But it's not always just about hours either. Brand makes a difference too.
Also parts availability is a big factor.
If that 86 with 500 hours is something you can't get parts for and the 06 is something that parts are readily available for then hours don't mean much.

Click to expand...

DITTO!

Rick

Bruce is right about digital or analog. Most digitals read hour hours where analog reads RPM hours, meaning, the higher the RPM's the faster the hours go on. My 1086 with a digital shows 17000 hours but only about half that is actual hard field working hours. Jim

(quoted from post at 23:40:31 03/23/14) This has always been an interesting thing to me.
I saw a tractor that was a 2006 with 1400 hours and then I saw a 1986 tractor with 500 hours.
I was wondering what the max amount of hours is for a tractor?
I was also wondering what to look for hour wise when it came to hours as well?

Click to expand...

Some interesting points have been made. My TLB counts the hours based on 1600 RPM....but if you turn the key off the engine keeps running but the hour meter does not.

Condition doesn't have nearly as much to do with hours as it does with how the machine was used and maintained.

Brand has a lot to do with it too. Some brands are built to go longer without major repairs than others.

What are the maximum hours? Theoretically a tractor could run indefinitely, but at a certain point it's not economically prudent.

My local Deere Dealer's Service Manager told me 15 years ago around 6 - 7000 hours was average for an overhaul at that time for 70's, & 80's model year tractors. But greatly depends on how they are used, & how rough they are used. A very low hour tractor can have rust form in the cylinders for example if the tractor is ran a few times a year, or less. That 1986 500 hour has about 20 hours per year on it. Did it sit 10 years, & internal corrosion build up. It might work but with 25, or 50% of normal compression. Just something to think about.