I was looking on the IH site and they were talking about a stolen tractor. If I had to guess that tractor was broken down for parts such as what they would call with automobiles a chop shop operation. I know a guy who parts out some equipment and he was telling me that he was hit a few times last winter whereas before he seldom had problems. Yes, times are tough and there is the issue of drug abuse among other things but is that alone driving this? I don't think that is drug addicts from the city driving this but people who are fairly knowledgable that know what the "money" items are. It used to be there was a sense of brotherhood that you did not steal from those around you not that you should steal at all. But today there are a lot of people out in the country who are indifferent to those around them including family. BTW this had not been an issue that at least that I got to know about for a good dozen years. Probably the last time before the present farming was in the doldrums.
- Thread starter NY 986
- Start date
That has been happening for years around here with mostly smaller compacts being the tractor of choice. There are a lot of people who will buy a stolen tractor that has a brand new serial # plate and not ever question it's origin. If it fits on a trailer, it can make it's way across the country to never to be seen again. Then again some can just disappear conveniently when it benefits the owner. Guy down the road from here had a Kioti that kept giving him problems simply evaporate one night and insurance had him a new one inside of 3 weeks. Somehow he knew to take the backhoe and loader off the week before for the first time since he bought it.....
Yes, I would imagine that compact tractors are a much more frequent and ongoing problem. A relative of a neighbor thought somebody was casing his place a couple of months ago and he has a compact tractor and a small line up of tools for it. I don't get to hear about the shenanigans near Rochester like I used but I would guess those problems still exist there as well.
I probably should not find that funny but I do. It has to take a special breed of "burn out" for the communication not to happen so that tractor could have gotten fuel and then moved back to the shop or shed. Either that or they run 10's of thousands of acres so that one tractor gets lost in the shuffle and nobody blinks an eye. The hired man told someone and that is where the problem began was the next guy in the chain of operations.
casecollectorsc
Well-known Member
- Location
- E central SD.
Had a big dairy here lose a new Bobcat loader...found it when they pumped the manure pit next spring. Mexicans let it roll in the pit and told nobody. It was junk when found.
Heard of a guy that had a large John Deere or Hatichi excavator stolen.( Hitachi builds them both) Insurance paid up. The guy bought a new machine, of the other brand. One time the guy called a serviceman, who happened to check the engine number. Turns out, The machine was never stolen, but repainted, with the colors and decals of the other brand!
Goose
Well-known Member
I heard once of a farmer left a John Deere 7520 with duals sit in the field while he went home a mile down the road for lunch.
Came back from lunch an hour later and the tractor was gone. They never did find it. It even took a permit to haul it down a highway on a trailer.
Some years ago, an IH dealer had a tractor stolen off the lot, probably on a Saturday night or Sunday. They didn't realize it was missing until Tuesday. A salesman was dealing on it on a Saturday afternoon, and when it wasn't on the lot on Monday, the Service Manager assumed it had been sold. The salesman had the day off on Monday from working Saturday, so it wasn't until Tuesday when the salesman went looking for it that they knew for sure it was gone.
When they started looking, they found a spot where someone had backed a truck into the road ditch a mile west of the dealership and loaded it. It was probably in Mexico before they realized it was gone. The fellow dealing on it on Saturday was local and well known, so he was in the clear.
Came back from lunch an hour later and the tractor was gone. They never did find it. It even took a permit to haul it down a highway on a trailer.
Some years ago, an IH dealer had a tractor stolen off the lot, probably on a Saturday night or Sunday. They didn't realize it was missing until Tuesday. A salesman was dealing on it on a Saturday afternoon, and when it wasn't on the lot on Monday, the Service Manager assumed it had been sold. The salesman had the day off on Monday from working Saturday, so it wasn't until Tuesday when the salesman went looking for it that they knew for sure it was gone.
When they started looking, they found a spot where someone had backed a truck into the road ditch a mile west of the dealership and loaded it. It was probably in Mexico before they realized it was gone. The fellow dealing on it on Saturday was local and well known, so he was in the clear.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
The only reason I can see stealing a tractor like that is for a joyride. It's not really a big collector's item, and not worth all that much money. It'll be hard to sell as a complete tractor, and a lot of work to tear down and sell as individual parts, not to mention how long the thieves would have to hold on to the stolen parts to market them... Right now it'd cost more to haul it to the scrapyard than they'd get out of it for scrap.
My guess is they'll find this tractor in a nearby ravine.
My guess is they'll find this tractor in a nearby ravine.
I think that most drug users are 1 to lazy to part a tractor out and 2 wouldn't have the tools to take it apart 3 wouldn't know how to sell them/what parts would sell. I'd bet on large items like that they go to a scrap yard.
I don't think there is enough demand for old tractor parts to make chopping one really worth the time and effort. Most criminals are looking for quick money. If the demand was there the various companies would still be making parts, not telling us NLA.
So something like a 966 Hydro either is in a dishonest collectors collection, working a farm, in a scrap yard or at the bottom of one of 10,000 lakes.
What we are seeing here is stuff that's easy to sell on evilbay. That's what they are taking to feed drug habits. The dope heads have figured out, here at least, that small items, easy to evilbay, get them the money to feed that habit without getting them charged with grand theft.
Vandals are another story. Just the other night in a small town, population less than 1,000, someone went around town slashing lawn furniture and above ground swimming pools. Most likely bored teens IMO.
Rick
I don't think there is enough demand for old tractor parts to make chopping one really worth the time and effort. Most criminals are looking for quick money. If the demand was there the various companies would still be making parts, not telling us NLA.
So something like a 966 Hydro either is in a dishonest collectors collection, working a farm, in a scrap yard or at the bottom of one of 10,000 lakes.
What we are seeing here is stuff that's easy to sell on evilbay. That's what they are taking to feed drug habits. The dope heads have figured out, here at least, that small items, easy to evilbay, get them the money to feed that habit without getting them charged with grand theft.
Vandals are another story. Just the other night in a small town, population less than 1,000, someone went around town slashing lawn furniture and above ground swimming pools. Most likely bored teens IMO.
Rick
Determined
Well-known Member
Have not heard much around here of stolen equipment being on the rise although our fuel delivery driver told me of a problem south of here where guys were going around and stealing all the fuel out of any tractor or combine left in the field overnight.
30 + years ago I was parting out n fords and working full time. I would arrange to meet people after I got off work to sell them parts. Got to the point, I would come home and they had already picked up the parts, only thing they left was tracks in the dirt. I stopped selling parts and just started hauling whole machines to the scrap yard. pays better that way and I don't have to argue with some nut when I tell him I don't take checks.
I still think it was parts'd out. How many hands it went through is a variable. A small time crook will not bother to tear it down but they may know of a place to sell it to that asks no questions. You are right in that the internet makes it easier to liquidate such a tractor as parts. The transmission would be iffy to move right away but you have a D414 engine, radiator, hydraulics, wheels, hitch, PTO, sheet metal, etc. that could be considered generic as they would fit a wide variety of IH tractors. And nobody said thieves were utterly stupid. The internet address for the parts could be a 1000 miles or more away from where the tractor is. Or was.
I would also like to make the comment that in the case of the JD 7.6 Litre engine which fits the large row crop 50, 55, and 60 series tractors that JD discontinued making the block as part of complying with federal emissions standards at least according to an area dealer versus declining demand. This would make running used 7.6 Litre engines that much more valuable and I would think that similar circumstances come into play for other older ag engines.
In the case of fencing cars as parts its come up a bunch of times that a yard will go crawl through hole-in-the-wall bars looking for guys that will be the legs for such a operation. Such guys will have serious drug or alcohol problems who can not or will not find honest work for a living. Two rules of thumb for such operations according to a state trooper I know is never break a stolen vehicle apart on your own premises and never write checks to those in your illicit employ. A couple of parts places that got the spot light shined on them all of a sudden had far less ready inventory available to sell as they lost their chops in trying to move the stolen vehicle parts.
In the case of fencing cars as parts its come up a bunch of times that a yard will go crawl through hole-in-the-wall bars looking for guys that will be the legs for such a operation. Such guys will have serious drug or alcohol problems who can not or will not find honest work for a living. Two rules of thumb for such operations according to a state trooper I know is never break a stolen vehicle apart on your own premises and never write checks to those in your illicit employ. A couple of parts places that got the spot light shined on them all of a sudden had far less ready inventory available to sell as they lost their chops in trying to move the stolen vehicle parts.
Don't be fooling yourself that the junkies are city folk. Plenty of home grown rural methheads around.
And don't be calling these junkies lazy either. I watch these kind of folks almost everyday and constantly walk away thinking that getting a regular job would be a heck of a lot easier than the things these folks have to do to keep a buzz in their veins and clothes on their backs.
And don't be calling these junkies lazy either. I watch these kind of folks almost everyday and constantly walk away thinking that getting a regular job would be a heck of a lot easier than the things these folks have to do to keep a buzz in their veins and clothes on their backs.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Called it.
Just read on the IH site that the tractor was found. Some kids took it for a joyride and even put fuel in it when they were done. Unfortunately they filled it with GASOLINE, but other than that it sounds like the tractor is back where it belongs.
Married2Allis
Well-known Member
It has to be tough being a crook these days with all the states raking in billions to hire more police to come after people. And parting out tractors is a hard enough living for honest people. It has to be even harder for dishonest types.
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