How long do you keep fixing older vs replacement

You are sink alot of money into old tractors i know i own several. But when you get them fixed up you still have an old outdated tractor. Does it get to a point where you replace with something newer?
I've got old tractors and i love them, i struggle with them every time I feed hay my place has not been bush hogged this whole year cuz of outdated tractors that would not do a job.
How much is enough money to throw into them before its time to update. Dealers are offering exceptional deals on newer tractors. For what is spent on keeping the old tractors running you and easily pay for a new very quickly.
 
I have two thoughts on this.
1) Pa always said it's ok to run old equip. but you have to have a lot of it.
2) If what you say is true, sounds like you should update immediately. "easily pay for a new very quickly"
If your saying you can't even get the work done then you need to do one of my two suggestions.
 
Buy better tractors . I make my living with these and they give less trouble than some of the new ones and I don?t have to pay fiat or Agco a thousand dollars to come fix em . There?s enough parts available from John Deere and aftermarket to build one from scratch if you wanted to
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My ?51 8N?s take up a lot of my time keeping them up. Thinking of selling them off with 6 parts tractors, implements and a garage full of parts this Spring. I now have a J/D 5203 that handles what I need done. If I can?t sell out the scrapper may become my newest best friend.
 
When it comes to old tractors, 1950 and 1953, I'll keep them running as long as I can get parts. I do all the repairs on the old gassers. Mechanically they are in very good condition.

Bought a new 2007 GMC truck. That truck will run as long as I can get parts to fix it. Only used around town. Occasionally a trip to Indy. It has 100k and no issues. Doesn't burn or leak oil.

When I comes to a car, that's another story. I like to travel. Don't want to break down along the road in the middle of nowhere. Bought a new car in 2005. Only had 100K on it. Decided to upgrade this year with a 2018. Gave the 2005 to a friend, instead of trading it in. A 13 year old car isn't worth much.
 
Nothing more frustrating than a piece of equipment that will not work when you need it to. Sometimes its our own fault, we see something and forget or put off fixing til tomorrow, or we are not doing any preventive maintenance. If the work load is too much for your tractor herd, by all means get a newer, hopefully more reliable tractor. But in my travels I do see brand new vehicles setting along side the road broke down. So, what you buy, even new, may break down when you need it most, so keep the "OLD" tractor as a back, maybe you'll never need it. Now you can spend all that repair money for tractor payments and get your work done. gobble
 

I reached that point a few years ago. Not getting any younger and wanted more features and convenience to do what I needed to do around the place, mostly wanted a modern front loader.

The 9N runs good, but about everything else is worn and needs replaced. I don't want to put the money into it that it needs to remain useful. The 8N is in better shape and I recently described in a post what I did to get it back into shape. Use it almost exclusively on a manure spreader that gets dumped every other day. Don't need much of a tractor for that (125 bushel spreader), just has to start, drive a short distance and the PTO to work.

I got a new Mahindra eMax 22, wish I gotten something like it years ago. It is a good size for our place. Also a good excuse for some new implements I didn't have before. Clamp on bucket forks are handier than I ever imagined.
 
At one time, those old tractors were new. Probably state of the art at the time that they were new. They did the jobs then, why not now?

Yes, the newer ones have more horsepower, handle bigger implements, and get the job done faster in most cases. BUT, the older ones still got the job done in their day. It may have taken longer, but they still got it done. Just being old or outdated does not mean that they cannot still do a day's work.

When they start getting too expensive to keep up with, it is time to upgrade. But, you can still do a lot of maintenance and repair work to a tractor that is paid for versus one that has a $250,000 price tag on it.
 
(quoted from post at 21:40:51 12/13/18) You are sink alot of money into old tractors i know i own several. But when you get them fixed up you still have an old outdated tractor. Does it get to a point where you replace with something newer?
I've got old tractors and i love them, i struggle with them every time I feed hay my place has not been bush hogged this whole year cuz of outdated tractors that would not do a job.
How much is enough money to throw into them before its time to update. Dealers are offering exceptional deals on newer tractors. For what is spent on keeping the old tractors running you and easily pay for a new very quickly.


"cuz of outdated tractors that would not do a job"

Grave, dunno where you are coming from with this... for most any small farm or "acreage" job there's an old tractor capable of doing it.

And they don't need DEF fluid, don't shut down by "corporate" command if you miss a payment or an oil change and, don't require a $$$$ service call to deal with any trouble code that may come up, etc..

What solid 'ol American steel tractor do you have that disappoints you, my I ask?
 
It depends on how new you want to get. If it's coming from a dealer, I assume you mean new or very late model.

The new/late models do have more user friendly and safety related features, and get better fuel economy.

But, don't count on them being any more reliable, or being still practical to keep and get parts for beyond 15-20 years.

But the biggest drawback, they are not intended to be field serviceable! Think proprietary computer software, complex systems beyond the capability of just about any shop other than the dealer. They gotcha!
 
Right one! 👍🍺, have a cold one!! You deserve it being out in the cold!! Lol, I hope you warmed up buddy!
 
My Deere tractor, it's the only Deere I have! Jd 112 from 1968 I think it is, I don't know why I collect this old stuff and never use it! But I love the look of those old deeres like yours!
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I would not touch the junk there selling nowadays, these are some pretty good tractors for there day and still today, no emissions crap, no electronics, better than a 8n or A 2000 ect or all the other old fords. I think this was some of fords best! Along with the 6610 7710 7000 ect
 
I like the older stuff. Sure, it's a lot of work to keep an older machine running but as long as I can scratch up replacement parts and do the work myself, that's the course I'm going to follow. I'm not much fond of being beholden to anyone, especially banks and dealerships of any kind. I buy (or trade for) my equipment outright at the point of sale and then we're finished with the transaction. Same with replacement parts. I often think of getting over it and just financing something nicer and newer, but then the thought of those ongoing payments sours my stomach and I get back to repairing or updating whatever piece of machinery that got me to thinking like that in the first place. :lol:
 
I run older tractors mostly from the 60's and 70's most have power steering,Live PTO,good hydraulics,etc.So what is out dated? My tractors are as reliable as any and the computer won't break down and cost just under $1,000 for a computer up date and service call like my neighbor's 5 year old JD tractor.I can afford to buy spare tractors so if one breaks down its no big deal I just hook up another and fix the one with the problem when I get around to it.Also with older tractors I buy parts tractors usually very cheap so I have parts sitting here when I need them.Another big advantage for me since I'm getting older is I can leave a tractor hooked to a piece of equipment all the time which saves me a lot of time and work it would take
to keep switching implements.Having a good reliable old tractor begins when its bought to be able to judge condition and what it will take to fix it or keep it going.Example I bought a Long/Landini R9500 a while back at an auction for $900,98 HP after getting it home I've check out everything and everything seems to work OK.It leaks a little fuel from the injection
pump and it'll cost me about $200 to have a seal kit put in the pump.Old tractors work for me,they are all paid for and almost everyone of them I could sell for more than I paid.
 
Re reading your post seems your problem isn't the tractors are old its that you have failed to maintain them in working condition,no machine is going to keep working without some attention at some point old or new.You must have a whole lot of cows these days if you can justify the cost of a new tractor to feed them and do some bush hogging.
 

Bob put it in a nutshell. Newer tractors with higher hours will have problems too but due to the electronics will be waaaay more expensive to repair because you will not be able to do it yourself. I bought a 10 year old 1996 Ford 8240 with 5000 hours. After maybe 8 years the hydraulic pump went out. $8,000. Next year the transmission. $3,000. By all means trade up but but stay pre electronics.
 
If you enjoy fixing, keep fixing. If you have room for a spare, get a spare. If you have a little time, any part is available or can be fabricated. With 3D printers improving, that statement is truer than ever. I drive a 30 year old Suburban, but my business owns 40 vehicles, and we mostly buy new. But I can tell you, the new diesels are not anywhere close to as reliable as they were 10-15 years ago. And, when they quit, be prepared to part with some big money. I think if you put a lot of hours on a tractor, and you can justify it, buy new with a warranty. If it is a low hours usage, and not critical, buy used, fix things before they break, and have a spare tractor if you have room.

I get a little tired of fixing things sometimes, but not nearly as tired as having a note every month.
 
Front assist is really nice for loader work and not a lot of pre electronic tractors have that, do it's harder to find a good one for that, but they are out there. But if you can't find and keep running a tractor for bush hogging I don't think it's because the tractor is old. Now a nice cab with air would change that too
 
For us it was a matter of repair time. It was getting beyond 1 hour of repairs for each hour of operation for some of our old tractors. Not gonna farm and work a full time day job like that.
 
If you are actually farming and making money with said tractor then you should be running a spreadsheet and keeping track of how much each piece of equipment is costing you per year. And yes that should include payments if any. It should also include labor EVEN IF YOU FIX IT YOURSELF at the going rate in your area. Then you, and only you can decide if that old piece of equipment is cost effective or not. Farming is a business, not a way of life.

For the hobbyist it's up in the air? Is your hobby the home place/hobby farm? Or is it old tractors? In either case if the equipment no loner does a job WHEN IT NEEDS DONE then maybe it's time to update. I myself am looking to update my 8N. It runs good and it runs when I need it too. Been updated to electronic ignition and 12 volt. But it's getting harder physically to maintain them due to service connected disabilities. So it's time to look at something a little newer that will be easier to maintain. A tad more HP wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

Rick
 
I agree -- its ok to have an extra tractor or two. I have 8 tractors and only farm 20 acres, but some stay hooked up for their main job all summer. Pretty convenient when you plant multiple patches of sweetcorn all summer. Last summer every tractor started up perfectly every time! That doesn't always happen, but I was very pleased last year.
 

It depends on what it's going to cost to get a replacement. I can do an awful lot of fixing before I even begin to approach the cost of a newer used tractor (which may well need a lot of fixing itself), to say nothing of the cost of a new tractor!
 
The one thing I'd think would be more realistic would be to charge labor at the rate the person owning the tractor and doing the work actually makes per hour.I know I don't make anything an hour even close to what shops charge in my area.That is one of the big savings of running older equipment is repair costs.If its some thing I can fix at my labor rate its far different than having to get a dealer to work on it for around $100 hr which I would have to do if I had newer tractors.
 
I started like most I guess, a Super A Farmall. Moved into Fords probably 35 years ago and still there although I have gone through a lot of sizes and colors over the years and currently have a couple of Bransons I bought new after retiring and downsizing. Currently it's a '63 Ford 2000D, 4 sp, tranny PTO; '65 3000D 8 speed Live PTO, and just this year added a '88 3910D Ind. PTO. Each has a job to do but I find the 3910 gets more of my attention if it is suited to the task, not something a Branson would do better, and not busy outfitted for something else....like in haying season when all have their niche, hooked to my drum cutter.

The Branson 6530 has a cab and with the current weather it gets picked for the hay deliveries....yes newer and amenities are spoilers.
 
This past summer my swather reached the point of time to go.

I was burning through a box of welding rods faster than It could burn through a tank of gas.

On some equipment corrosion and metal fatigue becomes a problem.

As far as tractors go I still put up 1000+ round bales and run a shredder all winter with a Case 1070.
I guess you could call it an upgrade as this one has a white cab instead of the desert sunset on the 970 it replaced.

Being able to say look how good this tractor I put together from parts and pieces is working is a lot more satisfying than saying;
Look at the new tractor I will be making payments on for the next seven years.
 

I don't know how old your tractors are or what brand they are, if they don't have three point hitch or modern hydraulic remotes or are just not big enough, then yes you should get a newer one that will do the jobs you need done.
I'm a small farmer that owns 125 acres and tends another 160, we make around 1000-1100 rolls of hay and raise a few acres of corn to feed 70 head of cows and sell some of the extra hay, we also have 3 poultry barns that my wife raises chickens in.
All work is done with 60's, 70's and 80's model tractors, some years we have not tractor break downs, this year one broke a fan belt, one blew a power steering hose and one had a injection pump seal fail, all were back going within a hour to the next day.
Yes over the year we have had a few major break downs but I had another tractor there to get the job done with the broke tractor was in the shop to be repaired on evenings and rainy days.
I consider tractors built from the mid 60's to early 90's to be the best years, every brand build some of their best tractor during that era.
New tractor with all of their electronic gadgets are nice and probably necessary for the BTO, the price of one is out of my budget and the cost to have one repaired (and it will need repaired at some point) would break me.

So if you need a newer or bigger tractor to get the work done, get one, but for me it would be newer, not new.
 
Get a new tractor, better park it in the middle of the driveway with no grass around it unless you use it everyday. Rats and mice can pick them out pretty quick. Think they like the smell of new wiring.
 
Used 4WD tractors are more common all the time,used to be they were rare and expensive.I bought a 4WD Oliver 1365 in very good condition except the motor was shot from the PTO lever being left disengaged all the time.I had a parts tractor with a good block and crank we bought new sleeves,rings,bearings, clutch assembly etc and even with paying someone to put it all together
I have about $5500 in it.Far less than any new 55 HP tractor would cost and it does me just as much good as a new one and will most likely cost e less to own for the next 10 years than
a new one would. Also the new Fiat/Oliver parts for the older tractors are far less than parts from any of the major tractor companies in business now.
 
I have been surprised by the number of hours "new" tractors can get on them without major work. My younger brother had an MX240 and now has an MX255. The MX240 had well over 12,000 hours when he traded it without ever having a major repair. The MX255 he has now has had a major repair to the transmission but even it has over 8000 hours on it and he plans on running it to 15000 hours before trading it. He keeps a 1486 and a 1086 as "backups" and loader tractors but both of them still have less than 6000 hours each - he picked them up as a pair when they were selling to cheap at an estate auction.


What kind of surprises me is how few hours you can put on a combine engine (Case IH combines) compared to the hours you can put on a tractor engine.
 
Pretty much forever unless I need to go from 36" rows to 30" rows or my JD 4420 combine was too small to get thru 200+ bpa corn. I've still got the first tractor I bought 40 years ago, a '65 4020.
 
Old tractors were made to not annoy the famer and keep him loyal to the brand. Once your old tractor is restored it should not give you many problems. If so try a different brand.
 
I think it depends on how many hours a year you have to put on a machine to keep your operation running.

Because of the cost of equipment and the profit levels farms run at now, the farmers I know have all gone to the absolute minimum number of tractors possible. But the tractors that are left have to work like dogs every day of the growing season it seems. Downtime is really painful when you have 1 tractor that can do a given job.

Old tractor lovers, IMO, often over-state how breakdown-prone today's newer stuff really is. My last farming uncle had a Case IH magnum and a Challenger both from brand new, and both machines had over 4000 hours before either one of them had a show-stopping breakdown that prevented them from working. Yes, PM and wear parts got replaced, but that was all done before a breakdown stopped work.

Todays stuff really is very, very good. If you tried to side-by-side work old tractors with tractors made this year for the same number of hours in the same conditions, I don't think the old iron would be as reliable as some people think.

Grouse
 

When I was picking up a used Peterbilt at Werner in Omaha, the salesman told me that their tractors get traded out just before the warrantee runs out. From what I see of ads for late model used farm tractors it looks like the BTOs either do the same thing or lease them.
 
Gotta agree. We have what some consider BTO's here.2-3 thousand acres. All running newer equipment. Guys a few miles west are running 30,000 acres operations. You can bet your bottom dollar that if it penciled out using older equipment and running their own repair/rebuild facilities that they would. Also if the new ones were as unreliable as some here claim they wouldn't lease or buy them. These guys are running a business that happens to be a large farm. And guess what? Most of these guys do wheat, beans, corn and sugar beets. They are not stuck in a corn bean rotation regardless how bad the prices are.

Rick
 
For me repair would have been only option as I would not haul the most popular tractors from 1960 up home if I had to use them. Scrap yard to me only place for them.
 

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