I bought a tractor that will easily outlast me, so I don't care how many hours I put on it splitting wood.
Then again, I paid $3,500.00 for my splitter tractor in the 80's and I've made around $20,000.00 with it doing jobs for others, so how much did that tractor really cost me??
Personally, I wouldn't buy a tractor that I had to worry about putting hours on it, and my tractor is so fuel efficient I don't worry about that either...
On top of all that, I've driven my tractor/splitter to jobs and split wood for others too, that's also a pretty good moneymaker...
SR