choosing between a used with no DPF and newer with DPF

[ericm979]

500,000 miles on a truck averaging 50 mph would be 10,000 hours. Most people here are putting 100-200 hours a year on their tractor.

 

[ovrszd]

No wonder that I have heard the price at auction for used pre-emission highway trucks is sky hi. People would rather pour a pile of money into an older truck then be hung out to dry with the wonderful , fancy new technology.

Another thing that has affected used truck prices is electronic log books. Pre 2000 trucks aren't required to have the system. Good friend of mine runs a 1999 truck for that reason.

 

[Rmart30]

1. Everyone will eventually own a DPF tractor.

Incorrect. You can write it in stone that I will never purchase a tractor with a DPF on it ever. 30 years as a mechanic on construction and industrial equipment from Dingos to D8's and everything in between and seeing the added cost of them long term I will never have it on one. I purposely went and bought a 2013 tractor new so I could avoid the DPF models coming out.


This Messicks video states that life expectancy of 3000-3500 hrs on the filters. Replacement DPF cost is in the $2k+ range. They say $200 cost (labor not included) to have one sent out and burned (cleaned out). Which does not always work and the unit must be replaced. I have several $7k+ ones sitting in my shops floor as proof of that. We pay anywhere from $600-1200 for the ones we send out.
So, you can expect that cost to be figured into the life of your tractor. Some will jump up and say that "oh that wont affect me since i hardly use mine and wont have that amount of hours on it anytime soon or ever." Could be a valid argument, but also could be a down fall. DPF like being run long and hard. The guys who will just crank theirs up to move a bucket full of mulch or other tasks that only take a cpl of minutes and engine never gets too full operating temps could be doing more harm than someone who runs theirs hard for a hour tilling a garden.
Messick's explanation of Kubota Tier 4 DPF - YouTube


I would suggest anyone looking at one to call their local dealer and price what a DPF cleaning costs , and also for what DPF replacement cost of DPF would be on the model tractor you are looking at.

Kubota announced a DPF free line of engines in 2015 to get away from DPF. Im not sure if they were ever put into production or what.
news: Kubota announces Tier 4 engines without DPF

 

[ovrszd]

Incorrect. You can write it in stone that I will never purchase a tractor with a DPF on it ever. 30 years as a mechanic on construction and industrial equipment from Dingos to D8's and everything in between and seeing the added cost of them long term I will never have it on one. I purposely went and bought a 2013 tractor new so I could avoid the DPF models coming out.


This Messicks video states that life expectancy of 3000-3500 hrs on the filters. Replacement DPF cost is in the $2k+ range. They say $200 cost (labor not included) to have one sent out and burned (cleaned out). Which does not always work and the unit must be replaced. I have several $7k+ ones sitting in my shops floor as proof of that. We pay anywhere from $600-1200 for the ones we send out.
So, you can expect that cost to be figured into the life of your tractor. Some will jump up and say that "oh that wont affect me since i hardly use mine and wont have that amount of hours on it anytime soon or ever." Could be a valid argument, but also could be a down fall. DPF like being run long and hard. The guys who will just crank theirs up to move a bucket full of mulch or other tasks that only take a cpl of minutes and engine never gets too full operating temps could be doing more harm than someone who runs theirs hard for a hour tilling a garden.
Messick's explanation of Kubota Tier 4 DPF - YouTube


I would suggest anyone looking at one to call their local dealer and price what a DPF cleaning costs , and also for what DPF replacement cost of DPF would be on the model tractor you are looking at.

Kubota announced a DPF free line of engines in 2015 to get away from DPF. Im not sure if they were ever put into production or what.
news: Kubota announces Tier 4 engines without DPF

Everyone eventually will own a DPF tractor. You personally will escape it by death. Everyone still alive will own one, or it's equivalent.

 

[sandman2234]

500,000 miles on a truck averaging 50 mph would be 10,000 hours. Most people here are putting 100-200 hours a year on their tractor.

True, but these trucks are also designed for a lot more hours than what our tractors are built for. These are late 2014 and 2015 trucks and are costing huge amounts of cash to keep running.
We have 5 different brands on the yard presently, so I won't push it off on one manufacturer.
Have any of you priced the parts it takes to fix these tractors once the warranty runs out?
David from jax

 

[fried1765]

Everyone eventually will own a DPF tractor. You personally will escape it by death. Everyone still alive will own one, or it's equivalent.

ME TOO .....NEVER !!!
Yah think .....everyone?
My oldest son is 52, and his brother is 46.
They will inherit my old Fords, so..oo... I doubt that either of them will ever own a DPF tractor either.

 

[backwaterdogs]

Thanks for all the comments.

It seems some.have real.world bad experience with dpf. Other haven't had any problems.

So far all my searching has not turned up any way to delete the dpf. Likely at some point I'm sure that will IF the dpfs start to fail...but who knows

Still looking for decent non dpf ... They are there but man they bringing serious money.

 

[DK35vince]

No wonder that I have heard the price at auction for used pre-emission highway trucks is sky hi. People would rather pour a pile of money into an older truck then be hung out to dry with the wonderful , fancy new technology.

Truck Glider kits were very popular in our area. (pre emission engines and drive trains installed in new cab and frame/chassis) to avoid all the truck emission issues.

 

[Texasmark]

I already made up my mind, if I buy another tractor it will be Tier II or less.

 

[ericm979]

Mahindra and I think Massey have models that meet Tier IV using electronic fuel injection and no DPF. Branson uses a mechanical fuel injection with a low temp continuous regen DPF. The only electronics are a data logger that monitors the DPF's pressure and temp. It's relatively easy to delete the DPF as the tractor runs fine without the data logger. The drawback of the Branson system is that if you idle around all the time the DPF clog light will come on and since there's no regen program you have to run the tractor on the road or do something else that will load the engine. The tractors with both electronic fuel injection and DPF generally do not make it easy to delete the DPF.

I think you're worrying over a non issue. The target lifetime for a DPF is 3000 hours. A commercial outfit that uses a tractor many hours a day every day can reach that in a reasonable number of years. A typical property owner that runs their tractor 100 hours a year or so is never going to get to 3000 hours. And there's an advantage to the operator of not breathing cancer causing diesel soot and nasty stink.