Dealer Service

   / Dealer Service #61  
It seems that buying a good used tractor from 10 or 20 years ago - or more - when things were made to be owner serviced & repaired would answer all of your concerns. There are lots of those good used ones out there. In fact, they are all still out there, they are still young by tractor standards, and they will do all the same work in the same way with the same accessories and comfort as newer ones.

The only things that have changed technologically in the tractor world in the last 40 years has been a movement by manufacturers to make dealer service a necessity instead of an option, and also the addition of more emission controls. Those changes are not advantages to the owner. And other than those things, tractors are pretty much unchanged for decades now.

So I'm puzzled. Why would you even consider buying new?
rScotty
I had to split my tractor to repair a $1 freeze plug. I decided to rebuild the dual clutch and replace seals and bearings. One of the clutch arm's hardware was broken so the pressure was not equal but no FW damage. I fixed it and all of the other little gremlins and wiring and main cables for less than $600 in parts including new plates. Henry Ford's philosophy still existed in this 3600 model, to be serviceable and repairable by non-pro mechanics with common tools. The parts were cheap because the same model is still produced in India. 50 years old and it starts great and does what I need done. I cannot see too much advantage in giving all that up for a complex, hydrostatic, DEF drinking, safety stickered, light and weak machine with expensive parts and a big monthly payment. If I was running a farm I'd just push a button and Deere and Company would do the diagnostics to the silo mounted antenna receiver and send out a guy with parts like my BIL does, but I don't get a government ethanol subsidy to mow my pasture. Today Deere wants to know every bushel as it is being combined so they can sell the data to the commodities markets as it is happening, and they make you pay for the infrastructure. Not if I can't write it off.
 
 
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