Buying Advice New Tractor Delivery Hour Meter

[xtruckerbob]

Bird is right on motorhomes our motorhome had 800 miles new on the dealers lot. Also when we bought 2 new Freightliners one had almost 2000 miles on it and the other was piggybacked and had less than 2 miles on it. No discount for miles. Still Ii think fewer is better.

 

[lonegunman]

Mine had 1.3 hours on it. New is "new" in my opinion. If it has more than 35 hours, it should have the 50hr service done before you take it home or come with a free service at 50 hours.

 

[murphy1244]

Well, What happened?

 

[OldMcDonald]

Murph, Just what I was thinking. I know people often have very good reasons why they do not come back (other forums as well as this) but I guess you are a bit like me and wonder if it is worth the effort to give your experience to those who ask when you never find out what the end result is. But, we continue to do it, because sometimes it is appreciated, and at least we know we did the right thing.

 

[94BULLITT]

My great uncle bought a "new" mower that had 150-175 hours on it. Some kid supposedly turned the key on when it was on the show room floor and nobody knew it

 

[gunmonkeyintl]

My great uncle bought a "new" mower that had 150-175 hours on it. Some kid supposedly turned the key on when it was on the show room floor and nobody knew it

I believe that.
My Cub Cadet's hour meter runs whenever the key is in it. I've had it for 5 years and have about 100 hours on it right now. If I put the key in it tonight and didn't remove it until next Thursday, it would have around 270 hours on it.

Fortunately, it would be really easy to tell if a lawnmower had 150 real hours on it. After mowing 150 hours, the underside of the deck would have no paint left, it would be on its 2nd or 3rd set of blades, and its 6th or 7th oil change (meaning dusty oil drips around the engine/frame). I'd say they were probably telling your uncle the truth.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My great uncle bought a "new" mower that had 150-175 hours on it. Some kid supposedly turned the key on when it was on the show room floor and nobody knew it

I could believe that with a mower as they mostly have a cheap hour meter that runs whenever the ignition is on, but tractors are tied to the motor RPM and even with the ignition on, they don't run up any hours unless the engine is turning and then they are calibrated to PTO engine speed so a tractor with PTO speed of 2500 RPM when running at 1250 RPM will take 2 hours to clock 1 hour on the meter.
When I was taking my private pilot license, the airplane owner used the Hobbs meter for billing and it ran for 5 minutes each time you turned on the key. The hour meter clocking the RPM might only show 45 minutes or less for an hour on the Hobbs meter after adding in the pre-flight inspection, taxi at idle and shutdown with the Hobbs continuing to run for 5 more minutes.

I am still waiting to hear from the OP on actual hours on the tractor when it arrived.

 

[gunmonkeyintl]

... they are calibrated to PTO engine speed so a tractor with PTO speed of 2500 RPM when running at 1250 RPM will take 2 hours to clock 1 hour on the meter.

That's a cool piece of info that I did not know. I thought that my hour meter seemed to run a little "slow". Thank you.

 

[Bird]

This topic has come up many times. And different machines have different kinds of "hour" meters. My 1995 B7100 had the electric one that ran anytime the key was on, so the key could have been left on and hours run up without the tractor running, or being moved. On the other hand, as with some other diesel machines, you could turn the key off while the engine was running and work all day without registering any time on the hour meter, if you were so inclined (I was not). The B7100 had a manual fuel shut-off to kill the engine; the key didn't do it. But then the 1999 B2700 had the hour meter based on RPM so it only registered an hour at PTO RPM and turning off the key killed the engine; solenoid fuel shut-off.

 

[Bluegill2]

Well, What happened?

We may never know?

 

[oosik]

My new Kubota had 2.4 hours at delivery which I figured was - loading, unloading, FEL instal & testing and generally getting a new machine ready for delivery. Hmmmmm - - almost ten days and not a peep. Does make one wonder.

 

[joshuabardwell]

That's a cool piece of info that I did not know. I thought that my hour meter seemed to run a little "slow". Thank you.

I don't think that's universal. Some run at the same rate independent of engine RPM.

 

[DavesTractor]

Seems most construction equipment runs on a Hobbs type meter, independent of RPM. I think many of them have a system that keeps the hour meter from gaining time unless the engine is running. I think it may use the oil pressure switch to close the Hobbs meter circuit. Most ag tractors are rpm dependent, which actually is a good thing in my opinion as it more closely reflect that amount of work done with the machine.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Seems most construction equipment runs on a Hobbs type meter, independent of RPM.

Well, now I am going back to double-check, but I thought my Bobcat (a.k.a. Kioti) was independent. But Kioti is certainly an ag-style tractor more than a construction equipment.

 

[DavesTractor]

I think if you idle your Bobcat/Kioti at 1100rpm for an hour, it will only show 1/2 hour gained.

I have heard it said that the best indicator of actual work done is total fuel used. Not that we have a meter for that cumulatively, but it makes sense. You can run a tractor at PTO RPM with a light load and it will show an hour for an hour, or you can run it at that speed at 100% of it's potential HP being used (like tilling or mowing with a large implement and fast ground speed) and it still shows an hour, but it was a mighty tough hour with the temps up and working very hard. In one case you used 1/2 gallon, in the other you used 2 gallons. Interesting concept.

 

[94BULLITT]

I think if you idle your Bobcat/Kioti at 1100rpm for an hour, it will only show 1/2 hour gained.

I have heard it said that the best indicator of actual work done is total fuel used. Not that we have a meter for that cumulatively, but it makes sense. You can run a tractor at PTO RPM with a light load and it will show an hour for an hour, or you can run it at that speed at 100% of it's potential HP being used (like tilling or mowing with a large implement and fast ground speed) and it still shows an hour, but it was a mighty tough hour with the temps up and working very hard. In one case you used 1/2 gallon, in the other you used 2 gallons. Interesting concept.

How does the hour meter work on a Mahindra?

 

[DavesTractor]

How does the hour meter work on a Mahindra?

Based on engine RPM like most ag tractors. Some are mechanical, some take an electronic signal off a rotating part like an alternator.

 

[OldMcDonald]

DavesTractor, Spot on. It is a favourite saying of mine when I especially agree with somebody. I am close to the 2500hrs service on my tractor. I pay the NH dealer I bought it from to service it every 250hrs because someday I will sell it through him. The first 1000hrs was clocked up in a few months and I have had the machine eight years. The first 1000 was almost flat out with a stone rake I built and then removing the stone with another home built piece of equipment. Since then it has been mainly light work, and I use very little fuel compared with the first year.

 

[Jtschnel]

My wife got a new Kubota last month and it has 0.1 hour on it and that's where she drove it around the lot. To me new is less than 1 hour. I feel if it has more than 3 hours it must be used. We had a choice and the other one had 5 hours on it but it also had grass under the deck and dust everywhere and nicked blades. I felt like it was used.

Took delivery of a 1026R yesterday, had 0.5 hrs on it. The one delivered earlier this year (May) had less than 2 hours, think it was 1.5. To me those were "new". Even if it had only been at the dealer or at shows/displays, when you start getting 10-20 hours on something, in my opinion it is used or a demonstrator. As has been stated, you most likely won't know how those hours were incurred or who put them on. I'd certainly ask for a concession on the price. Just my thoughts.

 

[Maxify55]

A thousand apologies to all concerned.

When it finally arrived it had 1.6 hours on the clock.

I found that to be an acceptable amount of time.

What say you, Guys?