New Tractor Sales Are Declining

[ArlyA]

Idiots spinning the tires, doing donuts, power slides, etc are what erodes trails, not the SXS itself. The (typically wet) soft trails on my property here in WV are fragile compared to most places in the west and there is no erosion and rutting! It's because I'm the one who uses them. My SXS with 10 psi of ground contact, an open differential, and not ever spinning a tire is pretty easy on the terrain, much easier than the ATV's with no differential I used to have, 4,000# tractor, the kids bicycles, or my neighbor's horses who use a short section of one of the trails. One of my SXS's is a Honda Pioneer 520 which does not have a differential so I have to be careful when I use it and even still it will skid exposing bare dirt on sharp corners so it only gets on certain trails and then only when it's dry. From now on I will only buy a SXS or ATV that has a differential.

We run 5 to 7psi in our 6x6.

 

[ovrszd]

Walking is the answer?

Not in the areas we are talking about. They are public lands that are used for entertainment of the public, i.e., us.

There are plenty of Wilderness areas designated for foot traffic only.

 

[TimberFarm]

Current inflation is grossly understated in the media. I'm 44 and it's the worst in my lifetime. My grandfather is 85 and says he's never seen things in general as bad as they are today.

So, if you're deciding between gasoline, groceries, and daily needs versus buying a new tractor, chances are the tractor is going to lose that decision. It makes perfect sense to me. Families are getting to the point where they are picking and choosing where the money goes.

I personally think tractor sales, home sales, vehicle sales, anything that typically gets financed will not recover in 2023. And probably not in 2024. It's going to be a LONG time before we get back to the 2016-2020 land of milk and honey.

Nothing was worse than 18% mortgage rates in the '80's.
Early '60's gas was .15cents. by late '70's-early '80's... $1. That is an enormous rise in price.

 

[YanmarFever]

In 1969 I use to fill up our Bronco (both tanks) for 25 cents a gallon.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

The economy is strong as hell.
Lets see if that ages as well as his other proclamations. (Poorly)

 

[Milo]

In 1967 my father bought a new 8 hp John Deere 110 garden tractor, paid $1,100 for it. That's about $9,700 in todays inflated dollars. I always get a kick out of people, who buy a cheap $2,500 lawn tractor that the transmission goes out of in 8 years, complain "they don't make them like they used to."

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

In 1967 my father bought a new 8 hp John Deere 110 garden tractor, paid $1,100 for it. That's about $9,700 in todays inflated dollars. I always get a kick out of people, who buy a cheap $2,500 lawn tractor that the transmission goes out of in 8 years, complain "they don't make them like they used to."

That’s why I paid $10k

 

[ovrszd]

Nothing was worse than 18% mortgage rates in the '80's.
Early '60's gas was .15cents. by late '70's-early '80's... $1. That is an enormous rise in price.

Interest rates killed a lot of self employed people. In the farming community where crops are planted using borrowed money it was devastating.

 

[jyoutz]

The weight has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I didn’t say it did. I said a lighter footprint, as in low pressure floatation tires. I work in land management every day and understand the effects that vehicle usage has on the land. Dozers actually have a lighter footprint on the ground than Jeeps and pickup trucks because even though they are much heavier, the tracks disperse the weight and lighten the footprint far better. Trucks and Jeeps are the absolute worst at tearing up the ground.

 

[ovrszd]

I didn’t say it did. I said a lighter footprint, as in low pressure floatation tires. I work in land management every day and understand the effects that vehicle usage has on the land. Dozers actually have a lighter footprint on the ground than Jeeps and pickup trucks because even though they are much heavier, the tracks disperse the weight and lighten the footprint far better. Trucks and Jeeps are the absolute worst at tearing up the ground.

We'll just agree to disagree. SxS tear up mountain trails horribly. And it has nothing to do with weight. And it has nothing to do with dozers.