What's 700 hours worth?

[sandman2234]

Yeah, how many of us can TRULY justify the tractors we own???

Well, so far on the last one, NOT ME!!

The last, an 1100 4x4 Ford did! Purchase $1800
Sold $3000
Purchased back $3000
Sold $2200
I owned it for almost 20 years, and probably made $10K mowing lots with it.
Repairs/maintance less than $1800
Plus I had a lot of fun, helped a lot of friends for free.
David from jax

 

[Iowachild]

So what happened here??? We went from figuring cost of operation, which BTW, no one has figured fuel, oil, parts, and labor into yet, to justifying buying fully loaded cars as more of a waste of $$$.

The down right scarry part, so far, it the statements about not needing to justify the expenditure. Gas is around $3 a gallon becouse people are willing to just pay it. Houses are over priced, becouse people are willing to pay it. The national savings average is NEGATIVE .5%. Meaning people are spending MORE than they earn. Why??? becouse they don't justify expenditures, they just spend.

Because I can use it to do work is all the justification I need. But then I not buying gas for 27 tractors and 19 trucks.

 

[shane]

Work is my hobby, I get paid to play. Everything I buy has to save or make me money (at least in my feeble little mind). My time is my money, too. My tractor saves me time which allows me more time to play which is......you guessed it, work......which makes me money. Having said that, I absolutly love my tractor . My wife hears me talking in my sleep saying, "Oh dear, I love you" and she gets all mushy about it. If she only knew I was saying, "Oh Deere, I love you".

 

[PineRidge]

So what happened here??? We went from figuring cost of operation, which BTW, no one has figured fuel, oil, parts, and labor into yet, to justifying buying fully loaded cars as more of a waste of $$$.

The down right scarry part, so far, it the statements about not needing to justify the expenditure. Gas is around $3 a gallon becouse people are willing to just pay it. Houses are over priced, becouse people are willing to pay it. The national savings average is NEGATIVE .5%. Meaning people are spending MORE than they earn. Why??? becouse they don't justify expenditures, they just spend.

Your picketing at the gas pumps and living in an apartment because the prices of houses are to high isn't going to change one little thing.

The point was already made that most folks here purchase a tractor based on their personal needs and what they are willing to pay. Most of the hobby farmers here including myself really can't justify a 30K rig based on our personal usage alone, but should we have to?

My 29 year old daughter drives a new Chrysler Crossfire, and just purchased a town house in Virginia for $535,000. I am a proud parent who wishes better for my children than I had or could ever achieve in my own life. Wanting better for your kids is what being a parent is all about.

Furthermore I don't think my daughter or anyone else for that matter should ever have to justify their purchase to anyone else for that matter. (other than their own spouse)

One of the luxuries of living in the good old USA is free choice. We can all make personal decisions to suit our own wants and needs without intervention (spouses excluded).

OK I'm now stepping down from the soap-box, good-night to all from Ohio.

 

[ovrszd]

I run a township road grader mostly for fun, partly for extra cash. We keep a new machine, trading every three years. Every time that hour meter clicks over another hour, it costs our taxpayers. We are very aware of the hours we put on the machine and what kind of return we are getting. So in that regard hourly cost is crucial.

With that said, I don't most of us on this thread do that. I check my hour meter on my tractor so I know when to change the oil. Sometimes I am surprised how many hours I've clocked in such a short period of time. Depends on how many projects I do other than mowing.

I don't think there is a patented formula to determine the cost of an hour on the meter. But I am interested to hear people's experiences in regards to what they paid for the machine, how many hours they put on it, and what they sold it for. Also they need to clarify the age of the machine when purchased, i.e., new versus used.

What I am primarily interested in is where is the cheapest age to buy/sell. I know it's not the first owner. I also know it's not the last owner. So somewhere in the middle is a group of hours that are very cheap to put on a machine, that's what I want to determine by this discussion. It's a great discussion if you go back to the original post and respond to it, not get caught up in all our "warstories" in the middle of the thread.

Another thing, cost of fuel, oil, tires, etc., I could care less about. I'll have those costs on every tractor. I'm interested in initial investment, amount of use and resale value.

 

[Henro]

After reading the replies to this thread, I have concluded that I don't know whether or not my tractor has paid for itself...and doubt if I ever will...

But I DO KNOW that is is worth every penny I paid for it!!!

 

[billbill1]

That's all that really matters Bill, you like (love) it and it's worth it to you. That's the bottom line and how I feel also.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

After reading the replies to this thread, I have concluded that I don't know whether or not my tractor has paid for itself...and doubt if I ever will...

But I DO KNOW that is is worth every penny I paid for it!!!

Truer words were never spoken.

When you buy a tractor, so long as it's a resonably good model/brand, it will USUALLY be worth what you paid for it at a later date. (unless you kill it;( )

When you have your own tractor on hand, there's a convenience factor over renting or hiring work done. You use it when you want, let it sit idle (without cost) when you DON'T want to use it.

At any point, if and when you feel like you're done, or just don't need it any longer, you can USUALLY recover your investment by selling. In SOME cases, even MAKE a few bucks on a tractor that appreciated in value, or where you got that "smokin' deal".

Where the "money pit syndrome" kicks in, is if or when you decide that you HAVE to have every implement ever built, or every accessory available, need it or not, or the dreaded "I need bigger/better/more/several/antique tractor(s)" mindset hits you. Happens every day.

In short, it doesn't matter so much how bad you NEED a tractor, as it does how well you manage your investment of that tractor. In all likelyhood, a great many people who buy new tractors don't NEED them nearly as bad as they think they do, but it sure is nice having one. And with prudent spending, they can actually SAVE you a few bucks over their lifetime.

 

[rider10099]

14 years of owning our five acres. Three ride on mowers later - $3000 used to cut the house yard and on occasion the fields and they shook apart. (the third ride on is still alive and is used for the house yard only now). My Jimna 204 was purchased in April 2005 and now has 160 hours on it. I paid $8700 for it with a koyker bucket, brush hog and box blade. I have added a landscape rake and potatoe plough.
Since added the tractor I have
Reseeded two pastures.
Recovered and acre of my property from blackberries
Put out a fire in a tree – bucket filled with water
Put hay bales on my trailer roof rack.
Pulled and placed fence posts.
Easily moved my horse and travel trailers with Madrefferees bucket hitch
Demolished a garden shed and lean to near my shop
Hauled trailer load of brush
Gathered all the scrap that was left on the property and sent it to scrap metal dealer
Hauled and carried buckets of almost anything you care to imagine – a giant wheelbarrow if you like
And many other things I can’t even think of right now.
And my property has never looked this good and my wife is happy - priceless.
Will I get my full value out of this purchase – I have just in what I have been able to do. I would never have rented a tractor to do the jobs – and it would have been a manual operation.

 

[schmism]

Put out a fire in a tree – bucket filled with water

Ok theres a story there i know it!

 

[ovrszd]

Ok theres a story there i know it!

My thoughts exactly!!!!

 

[ronjhall]

After reading the replies to this thread, I have concluded that I don't know whether or not my tractor has paid for itself...and doubt if I ever will...

But I DO KNOW that is is worth every penny I paid for it!!!

I do not have as many hours on B2910 as you do. But it is still worth every penny I paid for it!!!!

 

[higgy]

Well, I can say that when you have to rent a digger with an operator it gets a bit steep.

I had my basement dug, total $1200.00, 20 hrs of work is $60.00/ hr.

THe backhoe was an extend a hoe, smaller than my 4020, bigger than my 3130.

If I take that rate across the tractors that I use on my place that would mean

just the hours that have gone onto the 3130 in the last 2 years is worth way more than I payed for the tractor.

425*60=25,500.00

Hmm.. sounds good to me.

 

[PineRidge]

If I knew then what I know today I would have either made or bought one of these large hydraulic operated pans that keep popping up in various TBN threads.

The wife and I paid plenty for a full sized pan to come to our property to move soil. It was done quicker with the full sized pan but we weren't on any kind of a time schedule and the soil could have been moved over a period of time at my convenience. More seat time plus I would have ended up with another toy to boot. crap, crap, crap....

 

[AndyM]

I have used my New Holland for mowing and many various projects around the property. Using Bill's formula to base whether I have gotten my money's worth out of the tractor would be incomplete-- I would need to add together the value of the work completed to the value of entertainment and pleasure received while using the tractor, because I'm certainly smiling when I'm on the tractor!

 

[tydp]

Off brand example I've used before: 3 (approx) year old Zetor 75HP with cab and air 4WD looked new sold at auction for $7200 a couple months ago in NE Texas.......that would hurt......

I've been shaking my head at a lot of the pricing and "you get a lot of tractor for the $$$" in these threads. Then you here about all these "smokin' deals" people get on used tractors. So what do you really gain by buying an off brand trator, and taking it in the shorts a few years later at trading or sale time??? Yeah, the Deere's and NH's cost more up front sometimes, but how much does it cost after 5 years of use and you go to sell it?? This, IMO, is a very good thread, and I can't wait to see more numbers. Especially the ones who traded in their off brand tractor looking to get something newer or bigger, or smaller.

I'll give my garden tractor example becouse I traded up within the last 2 years so it is current numbers. I traded in my garden tractor, I bought used, after putting on 128 hours in 1 1/2 years. The loss at trade in was $550. $550/128hrs=$4.30 per hour. Not too bad for a mowing, snowblowing, garden tilling tractor.

 

[patrick_g]

Lots of interesting points of view. Some logic vs emotion. There are both monitary and non-monitary ways of justifying a tractor. Either can be truly valid, or not. I have only owned and operated a single tractor, less than 10 minutes seat time cumulative in other tractors than mine.

I bought a new Kubota Grand L-4610HSTC and it cost more than a new car, especially with the implements. Nearly 6 years later and still under 800 hours on the clock. I have used it rather aggressively and have had more than the average number of repairs but the main systems are still operating like new. Did I have to have a cab and A/C??? Well, according to my wife, YES! I didn't want it but she insisted. Best argument I ever lost.

Unfortunately a cab precludes a Kubota sanctioned backhoe and it elliminated Kubota's blessing for loading tires (wheel weights are approved.)

I haven't a clue what my per hour operating cost has been to date but whatever it is I don't regret it. I intend to keep this tractor as long as it will perform as needed and not become too maint prone. My only regret is losing the backhoe opportunity.

If I were to put a pencil to it I'm sure it has performed admirably as it saw considerable service during the construction phase of my mom's house and again was used EXTENSIVELY when building mine. Hiring an operator and tractor to do what I did myself would have been expensive and a scheduling nightmare. I was always on standby to fire up the tractor to lift shingles or whatever materials, do backfilling of the basement, or myriad other tasks. It would have been way out of the budget to hire a tractor and operator to hang out in case we needed something and having to schedule a tractor would have been extremely limiting. Renting was an obvious non-starter.

Being able to brush hog, rototill, bore holes in the ground of varying diameters, tote a 3PH cement mixer, pasture sprayer, box blade, various plows and disks, or sickle mower, and be able to quick change from bale spike to pallet forks to FEL bucket in only a couple minutes makes the convenience and versatility soar.

How do you compare having this ability parked outside the shop in THE TRACTOR SHED to driving 25-30 miles one way to rent something? What if I don't want to schedule my every waking moment with a stopwatch and calculator? Maybe I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it and knock off and go to a recliner after lunch once in a while when a rerun of a good SCI FI program comes on and I don't want to record it for time shifted viewing.

There are intangibles that defy cost accounting and time management. I may not be able to give an adequate accounting for my actions to some folks way of thinking but I know what feels good for me and as best my experienced (30+ years as budget analysit) wife can tell the only financial difficulty involved is selling enough hay or grass and water or cattle to offset the depreciation so every one is happy.

Short version: You might be able to rent a claw hammer cheaper than owning one but is it worth the management effort to have to schedule work around renting it, to include picking it up and returning it?

I don't buy everything and I do rent some equipment. I rent a Ditchwitch when it makes sense. Yesterday I had a dozer and operator for half a day and paid a guy to deliver three belly dumps (18 wheeler semi truck for hauling gravel) of 2 1/2 inch crusher run limestone gravel. Today I will take delivery of a 18 wheeler load of shale. Buying this equipment is not reasonable for my usage pattern. In the distant past I rented a push type gas engine type lawn mower. What is right varies according to extant conditions.

This is the management challenge. The right thing is not to always buy or always rent. The challenge is to discern the right thing to do in each instance based on the best info available.

Pat

 

[LBrown59]

690 hours times 40 dollars per hour is $27600.oo.

 

[AndyM]

690 hours times 40 dollars per hour is $27600.oo.

OK... Thanks.

 

[chas in me]

I have a Kubota L175 that I bought for $4,500 with a loader, bush hog and a winch. It had 720 hours. It now has 940 hours of tilling, mowing, digging, mixing compost and other assorted chores. I still have a back!
That makes the tractor almost priceless, just in reduced wear and tear on hand tools. LOL