Why do CUT owners/buyers have low expectations?

[sweettractors]

I can't help but observe that most CUT owners/buyers are very particular in the brand they purchase and the options the want. They also want a good price/value for the dollar spent. Now here is what puzzles me. I normally see the older tractors made in the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties lasting 5000-10,000 hours before a bolt is ever turned on the engine. A clutch job maybe at 3000-4000 hours (depending on the operator). Brakes R and R at about 5000-7000 hrs. and well you get the picture. Why are CUT enthusiasts so accepting of major tractor problems before the tractor has been broke in good? I think the owners/buyers have let the CUT manufacturers off the hook too easy on shorter life span of their tractors (compared to older tractors). What do you think? Ken Sweet

 

[gilbertmsg]

If you have not noticed, it's not just tractors. Most things don't last like they did in the past. We have allowed manafactures to get away with lesser quality and it may not never get any better. Keep your old stuff, it does just as good as the new and in some cases better.

Eddie

 

[jlsmith]

This is true to a point. I find alot of the time when a new tractor has something wrong with it it might be the fact that the owner is new to tractors. Yes alot of things have changed over the years and i think it has alot to do with who is buying tractors now. Everybody wants a pretty tractor, so the manufactor has gone to plastic fenders to make em look pretty but had to go cheaper in preformance to keep the cost down. To get the preformance of the old tractors (with the cost of metal going up) and the beauty of the new ones the cost would be so high that no one could afford them. JMO.

 

[bp fick]

The small tractor of yesteryear were oft times made in USA/Canada. They were iron. Simple, tested, basic engines. All that stuff that Ken knows all too well.

The modern CUT is, well modern. Made in Asia where expectations are different and adapted to the North American market. Alloys are used, lighter, EPA approved, fancier, more refined in many, many ways. Just isn't the same, Ken. Just isn't.

 

[timswi]

My last tractor was a Ford 8N...Bullet proof, but I wouldn't trade it for my 04 BX23...Almost 7 years and not one problem. My expectations were rather high given what I paid for it. It hasn't let me down.

I also know it's limits and try not to exceed them. This is true no matter what size machine you have.

 

[devildog1]

Ya know , not sure but I remember when I had an ole Oliver Super 55 without a loader, but with a BB and rear snow blower. Had that tractor for 20 years and did only minor repairs, always started here in the cold North east, good tractor. Now I have had two Kubota's over the last 5 years and going to buy my third Kubota soon.Great tractors so far.
DevilDog

 

[charleyfarmall]

Ken,

Specifically, what kind of problems are you referring to? i would guess that most CUT owners did not grow up with tractors and this is their first so they don't know what to expect. Additionally, there are going to be some dealers and mechanics who attempt to minimize the problem by saying "oh, they're all like this..."

 

[dave1949]

It's a good question Ken.

I agree to some extent about the conditioned expectations mentioned by others.

My tractor cost about the same as a decently equipped 4X4 pickup. It plows & blows snow, digs holes/trenches, mows weeds and brush, moves rocks, spreads gravel, etc. When I look at what I've gotten compared to the pickup truck price, I don't think it's a bad deal. What will the pickup truck look like in 10 years?

The only complaint I have ever had about my tractor is the pins on the FEL arms and bucket are not up to the machine behind them.

I use my tractor hard sometimes. It's a tool. If I had to pay someone else to do it, or buy a machine more suited to every task, it would be at least equal and probably more money. For example, if I had bought a used construction backhoe in decent shape it would depreciate and need repairs even though it will last longer. A new hoe is out of the question price-wise. So, I would have a lot tied up in a machine that won't pull a bush hog. I would have to pay someone to move it because I don't and will never own the truck and trailer for that size machine. So, I think the overall economics favors the CUT for my uses.

Given what I do with my tractor, I am wondering what shape some of those older machines would be in. They were made to work fields, something I never do.

Dave.

 

[boomer1025]

Old Iron = Easy to work on for the average farmer ect, Lots good quality heavy metal. Simple design. New Iron/Plastic = not so easy to work on, which should boost Dealerships service department income. Ken you should have seen this at your place over the years. Open the hood on a new or late model vehicle, 99.9 percent of the people, will look, close the hood and shake their heads and it goes back to the dealer for repairs. Tier 4 diesel engines in heavy ag equipment with urea. The price of old Iron I believe will get alot more expensive and hard to come by.

 

[sweettractors]

Ken,

Specifically, what kind of problems are you referring to? i would guess that most CUT owners did not grow up with tractors and this is their first so they don't know what to expect. Additionally, there are going to be some dealers and mechanics who attempt to minimize the problem by saying "oh, they're all like this..."

Well, It not one specific thing. It seems to run the gammet. From engine failures to rear tire and rims wobbling out of round. I am out in this type equipment all the time and there is just too much being sold with 300 hrs, 2000 hrs with problems. I went to a New, just opened, local landscape business a few years ago to get some decroative rock. They were short of help and said I could load myself. They had bought a new TC 29 NH with FEL when they opend the business. I know did not expect to have to preheat a tractor in the middle of July to get it to crank, but, I sure did. I later said something to the owner about the problem with the new CUT and he said the NH dealer told him they all did that LOL. He bought it hook, line and sinker. Long story short, he is Bankrupt today!! Ken Sweet