Farmers Are Buying 40-Year-Old Tractors Because They're Actually Repairable

GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Farmers are at the center of right-to-repair, a grass-roots consumer movement that says people should have the right to repair their own stuff. When a John Deere tractor breaks down, John Deere requires its owner to take it to an authorized dealer for repairs. Apple wants the same for its iPhones and recently told Congress that people would hurt themselves if they repaired their own stuff. Democratic Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both called for national right-to-repair laws.


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...d-tractors-because-theyre-actually-repairable
 
Scat

Scat

Well-Known Member
GURPS said:
Farmers are at the center of right-to-repair, a grass-roots consumer movement that says people should have the right to repair their own stuff. When a John Deere tractor breaks down, John Deere requires its owner to take it to an authorized dealer for repairs. Apple wants the same for its iPhones and recently told Congress that people would hurt themselves if they repaired their own stuff. Democratic Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both called for national right-to-repair laws.


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...d-tractors-because-theyre-actually-repairable
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That is kind of misleading...JD doesnt require you to take their tractor to their dealer network, they just make it damn hard not to. Tier 4 emissions and computer upgrades all make the diagnostic work difficult without the OEM software.

Kubota and tier 4 stuff is a nightmare (even for dealers) from what Ive been reading/hearing.
 
ginwoman

ginwoman

Well-Known Member
My hubby has a Massey Ferguson 1010 about 30 years old. Very difficult to find parts and she's having problems :(
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Scat said:
That is kind of misleading...JD doesnt require you to take their tractor to their dealer network, they just make it damn hard not to. Tier 4 emissions and computer upgrades all make the diagnostic work difficult without the OEM software.

Kubota and tier 4 stuff is a nightmare (even for dealers) from what Ive been reading/hearing.
Click to expand...

I work on a lot of Yamaha outboards. Yamaha "upgraded" the must-have diagnostic interface about 4 or 5 years ago and, at the same time, aggressively protected the distribution of the new hardware and software so that non-dealer repair types like myself cannot obtain it. That's become typical behavior for a lot of power products.
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
ginwoman said:
My hubby has a Massey Ferguson 1010 about 30 years old. Very difficult to find parts and she's having problems :(
Click to expand...

I've had good luck keeping my 1020 running though a combination of eBay, Yesterday's Tractors, and Guy Brothers in Clements. I have a 1010 with a completely worn out engine sitting in the weeds if there might be some parts your hubby is looking for. There is an older 1020 4wd parts tractor in the barn at Guy Bros too.

The muffler on the 1020 disintegrated from rust and age. I priced a new one a Guy Bros....it was over $700! I found one like it on eBay for $80 and modified the flange to fit.
 
L

limblips

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I grew up on a farm and working for a farm equipment repair place. The old 40s - 60s era equipment was amazingly simple and reliable. If you had a turned crankshaft, the oversized bearings, a redone head and a sleeve kit on hand you could split an old Ford 2N, 9N, 8N or 600/800/900 series tractor, rebuild the motor and have it running in 4-5 hours. You then turned in your cores and got another set ready to use. We always had one ahead. Same with seals, gaskets, and other consumables. There were some POS outliers like the Ford Select-O-Matic transmissions, all balers (knotters were a bitch to time). I have looked at a few of the newer tractors/cotton pickers/combines and other than routine PM I am not sure how much can be done by the end user. Just some of the special tools and equipment are expensive and often proprietary. Of course we didn't have GPS enabled yield computers, ground tracking radars, web enabled apps etc. We were lucky if we had an AM radio!
 
NextJen

NextJen

Raisin cane
Good to know! I need to search for some tires for my '63 John Deere 110 before I sell it. Hopefully they won't be hard to find.
 
B

baxter

Active Member
Funny, I have four jubotas that I have never had a problem with, I guess that's what you get for buying john deere
 
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