Saturday, December 19, 2020

Tractor woes

Remember when Cliff sold off the last of his classic tractor collection, intending to find a used 7040 Kubota tractor with a cab and front loader?  He loves his little John Deere, but once in awhile he'd like a little more "umph" than an under-fifty-horsepower tractor can provide; we'd like one with a cab because Cliff has developed asthma in his later years; the heated cab in winter and A/C in summer would be helpful for his breathing.  If we lived in Texas or Georgia, that 7040 Kubota might be feasible, because there are a lot of them for sale there.  Unfortunately, we live on a hill looking down on the Missouri River in God's Country; surely everybody knows that God's Country consists of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas.  When you try to find a certain kind of tractor, it always seems to be a thousand miles away.

The particular tractor he's looking for can be found nearby, but without a cab.  The model he's looking for could even be bought new, around the desired price range... without a cab.  There are other problems with buying new, though:  First of all, if we buy anything from a dealer, it will be taxed.  Real farmers don't have to pay the tax.  We have always been "pretend" farmers.  The taxes on $30,000 are significant and actually put the price of the 7040 out of our range.  

But there's another big issue that explains why certain used tractors are not being put up for sale, and that's Regen, pronounced re-gen, accent on the first syllable .

What does regen mean?  I found an article HERE that explains it, although it's still way over my head.  Here's a snippet from the article:  "The device used to deliver clean emissions is called a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), and it can get gunked up with soot every now and then. The cleaning process is called the regen process. Your tractor has a dash symbol that tells you when regen is necessary. The symbol is the same across all major brands."  

Just click the link in the above paragraph if you want to know more.

You can thank our politicians for regen.  They're all about clean air, you know, and apparently tractors have been polluting the atmosphere for many years.  My own opinion is that farmers are in the minority, so any law that might hamper them can be voted in by the majority of folks... who live in the city and never heard of regen and probably don't worry about where their food comes from.  But I could be wrong.  I may be looking at things from the wrong perspective. 

There's a reason I tend to think farmers don't like it:  They're keeping the tractors we want to buy second-hand.  They are hanging on to what they have because that regen process, if not done right, can really mess up a brand new tractor, at great cost to the owner.  Cliff follows the Kubota board on Facebook.  It's amazing how many people are saying they want a new tractor but they don't like the regen, so they're keeping what they have.

So I don't know what will happen with our search.  Cliff has his stash and surfs the net every day looking for the tractor he wants.  Perhaps a miracle will happen.  A different tractor isn't a necessity, not by a long shot.  But Cliff did without a lot of things he'd like to have had, throughout most of our lives together.  I like to see him happy.  Right now, he's just happy that I'm so happy with my new stove.  But I wish he could find that tractor. 

10 comments:

  1. I think he should just go for it and get the one he wants. You say you can afford it so why not. Lidw ia jar too ahoer NS r our age we need to do what makes us happy.

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    1. He will if he ever finds one closer to home than Texas or Georgia.

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  2. Sorry for the typos, I meant to say life is just to short and at our age we should do what makes us happy.

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  3. I hope he finds the tractor he wants! It's good to go after our dreams, especially at this stage of life.

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    1. He'll keep looking. They exist, but they're all too far away.

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  4. A lot of the times, the thrill is in the hunt. I know my dad would look for specific tractors and would be so excited when after many many failures, he finally procured one. He would spend days in the shop giving it love and attention and then it would go out in the machine shed with the others and be just another tractor for the rest of it's life on the farm while my dad was looking for his next dream.

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    1. Yes, that sounds like Cliff. He bought two 880 Olivers after selling all his classic tractors: One was for parts, the other to restore. Turns out the parts tractor is running. Well, the other tractor is running, but since he found out the gears are out of it, there it sets. I said, "Can't you take the gears out of the one that was a parts tractor and put them in the power-steering, good-looking, diesel 880?" His answer was, "Why would I do that. It's working OK." So I guess he'll be looking for another parts tractor.

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  5. Northern AB gal6:53 PM

    That sounds like the DEF fluid that is required in all newer diesel trucks. If you run out of DEF your vehicle will not start or run. I hope Cliff gets a new tractor, but for now it gives him something to do, perusing all the tractor forums and sales looking for that special one. Do you have many farm auction sales in your part of the country?

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    1. We have auctions, but Cliff only goes to the ones who have something he wants. Very few have a particular tractor he might want. Farmers usually are selling bigger tractors than we want.

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  6. That "regen" sounds like one massive headache... and another great progressive (*ahem*) idea. I'm all for preserving the air, water, and soil. But leave the family farmers alone. If the government wants to do something, outlaw confined feeding lots. Those are a blight upon the world & severely inhumane to animals!!!! ~Andrea xoxo

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