I had a friend who was making $17/hour or so. I thought that was not much but by the time you added up all of his benefits (one of which was 5 weeks of paid vacation plus every single holiday you can imagine off) his annual gross was pushing $70K pretty hard and he had only been there two years.

I think to get a really good tech who is motivated and skilled at BOTH mechanical and electrical issues instead of really good at just one specialty like planters or combines of a certain era, you really need to be ready to pay a fair amount more than $70K.

The type of guy who I would want to be a mechanic on my facility would be able to make it on his own as a self employed mechanic. I don't want to hire someone who only knows how to get things done if he has access to a computer system with all the service manuals on it or he only knows how to get something done if it's working on the type of tractor he has worked on for the last 3 years. I would want someone who is adaptable, independent and motivated to make a difference. There are really not many people like that who are currently working for someone else.