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scmn | I know of one Ag OEM that had a design life of 17k+ hours for their machines. It is difficult to compete on price point when your competitor is at half the design life and has loyal customers that bleed their OEM color. It is what it is, but that is why we see 600+hp out of 13L motors in Ag and need 18L+ engines in other applications for the same hp.
From an OEM standpoint, what is the point of designing a 20-30,000 hr tractor when 90% of the farmers feel they need to trade them at 2-3,000 hours because they are shot/wore out/not reliable (all untrue). The fact of the matter is most row crop farmers had way more iron than they need and will never wear a new tractor out but think it is shot after 10 yrs (think 600hp 4wd that gets 2-300 hrs/yr that is less than 10,000hrs in a 30 yr career.) In all reality, the OEMs should drop life expectancy to 5,000 hrs since the vast majority of the required electronics will not be available when most of the tractors hit 5,000 hrs (what good is 10-20-30,000 iron if you can't get electronics after 5,000 hrs/20 years?). It is a lot like pickups where guys remember the 80s and overhauls every 50,000 so they think their 50,000 mile pickup is wore out and need to trade for something reliable (never mind that it will easily go to 2-300k with minimal maintenance and repairs.) | |
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Cat 914g longevity
