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All our JD tractors are from the late 80's so I haven't ran into too much I can't figure out yet, which is typically just normal end of life parts swapping. I do call in the pros is I know its gonna take me days to fix when a pro can do it in a day. It's getting down to nut-cutting though, I'm spending more time in the barn then in the field. Been pushing the old man to up-grade but ...heavy farm equipment is not priced the same as it was in the 60's and 70's which my father isn't seeming to understand very well.
I do know a lot of local farmers (I'm a rancher) are and were using soviet hacks to fix and diagnose problems on their modern JD stuff. Yes I did say soviet which in cattle country were I reside, raised my eye-brow. Of course it is their kids doing it, when I say kids I'm talking 30 to 40 year olds. The vast, vast majority of farmers and ranchers are in their late 60's and older (most of us kids do not come back).
Another trend is nobody is buying new equipment anymore, its too hard to sage-brush mechanic, and nobody can afford the labor costs of taking it in to get the computers fixed. So everyone smart leases farm equipment these days to keep it under warranty.
Technology is hitting the old timers very hard and very fast in the Ag world.-WW
ps. Dad flips out every time he see the bill from the mechanic. When its just too magic for me to fix, we have one come out. I have to explain it's all in labor cost. Last week it was a $300 bill for a $60 part. He can't seem to wrap his head around $90 a hour?"Get off my lawn" runs deep in agriculture.
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