Sometimes I Space Off

When you drive 5-10 mph all day as much as I do, you have plenty of time to space off. Lately I've been spacing off about equipment, but not the new and shiny stuff. No, I sometimes wish I would've done it differently, and gone old(er) school with my equipment.

This has all been at the forefront of my mind since about 5 o'clock this afternoon. The 8320 is split in half, a lot of it is in pieces, and they still can't figure out what's wrong with it. We are hoping the bill doesn't end up being more than $5,000, but at this point, who knows? There was a pretty much brand new John Deere tractor in the shop today that had some hydraulic gremlins that they couldn't sort out.

I sometimes wonder if these newer, fancier tractors are better than the mostly mechanical beasts they're replacing. I think if I was to start over, I would buy older stuff. I love the twin row, and I think if I converted it to mechanical drive and used a piston pump to put on my fertilizer, I could use an older tractor to run the vacuum and the markers. I'd probably have to put lift assist wheels on, too, but that's not a big deal. I'd go with a 4850 2 wheel drive if I could afford it, but I'd probably go with a 4840 for the sake of saving about $10,000. I'd also use it to shred stalks in the fall, hill corn and possibly put on fertilizer with:

For my big tractor, I'd buy a 4850 MFWD. I'd use it to disk, run the field cultivator, chop stalks, cultivate, and run an auger wagon. Grandpa had one, and I spent a lot of time in it. I was sad to see it go, but the 8300 that replaced it is a nice tractor. Anywho, here's a nice 4850:

If I had any money left, I'd buy a nice 4630, get some saddle tanks and a spray boom for it, and use it as a sprayer tractor. Maybe shred weeds with it. Use it on the blade, box scraper, etc. It'd make a nice chore tractor. Grandpa also had one of these, but I don't remember much about it. I just know I would like to have one around:

I could buy all three of these tractors for about 1/3 of what a Deere 8335r would cost. I'm probably wrong, but I think it would cost less to maintain these. They don't have computer problems. I don't remember having hydraulic problems with them. You start them, slam them in gear and go.

If you ever wonder what I think about day in and day out, now you know.