I completely rebuilt the JD 4020 diesel that my Grand Father bought new. I do mean completely. Completely bare to the casting. All new bearing, seals, engine kit and etc. If any machined holes where egged shaped they got bored out and a bushing made so the hole was back to factory. Control rods either replaced or welded up and machined down to fit tight. I kept track of all the parts. I did the labor record keeping like you would a shop ticket. I had just under $22K in parts and 460 hours of labor. This was over the winter of 2004-5. So the parts would be higher today too. If you just paid yourself shop mechanic wages that would still be $20-25 and hour. So that easily could be another $7500-10,000 in cost.
I pondered the cost and such for some time. Then I decided to do a JD 4440 two years later the same way. My reasoning was that each of these where working tractors not show pieces. The actual paint job was just the factory paint with some hardener in it with me spraying it. So very far from perfect. How I looked at it then and now is both these tractors where just about the same as new. I had less than 50% of the cost of new in them. Neither one has any electronics or pollution equipment on them either. So in the case of these two I can/could argue that there is a good business reason to due the work and cost.
Doing the same thing on a collector or parade tractor really would rarely make good business sense. How I look at those deals is the person doing it is fulfilling his/her enjoyment of doing the work. So it is their hobby/interest. It would be no different than the people that buy high dollar fishing boats or motorcycles. Would be like people that take trips around the world too. It is all in how people chose to spend their time and money.
Then maybe an answer your indirectly asking on tax deducting the expenses. Well I do. I can not speak for others. Since I do have farm income I consider it a farm expense. If you do not have farm income I am not sure on how you would do it.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 5MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - The Nuts and Bolts of Fasteners - Part 2 - by Curtis Von Fange. In our previous article we discussed capscrews, bolts, and nuts along with their relative hardness and thread sizes. In this segment we will finish up on our fasteners and then work with ways to keep them from loosening up in the field. Capscrews, bolts and nuts are not the only means of holding two parts together. When dealing with thinner metals like sheet tin, a long bolt and
... [Read Article]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.