This is a very good reason why the Nebraska tractor tests were needed and a shame they went away. Math doesn't lie, but loyalties are not always accurate.
My father's 4020 was recorded, at the Nebraska tests, to burn 6.04 gallons an hour under full load. With current pump prices with diesel costing $3.00 a gallon, that's $18.00 an hour. With a five-16 plow, that comes to 2.16 gallons an acre. Here's the math:
16" X 5 = 80" ÷ 12 = 6.6 square feet X 3.5 MPH X 5,280 feet in a mile =12,968 square feet per hour ÷ 43,560 square feet in an acre = 2.8 acres an hour. 6.04 gallons an hour ÷ 2.8 acres an hour = 2.157 gallons an acre.
In an ACTUAL test, I once plowed a two acre field and carefully recorded the economy. What did I find? The 4020 burned 2.1 gallons an acre! By golly, those nerdy engineers at Nebraska were right! Now multiply that by $3.00 a gallon and you have $6.30 an acre.
For a D to use that much fuel per acre, what would it need to do? Let's figure it...
According to Nebraska (those pesky engineers are back!) the D's maximum fuel use was shown to be 3.97 gallons an hour. With gasoline being $2.30 a gallon, that comes to $9.13 an hour. Oooo... that's almost exactly HALF what the 4020 costs an hour to run! HALF! Wow.
Following me so far?
So... since it costs half as much an hour to run a D, for it to cost the SAME PER ACRE as the 4020 (and the 4040 is even less efficient) it would have to do HALF the work--pull TWO AND A HALF 16" bottoms at the same speed as the 4020. Make sense? But it's pulling more than that. (I've heard it pulls three 16" bottoms with ease.) And its gear is a tad faster. That's why it's doing more work per dollar.
D: 4 mph = (3) 16" bottoms = 4 feet, so... 4mph X 5,280 = 21,120 feet an hour X 4 feet wide = 84,480 square feet an hour, so.. 84,480 feet ÷ 43,580 square feet in an acre = 1.9 acres an hour. Divide it's maximum fuel consumption, which is 3.97 gallon an hour, by 1.9, and it's burning 2.1 gallons an acre. Multiply that by $2.30 a gallon, and the D costs $4.80 an acre to plow.
The 4020 costs $6.30 an acre to plow, while the D costs only $4.80 an acre to plow--$1.50 less per acre. And that's pulling only three bottoms.
Feel free to check my math.
Please don't call me a horse, because horses don't do math. I doubt one even knows what the Nebraska Tests were. Which side of the fence are you on?
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