[Themaintainers] New report: Dealership consolidation is reducing repair choices for farmers

[dan at geer.org]

<delurking>

I'm mostly a farmer, but never took Earl Butz's advice "to get big
or get out".  As a small farmer, my favorite tractors were a 1967
Ford 4100 (3 cyl gas) and a 1974 Ford 5000 (4 cyl diesel).  Why?
Because it was barely a joke to say that all you needed for tools
was a wrench, a big flat blade screwdriver, and a six pound hammer,
that and the hundreds of pages of exploded parts diagrams that Ford
happily provided.

If anyone here is looking for a small farm tractor, there is the
Branson which has no electronics, lots of cast iron, and is assembled
in Rome, Georgia, and the Oggun, even more basic and assembled in
Paint Rock, Alabama.  The latter, you will be happy to learn, self
describes this way:

1. License the design and build it yourself.
     * You source the fabrication locally.
     * You either acquire the off the shelf components locally or
     purchase them from us

2. License the design, purchase the components from us, and assemble
the tractor
     * We ship you all the components and an assembly video

3. Purchase a fully assembled tractor.

4. Or any other option that makes sense.


<back to lurking>

--dan