Hours versus Miles comparison and Record-Keeping

[GeoHorn]

I may have had a bran-pharrt.... I searched and didn’t have any success...but there was a thread where the question posed was to the effect “How many hours equal how many miles?” .... and I didn’t get a chance to start any controversy.... so here goes:

I keep detailed records of my machinery, including daily operations. For example, the spiral notebook where I keep my tractor records have entries such as:
===========
1/18/21 472.3 hrs Graded road. Blew out radiator and primary air filter. Refueled with 3 gals.

2/05/21 475.1 hrs Greased all zerks w/lithium and FEl with moly. Replaced front LED lightbar switch. Mowed with finish-mower.

3/19/21 477.9 hrs Ckd tire press F-29 R-19 OK. Moved logs with FEL for splitting. Rinsed tractor w/hose, blo-dry. Repaired broken Rt tail light connector (replaced w/splice). Refueled with 2 gals.
============

If a walking person averages 3 mph (according to tradition and Google)... and if we operate our tractors at a “walk”.... each hour would equal 3 miles.... Right?

So 100 hours would equal 300 miles.... and a tractor with 2K hours would have similar wear to a vehicle with 6,000 miles at most.

If a tractor is used in a stationary or back-and-forth (as in loader-work) then the mileage comparison may not be similar but the wear-rate on transmission/clutch components would increase commensurately.

Anyway...I don’t know that this is a valid method to compare since I’ve seen cars with low miles in terrible condition and others with high mileage in excellent shape. Personally, I feel that accurate service and maintenance records are very important when evaluating any type of machine, and is why I keep detailed records which anyone who reads them will recognize they were made contemporaneously.

Hope this is helpful to others.

 

[DeepWoods]

I have done the same thing from the very first day/hour my new b2650hsdc came off the delivery trailer. I feel for the little time it takes me to write down the days events, it is worth it. It lets me know for example how many hours per gallon it takes to run my tractor with different implements, which averages to about a half gallon per hour. And with my poor memory I can always refer back to my log book to see what I couldn’t remember when the last time I performed a needed maintenance item. I don’t ever plan on selling my tractor, but when it does go to someone else, they will see exactly what was done when.

 

[Henro]

So 100 hours would equal 300 miles.... and a tractor with 2K hours would have similar wear to a vehicle with 6,000 miles at most.

I don't buy your logic, but so what right?

I have always in my mind used engine RPM as the basis for such a comparison.

Figuring that if I run my tractor at 60 percent or better of rated RPM, I should use that to compare the miles I would put on my van, or car, if I ran them at the same percent of rated RPM.

So I guess I am saying, that sometime I use my Tractor at nearly 100 percent rpm, like when brush hogging. And when mowing with the smaller tractor it is "balls to the wall" always. That would add up to a lot of miles on a road vehicle.

So in my mind, I concluded that perhaps multiplying tractor operating hours by a factor of 35 or 40 would probably let me compare tractor hours to vehicle miles.

I have no clue if this makes sense or not, but think it may make as much sense as what you posted...Ha, ha...

 

[hope to float]

I don't buy your logic, but so what right?

I have always in my mind used engine RPM as the basis for such a comparison.

Figuring that if I run my tractor at 60 percent or better of rated RPM, I should use that to compare the miles I would put on my van, or car, if I ran them at the same percent of rated RPM.

So I guess I am saying, that sometime I use my Tractor at nearly 100 percent rpm, like when brush hogging. And when mowing with the smaller tractor it is "balls to the wall" always. That would add up to a lot of miles on a road vehicle.

So in my mind, I concluded that perhaps multiplying tractor operating hours by a factor of 35 or 40 would probably let me compare tractor hours to vehicle miles.

I have no clue if this makes sense or not, but think it may make as much sense as what you posted...Ha, ha...

I don't think you can compare them at all. Tractors are often over-worked to the point of abuse, carrying and working implements at the top of (and sometimes beyond) their capability. Their only suspension is the air in the tyres so every bump is a hard shock. If the PTO is getting used there are shocks getting driven through the transmission. But they are kinda built for that! And 3K RPM isn't that high. It's cruising speed in your van. Maybe you are more aware of it because you are sitting on top of it with minimal soundproofing.

 

[RCW]

Honestly, I don't think you can make a tractor hours versus road vehicle miles correlation.

Too many variables with both...use, climate (salt/snow), storage inside/outside, etc...

I guess you could look at depreciation schedules. Works for a farmer-business valuation, but that will not be accurate for a personally-owned tractor or vehicle.

A light-duty truck may have a 4-6 year depreciation, but they certainly aren't fully depreciated for someone like me, with ~50k miles in that timeframe. Heck, I've traded trucks without putting tires and brakes on them...

 

[DustyRusty]

I may have had a bran-pharrt.... .............. and I didn’t get a chance to start any controversy.... so here goes:

2/05/21 475.1 hrs Greased all zerks w/lithium and FEl with moly.

Shouldn't this have said "Greased all zerks with lithium, except for those on the FEL, and those were greased with moly"?

If you greased all the zerks with lithium, and then the ones on the FEL with moly, you have combined the 2 greases.... unless that was your intended result! Now, you have your controversy!

As for engine hours and miles, lets change the equation to police cars... They log many more hours idling as traffic accidents or traffic duty than they do logging miles on the roadways. That is why most modern police cars have both engine hour meters and the traditional odometer. Maintenance on the engine and transmissions is done by the hour meter, and brakes and suspensions are done by the miles traveled. Fire trucks used to have, and might still have engine revolution meters that counted the number of revolutions that the engine garnered in a particular time period, and maintenance on the pumps and engine were based on that number. Fire engines don't log many miles in a year, but they sure do log a lot of engine hours at a fire. They have to keep the engine at high enough revolutions per minute (RPM) to keep a lot of hoses pressurized. I remember that NYC had a super pumper that took 5 pumper trucks to feed the pumps, so they could get a stream of water into the upper floors of some of their high rise buildings. https://chicagoareafire.com/blog/tag/fdny-super-pumper-system/ ..... https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/m...-engine-powered-pumper-extinguish-hell-often/

 

[OlFerguson]

I mean , are you going on road trips with your tractor ??? I service according to the hours and what the wsm recommends to keep it running optimum.

 

[Dave_eng]

Years ago I bought a Volvo military truck with low mileage.

Once it was mine I realized that, although it had not traveled far in miles, it had run many, many hours the majority of these were idling and the engine was worn out.

To the military it had reached the end of its service life hence its disposal.

Dave

 

[lugbolt]

one reason I wish all diesel pickup trucks had hourmeters on them. Guys used to (maybe still do) drive 2 minutes to the store, get out of the truck and lock the doors-leaving the truck sit there to idle, running hours up. Used to see it all the time but newer trucks are so quiet that you don't notice it as much now.

Some do have hour meters.

Old school thought was, leaving it idle doesn't wear it out as much as start/stop. Maybe in big diesels but pickup trucks aren't big diesels. They're mostly designed as passenger car engines with a little more power--including my old smoky clattery 7.3-in comparison to real workhorse diesels.

 

[mikester]

1,000 hrs roughly equals 60,000 km or 36,000 miles on road vehicles

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: leaving it idle doesn't wear it out as much as start/stop

this seems more 'urban legend/myth' than an actual fact,be nice to see a report or study that proves it.
In the early days,you'd leave dozers running all day as it took that long to recharge the $$$$$ bank of batteries with 20A generators.
Waaaaaay up north, they run 'foerever' to keep from freezing up solid...

 

[torch]

It is an interesting question. What about hours VS hours? For example, I understand that the D750 engine used in my tractor was also used in hundreds of thousands of reefers. Those containers got plunked on a ship and might run for weeks at a time, running up 10,000 or 20,000 hours over a 10 or 12 year lifetime, with "regular maintenance" being every 1,500 or 2,000 hours. How does that compare to life in a tractor?

 

[Chad D.]

It is an interesting question. What about hours VS hours? For example, I understand that the D750 engine used in my tractor was also used in hundreds of thousands of reefers. Those containers got plunked on a ship and might run for weeks at a time, running up 10,000 or 20,000 hours over a 10 or 12 year lifetime, with "regular maintenance" being every 1,500 or 2,000 hours. How does that compare to life in a tractor?

I believe that a constant load, as you’ve described here, is more forgiving to an engine’s lifespan than the star/stop, hit/bang, slow/fast lifestyle that many of our engines see.

look at a ship engine... Many, many thousands of hours... as they cruise at a constant speed.

 

[lugbolt]

I believe that a constant load, as you’ve described here, is more forgiving to an engine’s lifespan than the star/stop, hit/bang, slow/fast lifestyle that many of our engines see.

look at a ship engine... Many, many thousands of hours... as they cruise at a constant speed.

yup and thousands of hours on/near the water where there is very little dust or dirt to be ingested into the engine intake. A tractor engine (and a lawn mower engine) have very hard lives to live. It's a wonder they last at all given the conditions they're used in.

 

[torch]

Good point about the environmental conditions. Even rolling down the highway (containers are intermodal) is probably less dusty than mowing the lawn or tilling a field.

 

[Bonaro]

In a previous life I was a boat mechanic and I was asked this question all the time. A boat is usually going wide open throttle for most of its life so I would use a multiplier of 100. (100 hours =10,000 miles) but this is probably understated. The problem is, in a car you hit the gas and speed up to 70mph then let off and cruise at the lowest possible throttle setting. This minimizes wear.
A boat (and tractor) is usually working hard all the time. High load=more wear, distance traveled is irrelevant. Some old tractors may be completely worn out and only have 100 actual miles traveled.

The best thing to do is to not try and translate apples into oranges and just focus on the hours

 

[William1]

My rule of thumb is every hour of runtime equates to 60 miles. This is a effort to compare wear and tear of a machine that spends time moving slow or stationary compared to the typical automobile. Run it in a swamp or in extremely dusty conditions and 30 minutes runtime might be thought of as 600 miles.
Imagine how you would feel after the workout you gave it.