Top 10 Reasons Tractors Break Down – Your Prevention Guide

We want to share important information that will help you prevent and avoid costly tractor breakdowns. They are all easy to avoid once you know what they are.

And as a quick aside --- we are here to help you purchase a new tractor, parts and implements when the time is right.

Let’s dive into the details.

Introduction

Tractor and other equipment breakdowns are always costly --- especially during planting and harvest --- when getting the seed in the ground and the grain out of the field in a timely fashion are both critical to maximizing yield.

A day of downtime can cost growers and farmers thousands of dollars. The actual cost depends on how much yield is affected by doing the operation later in the season versus the day that the equipment was down.

So what are the most common tractor breakdown problems?

Here is the top 10 breakdown list (in no particular order) and how you can prevent and avoid these problems.

Poor Electrical Connections

This problem is hard to prevent.

It is becoming more commonplace as more machinery is controlled electronically.

Cleaning dust and dirt from the connectors can help. When cleaning --- use compressed air instead of water to keep moisture away from the wires.

Untrained Operators

As farms get larger --- many farm owners are hiring outside help that may have not been trained to operate machinery.

This results in abused machinery, awful maintenance, and costly breakdowns. Time invested in training can make your machinery last longer.

Overrunning Machines

Pushing machines to run at maximum performance or at the top of the engineering curve can strain joints and cause equipment to die prematurely.

Some operators push their machines too hard for too long --- and force them to do things they weren’t designed for.

Operators should run machines just under their intended maximum performance level at most times. This helps avoid undue stress and prevents premature wear.

Not Replacing Worn Parts

When a part on a machine breaks --- some operators will only replace that part.

They will not check or replace other parts that may have caused the initial failure.