FARM EXPERIENCE WITH THE TRACTOR. 35 



REPAIRS. 



The cost of repairs has always been an item of considerable impor- 

 tance in connection with the farm tractor. Not only have the repairs 

 been expensive, but the time lost in obtaining new parts and inserting 

 them has been a serious matter. 



This feature has frequently been pointed out as one of the greatest 

 disadvantages of the tractor and one which practically precludes its 

 use on the average farm. 



It is only fair to the tractor, however, to state that a very large 

 percentage of the repairs are made necessary through inefficient 

 operation. The statement that any man can operate a gas tractor 

 efficiently after only a few minutes' instruction is so far from the 

 truth that it would seem that its falsity should be apparent to even 

 the uninitiated. Yet this erroneous idea has been responsible for 

 hundreds of failures and an enormous amount of repair charges, the 

 effect of which has been detrimental to the tractor industry. If 

 every man who used a tractor during the years of its development 

 had been thoroughly competent to operate it, the history of the 

 farm tractor would be very different. 



While the average farmer's familiarity with many machines and 

 then' operation should make him an apt pupil in the study of the gas 

 tractor, it is in no sense a complete education therein. There are 

 many tractor owners at the present time who, while operating their 

 tractor with a certain degree of satisfaction, are unfamiliar with 

 many details of its mechanism; in fact, it is the exception to find a 

 tractor owner who fully understands one of the most important parts 

 of the tractor — the ignition system. 



It is this ignorance regarding details, some of them apparently 

 trifling, which all too frequently causes expensive delays. An inter- 

 nal-combustion engine is extremely simple in its operation, but it is 

 simple only to one who understands it fully. No one but an experi- 

 enced operator can obtain the best results with a farm tractor, and 

 the necessity for an owner carefully studying the principles of the 

 internal-combustion engine and the operation of his own tractor 

 before undertaking to operate the outfit can not be overemphasized. 

 The lack of such preparation is clearly shown in the cost of repairs 

 to tractors during their first season's use. As has been stated, 

 although in nearly every case all repairs required the first season 

 which are not caused by the operator are furnished free, it was found 

 that the repairs for which owners are required to pay during the first 

 season average about 2 per cent of the first cost of the tractor. 



While previous tables have shown the amount of repairs for 

 various groups of tractors, it was thought a table showing the general 

 average repairs for tractors might be of value. It would be mani- 



