Peter Crippen sold this Steiger 500 to Campbell 13 years ago and is still running over 15,000 hours with no major issues.
Wyalkatchem grain grower Campbell Jones’ main tractor, a Case Steiger 500, has just crossed 15,000 hours after 13 years of consistent use and with the same engine.
The aging workhorse machine is still ticking along the paddock with barely an issue.
“It’s been my main tractor since I got it, and my only tractor until up to two years ago,” Mr Jones said.
“It’s done most of my deep ripping, chaser bin work – you name it.”
Mr Jones partially attributed the Case Steiger 500’s longevity to a strict adherence to an oil changing schedule.
“We religiously change oil every 250 hours,” he said.
Boekeman Machinery, Dowerin branch sales consultant, Peter Crippen, said Mr Jones’ Case Steiger 500 could continue to rack up many more hours provided the maintenance continued to be of a good standard.
“Engines fail generally because of the wrong oil put in it or under use of oil changes,” Mr Crippen said.
“A good engine just doesn’t fail, and these engines are really good,” Mr Crippen said.
This season Mr Jones, from early April, put in 5700 hectares of Vixen wheat, barley, Roundup Ready canola at his property, Modesty Farms. Modesty Farms has just reached its 120th year; Mr Jones’ great-grandad was cropping in the Wyalkatchem area when he settled in 1906. As for his seeding program, so far it’s been going well.
“I’d say about 85 per cent of the canola is up, 80 per cent of the barley is up, and a little bit of the wheat is up,” he said.
Mr Jones said there was some rainfall at the start of the season but for the past week it’s been a dry seeding program.
“Last year we didn’t have much rain in April, so it was probably a better start than last year – we have a lot more canola up this year compared to last year,” he said.
New Zealand native Daniel Whitehead, who has been working at Modesty Farms for two months, has been operating Mr Jones’ Case Steiger 500 this season.
“It (Case Steiger 500) is awesome, it’s going good for an old tractor,” Mr Whitehead said.
“There’s no problems really.”
Back in New Zealand, Mr Whitehead didn’t have much experience operating big ticket machinery.
“I mainly worked on sheep farms, worked in the shearing sheds,” he said.
But Mr Whitehead is a quick study, and it didn’t take long for him to get used to operating the Case Steiger 500. Mr Whitehead said they have about 1500 hectares to go until they’ve completed the seeding program.
“Another week or so and we should be all good,” he said.
“The rainfall has been okay overall, we’ve averaged 15 to 20 milliliters over the farm,” he said.
Mr Jones said he intends for the Case Steiger 500 to continue to be the main workhorse in his cropping program, and only using his two other 90 horsepower tractors for smaller tasks.
“It’ll be a sad day when this one goes,” he said.
ARTICLE BY Rhys Tarling FARM WEEKLY
