Part of that "everything": back in August, I learned that there are at least three companies building tractors in the USA today based on the venerable Allis-Chalmers Model G, a design which was simple, configurable, and highly field-repairable.
* Ronnie Baugh Tractors (CleBer, LLC) * Tuff-bilt Tractor Systems * Tilmore LLC
Most modern tractors apparently are complicated and electronics-filled, like most modern cars, and some of them have proprietary firmware and other characteristics which apparently can make them difficult for owners and some third-party shops to repair. So there's not just "far more fancy stuff to break," as you and your client so aptly noted, but also some manufacturers have intentionally made them harder and more expensive to repair by anyone other than company-owned or factory-authorized service centers.
Yes!
Part of that "everything": back in August, I learned that there are at least three companies building tractors in the USA today based on the venerable Allis-Chalmers Model G, a design which was simple, configurable, and highly field-repairable.
* Ronnie Baugh Tractors (CleBer, LLC)
* Tuff-bilt Tractor Systems
* Tilmore LLC
Most modern tractors apparently are complicated and electronics-filled, like most modern cars, and some of them have proprietary firmware and other characteristics which apparently can make them difficult for owners and some third-party shops to repair. So there's not just "far more fancy stuff to break," as you and your client so aptly noted, but also some manufacturers have intentionally made them harder and more expensive to repair by anyone other than company-owned or factory-authorized service centers.
Related, there's an active "right to repair" movement: https://www.foodandpower.net/l...