Government Reg's for Tractors?

[Tom_Byrne 0]

Saw this article in my local paper, thought this would be of interest. One more thing Uncle Sam can get screwed up. http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070417/UPDATES01/704170386

[HubbardRA 19]

More government BS. This whole concept is designed to keep people like us from using old equipment and make us buy the new garbage from the boxstores. This is just like when the auto manufacturers went to R134. That was actually set up to eliminate all cars with R12 and sell new cars. Elimination of R12 cured the problem, right? Nope, the problem is worse than ever. I also think that putting emissions devices on small engines will not change the air pollution one bit. This is being pushed to sell new equipment. The people like Home Depot and WallyWorld don't want us to buy a unit and keep it 20+ years. They would like to see EPA force us to buy a new one every 5-6 years.

[chrisdm8 0]

I think (hope) the plan is only for new equipment to meet the regulations. I'm fine with that since I don't plan to buy any. ;)

[andrewk 0]

Well, they can't take away the old equipment. I don't think they can force this change on old equipment, the population would have a fit. It's been a long time coming guys. Tecumseh, this year, now has charcoal canisters, but doesn't yet need a cat. Sthil is using up some EPA credits this year to produce a few models, but their 4-mix trimmers are well above proposed 2008 regulations. New equipment is running wayyyy lean too. Its something we will have to learn to deal with, because someone has it in their head that OPE is a problem. According to Briggs, its something like 1 percent. Just more stupid regulations that will cost consumers more money.

[Morris 0]

I run my mower an hour or so on average per week. I drive my car an average of 20 hours a week. My car (Toyota pickup) uses about 8-12 gallons of gas. My mower uses about 3/4 gallon, maybe less. And they say the mowers account for 10% of summertime smog? That doesn't quite add up....

[Ketchamized 2]

Morris, Maybe they included 2-stroke engines in these figures. With 2-stroke engines, I would believe it, but not 4-stroke engines.

[TimJr 206]

Right or wrong new laws, we can't buy new air. Period. The example of the small engine vs. the car - small engines, especially old ones, are very inefficent and dirty - fact of life. For a given amount of fuel used, a small engine will put out more pollutants. I'm not taking poor running engines of any size into consideration - there shouldn't be a poor running engine in this day and age when air quality is a real problem. Legislators will screw up anything - it's like back in the '80's when California allowed big polluters to crush old cars for smog credits. Stupid - most of those crushed cars were not even being used, so they weren't polluting, not to mention destroying some sweet old iron for no good reason. Be active with your politicians to make sure they target the real polluters, and not blindly blame something else. Last but not least, if you are running around with a mosquito fogging oil burner, fix it or park it - do your part to minimize unneeded pollution. Don't get me wrong, I love my old tractors, race cars, pulling tractors etc., but I like to breathe even more..... Tim

[Willy 2]

They can bane my old tractors right after they take my guns.:D Some one with the E.P.A.has to have more brains then that.

[cahickm2 0]

It really wouldn't suprise me if the did put restrictions in place. a Co-worker of mine got a new cub cadet tractor 2 years ago for a wedding present. What a peice. They were required to slow the mower blade speed down for safety while reducing cutting quality. Only way to get around this with new tractors is to either buy smaller pulleys for the deck or buy a commercial grade mower. The epa just always finds something to complain about..

[B-16_IC 1,029]

Just heard a report on the radio tonight about this. The so-called expert advised to get new equipment, and instead of selling the old on a yard sale or giving it to your neighbor you should recycle it to reduce further emissions. Once again it looks like polititions are listening to big money (manufacturers) and not real statistics. The manufacture of new stuff pollutes a whole lot, not to mention using a lot of energy. The actual percentages of pollution from small equipment is like old cars, small. Too few of them, at a quite slow rate of use. Hearing stuff like this on the news really gets to me.:(!:(!

[andrewk 0]

quote:

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Originally posted by cahickm2
It really wouldn't suprise me if the did put restrictions in place. a Co-worker of mine got a new cub cadet tractor 2 years ago for a wedding present. What a peice. They were required to slow the mower blade speed down for safety while reducing cutting quality. Only way to get around this with new tractors is to either buy smaller pulleys for the deck or buy a commercial grade mower. The epa just always finds something to complain about..

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I think blade tip speed was regulated years ago. That cub doesnt cut because the deck (And tractor) are a piece of junk (well, at least compared to other brands- they do the job, thats about it). there isn't alot of lift created in those decks. Blade tip speed is supposed to be the same for all equipment, as far as the gov't is involved, since there is nothing preventing a customer from buying a commercial unit. Now, MTD could have slowed it down more, but I don't think this is likely. The Cubs I have worked on dont cut any better or worse than their MTD counter parts.

[Morris 0]

Slowing mower blade speed down for safety doesn't make a lot of sense. Like the difference between jumping off a 10 story building and a 50 story, either one will kill you. If you stick your foot under a mower blade going 2xx rpms or 4xx, either one's gonna take your toes off! Unless you have very tough shoes and the belts are loose enough to slip as soon as an obstacle is encountered... But I hadn't heard they had regulated blade speed. Learn something new every time I log on this site, lol... Erick, that is a good point. Two-strokes by their nature will pollute more...