I have a 1967 Ford 4500.

[Bob's Ford 4500]

I do not know how to read the hour meter. Left side of the meter, there are 4 digits in black.then 2 digits in white. These are not digital numbers. they are on a wheel.
When I purchased this used machine the meter read: 4742 in black & 31 in white.Currently the meter reads: 4900 28 So doing the math am I correct ntosay that in the8 years that I have owned this machine I added 157.97Hours?

 

[Willie B]

Backhoes have an hour meter, but it records at a slower rate at partial throttle. If you run the engine slow, you might run 300 hours before recording 157.9

 

[Bob's Ford 4500]

Thank you for this information. I use idle 99% of the time because of of my lot restrictions around the house.
I still do get the reasoning behind not showing the exact time in use regardless of Idle or full throttle.
I guess I'll continue the maintenance procedure I'm on since I just use my 4500 around the house.
Thank you again,
Bob

 

[Mother Deuce]

Great old machine. I owned a 71. Wish I still had it.

 

[Bob's Ford 4500]

Yes it is a great machine. I only have 3 acre of land and this does everything I need to do.
I had to have the back how removed because to big a machine for close quarters around the house.

 

[Delmer]

the reasoning is that it's gear driven revolution counter, not actually an hour clock at all. The MF's would say "hours at 1,380 RPM" , you could do the math.

 

[Mother Deuce]

Yes it is a great machine. I only have 3 acre of land and this does everything I need to do.
I had to have the back how removed because to big a machine for close quarters around the house.

Yeah, the moment of balance being so close to the back axle makes her a bit dicey in close proximity to a structure if your not doing that work semi daily.

 

[Willie B]

I scoop up a big rock in the front bucket when using the hoe. I saw my young friend who recently bought, and revived his grandfather's 4500. He reassembled putting the hoe on first. Couldn't move the hoe without the front loader installed. They need more counter balance up front. Shipping weight on the hoe is 5000 LBS. 15 foot hoe.

 

[Willie B]

Be careful about running at idle. The oil pump may not pump enough volume to push oil to all places in the engine.