alt.hn

4/20/2026 at 11:53:54 PM

New Tractor with 12-Valve Cummins and Zero Electronics Goes Back to the Basics

https://www.thedrive.com/news/new-tractor-with-12-valve-cummins-and-zero-electronics-goes-back-to-the-basics

by pkaeding

4/21/2026 at 12:51:36 AM

I think the idea of an easy-to-service tractor (or other equipment) is much more appealing and important than that it have zero electronics. The article does not focus at all on the "zero electronics" angle, rather on the serviceability of the engine and tractor.

I guess the decision to put "zero electronics" in the title was made by some headline editor who thought it made for more clicks.

by slwvx

4/21/2026 at 1:53:37 AM

The idea of putting zero electronics was to appeal to those familiar with the many frustrated tractor owners who've got dog tired of POS revenue driven electronics being a necessary part of their more recent purchases. The title to them would indicate it was both not fly by wire as well as an absence of overly complicated control boxes being essential for the machine to work. Obviously the tractor has electrics which includes such things as lights, batteries, alternator and starter motor, and probably basic half century proven basic electronic components such that drives signals and instrumentation.

As a side note, there's not an adequate explanation for what P pumped injector means or its significance. [1]

[1] https://4btengines.com/6bt-vs-isb-comparing-the-p-pumped-12-...

by anenefan

4/21/2026 at 2:58:44 AM

Vacuum/pneumatic, analog electric, and hydraulic control systems exist and are able to accomplish control functions comparable to proprietary computer-controlled systems with varying degrees of efficiency, accuracy, and precision. The root cause of the situation is greedy corporations who don't want to produce long-lasting, quality products and a lack of appropriate and sensible government regulations to prevent them from exploiting planned obsolescence and price gouging parts and support.

by burnt-resistor

4/21/2026 at 7:55:59 AM

Though I'm sure that in many instances a box of tricks that dies is because the 80c capacitor or 2 buck transistor was a few cents cheaper than a better longer life equivalent component, simply the lack of a good long lasting component at a cost effective price is the problem - in my tropical locale, the lack of market presence of a robust switch is a major headache for much of the fly by wire machinery that really needs a better switch when fixing the POS tin plated version that relies of being sealed for it's protection against the elements. Back at least to the 80s, they seemed to have a better regard for what electrochemical potentials of various metals to build robust switches that didn't rely entirely on being sealed ... for example though the old foot dimmers on cars would sometimes give minor trouble, for the most part they worked for a long time in a hostile environment without the need to oil and fuss over them.

by anenefan

4/21/2026 at 10:44:52 AM

A note on the 12 valve is that for many years it had NO emmisions equipment as it was so efficient that it met emmisions of the day, "in cylinder", and when tuned properly you can watch the exhaust and it's nothing but heat comming out the stack. also the standard set up will burn almost anything in hard times, and as one pirate I encountered fueling up a p pumped motor with used resuraunt oil said "it will chew through anything including the chicken bones"

this is the kind of reliability that gets smaller scale farms through hard times, especialy where they dont have the excess managerial capacity to navigate the complex systems of government and banking financial "incentives"

by metalman

4/21/2026 at 12:33:35 AM

Brilliant, now please do cars!

by exabrial

4/21/2026 at 3:00:42 AM

We should skip ICE and prefer open source, standardized EVs that can be homologated to numerous countries with minimized cost and effort.

by burnt-resistor