Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors Because of a Right to Repair Ban

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I’m not a farmer, but I am dependent on farmers, and want to see them do well.

For the money these farmers are paying for these tractors, john deere should be willing to send a technician to effect repairs. Free of charge.

I’m a dealer field mechanic for Caterpillar. We lead the market in construction and mining equipment, compared to John Deere which is mostly agricultural. Our software is accessible to customers. They can see live data, perform diagnostic tests and flash ECMs. Our online system has complete diagrams, explains component function and step by step troubleshooting processes. Even if you know absolutely nothing about machines, we give you the resources to figure it out. CAT will always be superior to Deere.

As a mechanical engineer, I remove many industrial machines from their electronic cards, convert them to analogues and so far they are all working very well and the clients are happy for their pockets.

When you spend $200k - $500k on equipment John Deere better send out someone to fix that s** for free.

How in the world did US manage to fuck up so bad? I never thought we even needed an act which allow us to repair what we own

As and electronics technician, I wholly support this bill! I can find parts and schematics for radios that were built in the 1930's and before. Even Hifi stereos built in the 1970's would have a schematic diagram hiding inside, and repair components are readily available to get them in working condition. Repairing a 10 year old flat-panel TV however is next to impossible if it's a semiconductor that's failed. Just like the farmer, the chips are "dead" when they arrive and must be programmed. even then, there is a LOT of custom chips that were only made for the run of that particular model TV...yet, I can get a transistor to repair a 1970's RCA television very easily!

In 1984 I closed my shop and sold out all my tools. Farmers would sit at the coffee shop and say go get your tractors repaired at the dealer. They have all the special tools and knowledge to fix them. So did I. My cost investment exceeded any gain after 1980. Many machine shops and independent repair shops closed after me. I’m now retired after working on air conditioners. I just installed a new unit in my home and haven’t put one in anywhere since about 8 years ago. I couldn’t get anyone to finish my a/c lines using nitrogen so I bought all the supplies and finished it. A/C contractors get warrantee paranoia when you install your own equipment and they can’t charge you 10,000 or more and like the farming industry they hate and despise the DIYs! My hats off to all the last generation of farmers who brought us here.

Time to stop buying John Deere. Screw them. Screw Apple. Screw any company hostile to field repair.

“We can’t let people repair our equipment because it opens the gates to hackers” Meanwhile people are becoming hackers so they can repair their stuff

Yo soy agricultor y mecánico. Estoy en Ecuador y pasa exactamente lo mismo. Y si, todos tenemos derecho a reparar lo que compramos. Y si, cada ves las herramientas y maquinarias son más electrónicas y computarizadas, lo que te limita para repararlo, totalmente. Sigamos en la lucha de nuestro derecho justo a reparar.

I'm not a farmer but I do have a riding lawnmower. I was thinking about getting a john deere when my cub cadet kicks the bucket..... but I refuse to support a company that doesn't take care of its customers or makes it difficult to do your own repairs.

I work for Deere, and even people inside the company don't like this about the company. Keep pushing the issue, you will win. I am rooting for you! I don't have the power to make any changes, I just work for the company to make my living just like you farm your field to make a living to make yours. I'm all for justice. If I lose my job because you found justice in yours, so be it. I've been looking for a different job anyways. This is a litigation battle and not something you can blow a whistle over.

Companies are not worried about hackers. They are worried if you can fix that product you won't buy a new one or pay huge fees to the dealership.

As a guy that has always done his own repairs on ALL my equipment and vehicles I’ve been say this FOR YEARS !!! They DONT want you to repair your OWN equipment !!!

I bought a John Deere 1028 Snow Blower because I thought that they were well-made and held its resale value. In the first season, the switches fell apart. I tried to buy new ones on Ebay and found that the switches are of a propriety design as well as the cutouts on the control panel. The cost of the John Deere replacement switches is extremely high at $45.00 each compared to $5.00 generic switches. I ended up having to modify the wiring harness and add a generic plug to use higher-quality Chinese-made generic switches.

Never thought I'd see the day where farmers are pirating software for tractors. Welcome to the future folks.

Never thought I would hear “Hacking” “Farmers” and “Tractor” in the same sentence...

They’re doing this in all industries. As a Ford master tech, I’ve watched it with the cars. And people are fighting for the right to repair Apple phones. Coming from a family of farmers. It’s sickens me what they’re doing. What I’m afraid of is now that all our land GPS mapped. It will be a flip of a switch to replace the farmer. Time to change colors :-) quality food for kids and bring back a small farmer. As all these companies have done nothing but taken our family seed our land. Just for our government to give it to China. We were all proud of the family heirloom seed. And they robbed us. It’s time for Americans to start helping Americans growing quality food for each other. This mess is not sustainable.