California passes right-to-repair act guaranteeing seven years of parts for your phone::On September 12th, California passed SB 244 to its state Assembly, becoming the third state to pass a right-to-repair bill.

  • theluddite@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Meanwhile my 1951 tractor still runs strong. I’m a big right to repair guy (lord knows I’ve repaired that thing a million times) and I celebrate the victory, but these laws are a tiny step in our profit-driven, disposable world. Repairability and longevity need to be fundamental design considerations. We’ll never get there with ticky tack regulations on a world where modern tractor manufacturers go out of their way to install computers on their tractor specifically so you can’t repair it yourself.

      • theluddite@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Your dad sounds awesome. Is it the kind with a narrow front? Those 50s IH tractors are sweet, but most of the ones around here have the narrow fronts, and it’s so hilly that I’m mortified of them. Mine is a Ford 800. Absolute beast of a machine, and it’s older than my parents!

        Tell your dad to join Lemmy so we can start an antique tractor community!

        • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Turns out I was off by a decade. 1964 farmall 140. Front grill is white mesh that is bent in 90 degree vertical steps. Love that the grills are such an identifier. Very postwar almost brutalist modern. Not the deco modern of the 40s-50s models. EDIT: not narrow front, but I guess that’s a given for a 60’s model?

      • Atropos@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        '51 truck and '63 tractor here - you’d be surprised! For the majority of standardized things (seals, bolts, bulbs, etc) it’s easy enough to find a cross reference table, and just order the part from napa or Grainger.

        For more specialized things (like if you break an input shaft), eBay or any number if specialized stores online will have original parts that have just been sitting in a warehouse for the past 70 years. Here’s one of my main sources for the truck: https://shop.midwestmilitary.com/product-category/m37/

        Occasionally I do have to fabricate a replacement.