How to become Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician in 2024

Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, dairy equipment, and irrigation systems.

Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician is Also Know as

In different settings, Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician is titled as

  • Agricultural Mechanic
  • Agricultural Technician
  • Agriculture Mechanic
  • Farm Equipment Mechanic
  • Farm Equipment Service Technician
  • Field Technician
  • Mechanic
  • Service Technician
  • Tractor Mechanic
  • Tractor Technician

Education and Training of Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

Training Required for Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician in different industries are

What Do Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician do?

  • Record details of repairs made and parts used.
  • Reassemble machines and equipment following repair, testing operation and making adjustments, as necessary.
  • Maintain, repair, and overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, and irrigation systems.
  • Examine and listen to equipment, read inspection reports, and confer with customers to locate and diagnose malfunctions.
  • Dismantle defective machines for repair, using hand tools.
  • Test and replace electrical components and wiring, using test meters, soldering equipment, and hand tools.
  • Repair or replace defective parts, using hand tools, milling and woodworking machines, lathes, welding equipment, grinders, or saws.
  • Clean and lubricate parts.
  • Tune or overhaul engines.
  • Drive trucks to haul tools and equipment for on-site repair of large machinery.
  • Fabricate new metal parts, using drill presses, engine lathes, and other machine tools.
  • Calculate bills according to record of repairs made, labor time, and parts used.
  • Install and repair agricultural irrigation, plumbing, and sprinkler systems.
  • Repair bent or torn sheet metal.

Qualities of Good Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

  • Adjustable end wrenches
  • Air wrenches
  • Angle grinders
  • Arc welders
  • Automated lathes
  • Automatic center punches
  • Aviation snips
  • Bearing pullers
  • Bench grinders
  • Bench mount drill presses
  • C clamps
  • Circular wire gauges
  • Clamp-on bench vises
  • Clamping dial indicator
  • Click type torque wrenches
  • Clutch head screwdrivers
  • Combination pliers
  • Combination spanners
  • Countersink drill bits
  • Crimping tools
  • Curved claw hammers
  • Diagnostic scan units
  • Diagonal cutting pliers
  • Diamond point chisels
  • Digital multimeters
  • Digital ohmmeters
  • Digital oscilloscopes
  • Digital pyrometers
  • Digital tachometers
  • Digital tire pressure gauges
  • Digital torque screwdrivers
  • Digital vacuum gauges
  • Digital voltmeters
  • Disk grinders
  • Drill bit sets
  • Dual temperature heat guns
  • Electric drills
  • Engine analyzers
  • Engine compression testers
  • Engine dynamometers
  • Engine timing lights
  • Extension sockets
  • External gear pullers
  • Flat bastard files
  • Flat cold chisels
  • Flat feeler gauges
  • Flex handle sockets
  • Flex head ratchets
  • Fuel flow gauges
  • Fuel pressure gauges
  • Gas powered air compressors
  • Grinding wheel dressers
  • Groove joint pliers
  • Handsaws
  • Heavy duty bolt cutters
  • Hose clamp pliers
  • Inductive ammeters
  • Inside calipers
  • Inside micrometers
  • Insulation resistance testers
  • Internal gear pullers
  • Laptop computers
  • Lineman's pliers
  • Lining-up punches
  • Locking chain pliers
  • Machinist's hammers
  • Mechanic's levels
  • Metal inert gas MIG welders
  • Mini hacksaws
  • Nail sets
  • Needle nose pliers
  • Offset box wrenches
  • Offset screwdrivers
  • Oil injectors
  • Oil stones
  • Outside calipers
  • Outside micrometers
  • Oxyacetylene welders
  • Personal computers
  • Phillips screwdrivers
  • Pie dies
  • Pipe cutters
  • Pipe taps
  • Pop riveters
  • Portable cranes
  • Portable power hacksaws
  • Rawhide hammers
  • Reversible ratches
  • Ripping hammers
  • Rivet guns
  • Round nose chisels
  • Router bit sets
  • Screw thread pitch gauges
  • Screwdriver bit sets
  • Sheet metal gauges
  • Short chassis jacks
  • Slide hammers
  • Slip joint pliers
  • Small hole gauges
  • Soldering guns
  • Spade drill bits
  • Spark plug feeler gauges
  • Spark plug sockets
  • Speed indicators
  • Spiral pipe reamers
  • Spiral screw extractors
  • Standard screwdrivers
  • Steel squares
  • Straight jaw locking pliers
  • T-handle nut drivers
  • Tap and die sets
  • Tungsten inert gas TIG welders
  • Universal socket wrenches
  • Valve core removal tools
  • Vernier calipers
  • Wire stripper pliers

Technology Skills required for Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technician

  • Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
  • FarmLogic FarmPAD
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word
  • ServiceMax
  • Web browser software