> I don't think "repairing tractors out in the middle of nowhere" is a very easy one to get into.
Not as hard as you think (I've worked on cars, vans and even semi trucks). By the local Autozone (a chain of automotive parts store) there is a man who repairs cars on the street out of a an old, short school bus. He also does house calls. He has a generator, air compressor, welder, jacks, engine hoist, all the tools needed, and even some parts. Same setup would enable tractor repair with the addition of some heavier tools to handle the larger bolts and so on.
John Deere is electronically locking their equipment so no one but them can figure out whats wrong or reset/clear error codes to restore normal operation. It's just shenanigans.
Every tractor comes with a display in the cab that tells you what the code means. This display is populated from the same database that goes into John Deere's dealer service tool. I wrote some of that code. (I don't speak for John Deere of course)
The only thing you cannot do without a dealer is replace a ECU. This is part anti-theft, and part to ensure you don't mess with the emissions.
Not as hard as you think (I've worked on cars, vans and even semi trucks). By the local Autozone (a chain of automotive parts store) there is a man who repairs cars on the street out of a an old, short school bus. He also does house calls. He has a generator, air compressor, welder, jacks, engine hoist, all the tools needed, and even some parts. Same setup would enable tractor repair with the addition of some heavier tools to handle the larger bolts and so on.
John Deere is electronically locking their equipment so no one but them can figure out whats wrong or reset/clear error codes to restore normal operation. It's just shenanigans.