Price Check 1988 John Deere 950 with Front Loader and Backhoe
- Thread starter GWind
- Start date
arrow
Super Member
This tractor looks very beat up. Hours on the tractor if less than 2000 could warrant this price as long as everything worked. Backhoes are pricey items. Back in 85 I bought a new one of these w/out backhoe for 12,500. I sold it 3 years later for the same price. One of these in A1 shape would probably go for 13,500 w/backhoe today. Make sure clutch is good and grabby.
Hello Arrow,
I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. The tractor has 3100 hours on it. The seller had one of the backhoe cylinders rebuilt, however another one has a slow leak on it. Also, I saw that one of the loader hoses was leaking and another with surface cracks. I can go two ways here and negotiate a lower price as is, or pay the firm price but have him rebuild the cylinder and repalce the hoses. He offered to change out all the filters which he had already on-hand. What do you think is the better move. I can have the cylinder re-built on my own. I guess if he doesn't want to move on the price, I will rrequest that he does all the work to take care of the problem areas. Please advise. Also the seller indicates that the 3100 hours equates to 50,000 miles. Does that make sense? Again, I appreciate your comments.
I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. The tractor has 3100 hours on it. The seller had one of the backhoe cylinders rebuilt, however another one has a slow leak on it. Also, I saw that one of the loader hoses was leaking and another with surface cracks. I can go two ways here and negotiate a lower price as is, or pay the firm price but have him rebuild the cylinder and repalce the hoses. He offered to change out all the filters which he had already on-hand. What do you think is the better move. I can have the cylinder re-built on my own. I guess if he doesn't want to move on the price, I will rrequest that he does all the work to take care of the problem areas. Please advise. Also the seller indicates that the 3100 hours equates to 50,000 miles. Does that make sense? Again, I appreciate your comments.
bhh
Silver Member
I would ask him if he averages 16 miles per hour in his car and if so, those must be pretty rough "city" miles.
3100 hours only equals 50k miles if you drive your car at 16.129 miles per hour. I would argue that 3100 hours is a lot more like 186,000 miles in a car because you typically drive a car at 60 mph. His tractor may only actually move at 16 mph but that has nothing to do with it.
3100 hours only equals 50k miles if you drive your car at 16.129 miles per hour. I would argue that 3100 hours is a lot more like 186,000 miles in a car because you typically drive a car at 60 mph. His tractor may only actually move at 16 mph but that has nothing to do with it.
Rock knocker
Veteran Member
I think he means that 50,000 miles is about 50% to 20% of the life expectancy of a car. So one could hope a tractor would get 6 to 15 K hours.
The problem with many small tractors is weathering plays a larger factor than hours. Here in Washington, our '83 sat in the rain for 29 years. If finally caught up to us with severe electrical, clutch and brake deterioration, primarily due to weather. I replaced the loader and power steering hoses several years ago, and that ran as I recall almost $800, so a total hose replacement could run towards two grand.
The problem with many small tractors is weathering plays a larger factor than hours. Here in Washington, our '83 sat in the rain for 29 years. If finally caught up to us with severe electrical, clutch and brake deterioration, primarily due to weather. I replaced the loader and power steering hoses several years ago, and that ran as I recall almost $800, so a total hose replacement could run towards two grand.
arrow
Super Member
Usually it is advised as a generality to give yourself a 2 grand pad as more than likely you could sink this amount in repairs. Personally G, I'd pass on this machine. It just looks like trouble if that makes any sense. If I showed you a picture of my 85 JD, one that has always been housed since then, you could appreciate the difference in a machine that was taken care of as opposed to one that was left out like an orphaned dog. His comparison to hours is meaningless. Much more has to do with how these hours were put on dependent on the work that was asked of the machine. I wouldn't buy a dragster if it had 50,000 miles on it. Rock Knocker is right on about his assessment of weathering on these.
Most of the parts are "NLA" "NO LONGER AVAILABLE" You can still get motor parts and some front axle parts,and what ever John Deere or Yanmar has left,but most parts are junkyard only-if you can even find them.
JimRB
Veteran Member
People use old tractors all the time. I just drive up to the auto parts store for new hoses. I used my tractor a lot when putting in nearly a mile of fences, not so much the next ten years. I hate that it sits in the weather but lots of tractors do and keep working. My truck shows 4,000 hours on the hour meter. If my car had an hour meter it would have probably double those hours as it has 2.5 times the miles. I hope to get at least another 300,000 miles on the car as it is only at 347,000 miles. My poor sitting out in the weather tractor only has 500 hours. By the way a neighbor has an old 2040, nah not that model but a 1970's 4 cylinder diesel. He rebuilt the engine once. It seems like it needs new injectors as it is plenty stinky and smokey at low idle. He got a new loader for it 5 years ago. He has some other tractor 20 years newer but he still runs the old tractor. Old stuff may not be pretty but it can work just fine as long as you can get the parts you need. Cylinders and hoses are not a reason to pass on a machine. Heck even cracked outer skins on hoses may last unknown years. But as someone else mentioned if you want to replace every hose you will spend some money at the local hose store.