Looking at a 1974 Ford 3600. Advice?

[PeteMitchell]

Hi, new member, looking for advice on possibly buying a new (to me) tractor. It's a 1974 Ford 3600 with 3700 hours on it. Has the 8 speed transmission and power steering. The seller bought it from a guy whose brother died on it in a rollover accident. After the accident, the guy wanted it gone. The seller bought it, replaced all the bearings, engine oil and leaking radiator. Not sure what else might have happened in the accident. Seller says it starts up and runs fine and that he just wants to clear out the space in his shed.

It's convenient, so I'm going to look at it tomorrow. Anything I should be looking for in particular regarding the rollover or just this model in general? With this kind of history, is it even worth it to think about? He's asking $5k for it.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[TomSeller]

Wow. That would be a hard decision. If I was able to not recall every time I used it that someone died on it, I would consider it, but only after adding a ROPS to it. I would look it over closely and run it as much as you can. Not all repairs are equal, were they professionally done? I would try to find out what "replaced all bearings" means. Doesn't seem to me that just the bearings would need to be replaced if it is a high hour engine.

 

[GManBart]

Wow. That would be a hard decision. If I was able to not recall every time I used it that someone died on it, I would consider it, but only after adding a ROPS to it. I would look it over closely and run it as much as you can. Not all repairs are equal, were they professionally done? I would try to find out what "replaced all bearings" means. Doesn't seem to me that just the bearings would need to be replaced if it is a high hour engine.

I'm wondering if they replaced the bearings because they were starved from oil when the machine rolled, rather than based on the hours which aren't high enough I'd expect needing bearings.

As you said, not all repairs are equal, and just because they replaced some of the bearings doesn't mean they did all of them....often they'll do the bottom end, and not the cam bearings, but both were damaged. Or they could have missed other problems...I hesitate any time I know somebody else opened up an engine and did that sort of work.

 

[TomSeller]

I'm wondering if they replaced the bearings because they were starved from oil when the machine rolled, rather than based on the hours which aren't high enough I'd expect needing bearings.
.

good point

 

[mkreitler]

For $5K I would buy it and sell the 8N!

 

[PeteMitchell]

Looked at the tractor today. Single digits out, but it did start up ok. It took a couple minutes. I guess he didn't replace the radiator, just repaired it. Still didn't get a clear answer on what bearings were replaced. He said a friend and he dropped the oil pan and things looked ok there. Had to clean out an injector to get it to start after the accident.

We had it running and I looked it over. After running for a few minutes, coolant started dripping from the right side of the radiator, so I'm guessing that the repair didn't work. Maybe it opened up again in the cold? Looks like it would need a new radiator. Also noticed a leak at the fuel pump (it's a diesel) between the top and bottom portions of the pump assembly. Not sure how big of a fix that would be. It was in the back of the shed, so given the history of the tractor, I walked away without driving it. The rest of it seemed in pretty good shape.

Of course, now that I passed, I'm second guessing myself. Maybe it would be worth trying to negotiate a lower price? Maybe I just need someone to save me from myself.

 

[wmonroe]

A radiator for my old 961 was over $300 so they are not cheap. The injection pump might just need a simple gasket. I'd offer him $3800 as is and probably wouldn't go over about $4400. That is after driving it and ruling out any other issues.