My Dad farmed almost exclusively with the 70 series Cases. The only new one was a 970. Like I said, IF they had regular maintenance (the power shift tractors) they were a good tractor. He never had a manual transmission in a Case since the 930 got traded for the 970, but for reliability that would have been the best. About the only transmission issues he had were the torque limiter bolts shearing. Once they were updated to the bigger bolts, they were good. One thing to avoid in those tractors, is running them for stationary PTO work with the PS left in reverse. In reverse, one of the planetary sets rotates at 4 times the speed and will eventually sling all the oil out, cooking it. Dad did that to his 2290 running an auger, just after he had overhauled the engine. I have his 1070 now with a Westendorf loader. Makes a pretty handy loader tractor, but wish it had MFD.
Kim