John Deere 650 Engine question

[dz8300]

I've been wanting to buy a JD 650 for mowing. A friend told me that the early 80's Yanmar engines had some troubles. The 650 has a 2 cyl diesel. does anybody know if these engines had problems? How about the 750 & 850.

[Pharoah72]

I have an '82 Deere 850 with 1200 hrs that I grew up and now it's been handed down to me. Over the years we've had major engine work done to the little Yanmar but not as a result of neglect.
- From New Block as a result of Hydralic Pump catastrophic failure to last years new Head b/c of crack probably due to Hydraulic Seizure from coolant leak.
All in all I think we've paid for the tractor 2x over the last 26 years... but I think it only cost about $5k new...
They were v. tough and well built machines in their day. But buying a used one would be like going to Vegas.
Assume something will break b/c of the age of machine.

[2YD]

I don't know anything about tractor engine history but I have a JD 650 2wd with 950 hours that came with my new place. I think its a nice little starter tractor that handles the little brush cutting and tilling around here just fine. My neighbor who has had his eye on it for some 20 years now borrows it on a routine basis to mow his pastures and for a machine that has gone through 3 owners of this old house I can say that it seems like a pretty dependable little unit. It started right up for this newbie and I eventually took it over to a local backwoods diesel guy who stuck in a new electric pto switch that was given me some problems; but otherwise very dependable. At one time it had the belly mower but that seems to have disappeared. I will probably sell the tractor since I have moved on to a bigger unit and inside storage is now at a premium. Good luck in your search.

[EV59]

650 was and still is tough as nails.....In my 25 years of dealing with Deere tractors I can only remember one major engine failure....Customer did not take proper care of tractor,,,, If interested I may have access to a 750/MFD
750 hrs +/- $ 5995 Ag Tires. 750 is much smoother 3 cyl.. vs 2 cyl in 650.
750 is same engine as 850.

edv59