Considering buying MF492 2wd.... reasonable price?

[FMRanch]

New here. My old Ford is wore out and I am thinking of buying a 2005 MF492 2wd open platform with Bush Hog 4045 front end loader 84" bucket. The MF492 has 1200 hrs on it and the tires look pretty good. Haven't seen it yet but from the pictures it seems to be a very clean tractor. I am going to go look at it on Monday. I will be using it mainly for brushhogging and moving hay as well as general choring, fixing fences, clearing fence lines, a little dirt work, and cutting/hauling firewood. I don't need 4wd since if the ground is that soft I won't be out there anyway. Plus I don't want to spend the extra $$$ for 4WD. Besides, if I do get stuck I can always walk myself out with the loader. Been there done that a few times. The dealer has a price of $17,500 on it. Does this seem reasonable for 1200 hours on it ?? I have no idea what this would have cost new.

To be truthful, the MF492 is probably more tractor and horsepower than I really need. I started out looking for a 70hp plus tractor and I am not finding much around here in a newer ones like this. I stumbled on to the MF492 while looking and it seemed like a lot of tractor for the money.

I have been looking at a 2009 New Holland TT75A, 75hp engine, 63hp PTO, loader, with 1600 hrs. The dealer with that one wants $18,500 for it. Seems a bit high to me considering the age and amount of hours. The year of the tractor doesn't really mean anything to me because I will probably have this tractor until I'm too old to use it anymore. I'm more concerned about how much tractor I am getting for my money. The Massey 492 seems like quite a bit better deal to me all things considered. What do you guys think??

Dealer that has the MF492 tractor is about 140 miles from here so I might have give a few bucks extra to haul it here. I have a little Massey dealership about 20 miles from me so parts or service shouldn't be too much of a issue. I do my own repair/maintenance work mostly anyway. I bought some Sthil chainsaws from them and have been happy with them. Seems to be a good dealership but they mostly stock Mihindras I think, only one new Massey in stock and it is a 4wd and no used Masseys other than a old beat up MF180. The 180s were a good solid tractor back in their day.

Speaking of parts, how are Massey's prices on parts nowadays?? Back in the 80's they had gotten pretty high on their parts prices compared to other makes of tractors.

I knew a fair amount about the older 60's, 70's, very early 80's Masseys but don't know anything about the newer Masseys. From what I understand this is a no frills workhorse, which is what I am looking for. I don't care for all the fancy electronics stuff. The transmission gearing seems to be pretty good for brushogging, mowing, that kind of thing. Haven't been able to find much out about the reliability of the MF492. Do they seem to be a good solid reliable tractor??

Any info would be helpful in deciding if I want to cough up the money for this tractor upgrade.

 

[MFRED]

Sounds like a good matched machine for what you're looking for. I would like to see that price about $2,000 lower, but I'm cheap, not in your area and 2wd isn't popular around here. Does it have Independant PTO or dual stage clutch? If it's in good shape, it seems like a decent deal either way. You sure can't buy a new one for anywhere near that. You'll find parts for that machine will be reasonable. There's a lot of parts common with older series so that help keep the cost down. 2wd, open station doesn't leave much to go wrong, I think you would be happy.

 

[FMRanch]

MFRED,
Thanks for the info. I am thinking the dealer might come down a little on the price since it would be a cash outright deal.
It seems 2wd in this hp range tractor isn't all that popular around here either. Guess I'm cheap cause I don't want to fork over the extra $$$$ for the 4wd, even though I would like to have 4wd. The extra $5000 for 4wd takes a lot of profit from cows to make that up. Besides, I have gotten by with 2WD just fine all these years.

I know if the PTO is independent according to TractorData.com.
Don't know about the clutch being dual stage. Didn't know there was such a thing as a dual stage clutch. Could you explain a dual stage clutch to me ?? How it works and the purpose for it ?

I would assume the Perkins Diesel is like the older ones that will run up to 6000 + hrs on the average.

Is there anything else I might need to know about on this tractor??

Thanks again

 

[MFRED]

If the PTO is independent, then it's a single stage clutch. Maybe the dual stage wasn't offered? I can't remember. A dual stage would stop the tractor transmission about half way down and the PTO when fully depresed.
A Perkins should run well past 6,000 hours when taken care for. There were 2 different versions of the 492, a tier 1 and a tier 2. Really not too much difference either way. The tier 2 had an electric lift pump and made fuel fitler changes easier. But just 1 more thing to go wrong I guess. Really, they're just a simple, no frills tractor that should give many years of service.
2wd isn't a requirement by any means. A properly ballasted 2wd will work with any unproper ballasted 4wd any day. Mud and snow throw that monkey wrench into things around here. If we didn't have our feedlot/pasture to feed our cows, we could get away with 2wd also. We did for many years. Probably still could, but it keeps my blood pressure down when I can just push a button and drive through the slop.