Hi all, new to the forums. I'm looking at a 1959 Ford 871 Select O Matic. Has a loader attachment as well. It seems to run well. Had a new head gasket, tune up, and transmission service a year ago. Does need a new front tire, one draw bar, the power steering pump rebuilt, and a battery. Back tires are heavily weather split but have good tread. Hours are unknown. It is being sold for $3700. No visible leaks in the engine.
My questions:
Does that sound like a reasonable price?
Any significant known problems to this model?
Is it a dependable model?
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In my opinion, that tractor is worth more without a loader. Even so, the Select-O-Speed (SOS) transmission is a weak point. If it works perfectly, you will be okay, but many of them have problems with bands and servo valves. Mine used to lock up the rear wheels while coasting downhill for no reason whatsoever. Also, you have to run them for an hour or so and get them hot. That's when problems show up. Consider the SOS transmission like a 1959 automobile with an automatic transmission. Would you expect that transmission to work properly? That's a 2-speed transmission on the car, but the SOS tranny has 10 speeds. That's 5 times as many problems.
The power steering pump and reservoir on my tractor was a continual mess. A rebuilt one was available for around $400, but I rebuilt mine and found out the hoses to the steering cylinder were bad. After $120 worth of hoses, I got it to work, but it never worked like I thought it should.
I think you will find this tractor is more trouble than it is worth. Soon you'll realize you are spending as much time keeping it going as you are using it to get things done. For my money, I'd buy a gray market Yanmar or Shibaura before I'd spend good money on a money-pit tractor.
The reason you can find so many of them for sale is that nobody wants them. I sold mine for $1000 after paying $3000 for it and dumping another $1000 in parts and repairs. I did get a little work done with it, but I was very happy to have $1000 and see the tractor go away on a trailer behind someone else's truck.