'64 Farmall 706D - Need Advice

[Matteo]

Hi,

I am looking to buy my first tractor and so far the only thing I have found locally that I find acceptable is a '64 706D. The tractor is complete, has good sheet metal, starts and runs good. Hydraulic fluid looks clean, oil looks good (not milky or too dirty), and the coolant looks ok (dirty but don稚 see any oil or sludge). There is a little black smoke on startup and sometimes when rev'ing up in high gear but it clears up immediately. Most of the "issues" I've found with it I consider minor and not surprising for an almost 50 year old tractor.

My biggest concern is that I can hear either the transmission or rear end when underway and I don't have enough seat time on tractors this size to tell if it is normal. No clicking or anything. The best way I can describe it is how a lot of import cars with standard transmissions sound in reverse. Kind of a waaaahhhh. Is this an issue?

A little more info about the tractor - All gears/ranges work and is not hard to shift although the H-L-N-R lever has a little play in it. The tractor has never had a TA, and has a Y S/N suffix, two front remotes that appear to have never been used and one rear, about 5100 hrs. according to the tach(working). My other concern is the price - $6,900. How does this sound in today痴 market? The dealer does not want to come down on it at all.

-Matt

 

[bbrown4804]

Sounds to me like a pretty decent deal. You didn't say anything about the condition of the rims or tires. They can be awful expensive to replace if they are need of replacing. Ie: rims rusting through, little to no tread, extensive cracking, etc. Also ask with the dealer if the tires are filled; and if so, with what? The whining could be caused by low oil in the transmission and final drives or a couple of other things. When you drove it, did it whine in just one gear, maybe a chipped gear tooth or worn gears, or all of them, low oil or a worn main gear. I would look at the drawbar and see if the holes are out of round or worn badly, indictive of a life of hard pulling which would mean more wear and tear on everything. On the other hand, it might just be straight cut gear noise. You wouldn't know unless you cracked it open. If I may ask, what are you going to mainly be using out for? Pictures of it would be good too...

Hope this helps,
Bruce

 

[RickB]

If it is as good as you describe, the price is on the upper end of the range I'd consider. But probably not beyond what I would consider. There's lots of straight cut gears right below the seat and a consistent whine would not be out of the ordinary. It is darn near 50 years old, but if it will do what you need it to do, it may be a bargain. Keep in mind that a pair of rear tires will spoil $1800 or more. So if it has good or very good rubber, that is a big plus.

 

[Matteo]

Thanks for the responses! The rims all look good, there is a little surface rust on the rears but not much, the rubber is 90% on 3 of the tires, and about 60% on one rear. The hole in the drawbar did look a little out of round, but the bar itself still looked to be square and straight all around and there wasn稚 any compacted material built up around the hole (not sure if that matters). The whining seemed to pulsate a little in low range/speed and constant at high speed. If I remember right the hydraulic fluid was close to the low mark on the dipstick but not below it.


I honestly think that this is more tractor than I need today, but will be right sized for my near future needs. Considering the fact that most smaller utility tractors around here are usually within 1-2k of the 706 price and they are beat and rusted to **** it probably is a bargain(if the transmission sound isn't a big issue).

The tractor is going to be my pasture mower for the remainder of the year (20ac) and also help pull some small trees and brush out of the fence lines. Next year I plan to have it plow about 5ac for my market farm, mow my pastures, and hopefully put up some hay.