Buying Advice Cab or no cab?

[K5lwq]

I'm also leery of manufacturers placing hydraulic lines and filters under the tractor like these on my recently acquired MX. You can see where the vegetation has rubbed the paint off the hydraulic lines.

The Mahindra 3535's hydraulic filter and lines were mounted above the transmission casing.

View attachment 817935

I agree a lot of manufacturers put filters in not so good places. However, I suspect that the paint being removed from those lines has more to do with heat generated by the hydraulics than by brush. From the picture your brake linkage still looks like the paint is holding up much better. Plus, the linkage is lower and moves. Just a thought.

 

[2manyrocks]

I also thought it odd that the linkage didn't show similar issues with the paint.

 

[tacticalturnip]

You're literally, and I mean that, the first person I've ever heard refer to the operating of a Yanmar built Deere as a 'misfortune.'

They were literally, and again I mean it in the proper use, one of the most popular and well regarded machines in their market segment.

I'm trying to wrap my head around your seeming disdain for them, to put myself in your shoes here, and I can't. The most abusive machine operator I've ever known, through his own ability to ignore maintenance and dish out pain through ignorance, has always had high praise for the 50 series Deere; that always said a lot to me, because that fellow seldom had good things to say about anything.

Is your complaint with the 770 it's lack of power? I don't believe they make 25 horsepower, but that's not the fault of the tractor so much as it's the constraints of that market segment. They're not particularly comfortable to operate, but few vintage machines are, so I wouldn't think that would factor into your decision.

I don't think you're trolling, so I'm just trying to understand your point of view. These Yanmar built machines paved the way for Deere to have the share of the compact and subcompact market that they hold; they built up Deere's reputation amongst estate owners, property managers, landscapers, ranchers, etc. If it wasn't for the quality of those Yanmar tractors they'd of lost that market completely to Kubota, Ford (Shibaura), and potentially Yanmar themselves. If it wasn't for Yanmar, there would be no 1-4 series Deere as we know them; or potentially, not at all.

 

[wolc123]

You're literally, and I mean that, the first person I've ever heard refer to the operating of a Yanmar built Deere as a 'misfortune.'

They were literally, and again I mean it in the proper use, one of the most popular and well regarded machines in their market segment.

I'm trying to wrap my head around your seeming disdain for them, to put myself in your shoes here, and I can't. The most abusive machine operator I've ever known, through his own ability to ignore maintenance and dish out pain through ignorance, has always had high praise for the 50 series Deere; that always said a lot to me, because that fellow seldom had good things to say about anything.

Is your complaint with the 770 it's lack of power? I don't believe they make 25 horsepower, but that's not the fault of the tractor so much as it's the constraints of that market segment. They're not particularly comfortable to operate, but few vintage machines are, so I wouldn't think that would factor into your decision.

I don't think you're trolling, so I'm just trying to understand your point of view. These Yanmar built machines paved the way for Deere to have the share of the compact and subcompact market that they hold; they built up Deere's reputation amongst estate owners, property managers, landscapers, ranchers, etc. If it wasn't for the quality of those Yanmar tractors they'd of lost that market completely to Kubota, Ford (Shibaura), and potentially Yanmar themselves. If it wasn't for Yanmar, there would be no 1-4 series Deere as we know them; or potentially, not at all.

My problem with the 770 has nothing to do with a lack of power, but has everything to do with a lack of space. Clearly, that machine was designed overseas and for people of “smaller than average American” size.

The operation I used it for (7 ft cultipacker on dry level ground) required very little hp. In fact, the tractor I use for that at home makes less than 10 hp, on the drawbar.

Unlike that little “greeny”, this red one was was designed in America, for Americans. Maybe I am a smidge above average size, at 5’-11” and 210 pounds, but I don’t feel the least bit cramped on this operators platform.

I do agree with you, that Yanmars are a fine little engine. Kudos to Deere for continuing to use them on their CUT’s. I’m also thankful that they have wised up a bit and are now making the rest of the machines themselves.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I can't argue about the size of the operator platform, at all; though I've got to say that for my oversized arse, even on that Farmall I'm going to look like a Gorilla on a tricycle. That offset really must provide a lot more leg room, I always presumed it was for visibility and hadn't given any thought to the added space.

On the old Yanmar machines, no matter the paint on them, I look like I'm doing something other than shifting between gears.

Thankfully, most all machines made today are pretty spacious, because I don't think we're getting any smaller.

 

[wolc123]

I can't argue about the size of the operator platform, at all; though I've got to say that for my oversized arse, even on that Farmall I'm going to look like a Gorilla on a tricycle. That offset really must provide a lot more leg room, I always presumed it was for visibility and hadn't given any thought to the added space.

On the old Yanmar machines, no matter the paint on them, I look like I'm doing something other than shifting between gears.

Thankfully, most all machines made today are pretty spacious, because I don't think we're getting any smaller.

The offset does provide a lot more useable space on the operators platform. That is my second Cub. I bought the first one mostly for cultivating corn. Previously, I had used our old John Deere M that, but dad took it with him, when he moved off to a larger farm that had been in my mother’s family for generations.

I didn’t care for that little Farmall’s “cultivision” that the offset engine provided. I much preferred keeping my head up and sighting them rows of corn on the ridge down the center of the hood on the John Deere M.

Plowing light snowfalls was great with the Cub though. I could really see what I was doing with that little plow, with no engine and hood blocking my view.

My old Cub was pretty much worn out when I bought it and I vowed never to get another red tractor after all the trouble I had with it. A few years, and lots of light snowfalls later, I started missing the Cub in the winter.

My current one sat unused, in the back of the factory where I work, for the last 20 years. I doubt that it has 300 hours on it. It had a snow plow on it, that looked like it was never used.

New management decided to “clean the place up” and put various items up for auction. I bid $783.17 on the Cub and “won” it. I paid my favorite Farmall mechanic $445 to fix it up. I can’t wait to plow snow with it this winter.

 

[2manyrocks]

Nice looking tractor. My neighbor used to break my mother's garden for her with one like that several years ago.

 

[tacticalturnip]

You figuratively stole that tractor; I can't believe it went for so little.

It makes you wonder, did anyone else even bid? What an undervalued and unappreciated little tractor. It could have rusted away somewhere; you may well have saved what amounts to a damn near new machine.

 

[wolc123]

You figuratively stole that tractor; I can't believe it went for so little.

It makes you wonder, did anyone else even bid? What an undervalued and unappreciated little tractor. It could have rusted away somewhere; you may well have saved what amounts to a damn near new machine.

There were at least (3) other bids, one for $ 200, one for $ 500, and I’m not sure of the other. I bid, to the penny, as much as I was willing to spend on it. I think it’s a 1957. It was also lacking a drawbar. The cheapest used one that I could find on e-bay cost me $ 200 with shipping.

Our plant maintenance guy said that his father (had that job before him) had bought it, with a sickle bar mower and the snowplow, mainly to keep the perimeter fence line trimmed. The sickle bar got scrapped more than 20 years ago.

They also never used the snowplow much, because they preferred to use a bobcat type loader for clearing snow around the factory.

The mechanic I took it to really likes working on Cubs. His father was the head mechanic, for many years, at the IH dealer in our town. He put a new carburetor on it, tuned it up, changed all the fluids, and got it running like a watch. It’s pretty much all original including the tires and has always been stored indoors.

It still has the original 6-volt electrical system, which I actually prefer. My prior one had been converted to 12 volts and never really charged properly. The 20 year old 6 volt battery that was on it was shot. I had trouble finding a new one, so I used the one from my old 8n Ford on it, that was about 6 years old.

After I brought it home, running good from the mechanics, that maintenance guy found another old, but never used 6 volt battery in the factory. It was pretty much dried up, but I filled it with distilled water and charged it. It’s now working well on my 8n Ford.

It’s not quite up to 100 %, and one time this summer, I had to jump start the 6 volt Ford with the 6 volt Cub. That sounds much healthier than when I have jumped it with my 12 volt truck.

The only thing the mechanic didn’t do was get the lights working. He said that the cheapest 6 volt bulbs he could find for the original fixtures were $50 each and he thought (correctly) that would be too much for me.

I later found some larger ones, that required cutting out the back of the fixtures, for $ 7 each, on the internet. I covered the cutouts with flex seal tape and painted them farmall red, and the lights work and look ok now. I also added an old 6 volt work light on the back.

It’s kind of neat how the headlights have high beam and low beam settings, controlled by a switch on the dash.

 

[arrow]

What you have there, was actually made by a foreign manufacturer, almost in its entirety. They make very good engines (JD still uses them on their smaller machines), but struggled a bit on the rest of the parts.

Personally, I’m thankful to not own any of those, but my dad does have similar model 770. I had the misfortune of operating it a few weeks ago, when I used it to cultipack a turnip patch over at his place. It has also had some steering issues, but otherwise has been trouble-free. I find the operators platform to be rather cramped, as if it was designed for “smaller” average sized people - like those from the Far East where it originated.
View attachment 818012

That "foreign" manufacturer has a way better track record than many American brands as it has to do with successful industrial production. The 50 series JD tractors initiating from the early 80's, were some of the best tractors JD ever put their name to. The "size" of the operating platform had way more to do with the size of the tractor as opposed to your thought process. If you ever climbed aboard a 950, 1250, or 1650, you'd understand more clearly.

The Japanese would work 80 hrs a week of their own accord to get something right w/o additional pay because of national pride.
I feel your inference that "lesser" brands as you call them, may need dealer support more because they aren't American made as flawed.
This is a world wide economy and whether the same tractor as you have had success with, may be giving another fits, has everything to do with "luck".

Nothing stays the same, such as if one day a casting furnace was a multitude of degrees off because of an anomaly of fuel supply or the casting sand was coming from a different supplier and it did not have the same density as from their regular supplier and I became subject to a batch of bad fwd housings as a result and yours was not, I'd call you luckier than me.

I am glad you have had "good luck" with your machine.