Ford 3910 is 5500 hours a lot?

[rotcart]

The advice that I received was great, Thanks to those who replied. Had I not had a typo, I would be
set on my decision. I pasted in my original message below with correction, the owner tractor that was in
good condition has 5500 hours not 1500.

I have to admit, I have no clue if that is a lot. How many hours, given good maintenance can you expect from a diesel?

Also I have now found a 3rd 3910 that I plan to go see which is from an individual who says it is in great condition and has 1800 hours.
This one is 8500. I have not yet attempted to see if he will take less.

Is a difference of close to 4000 hours worth $1000?

**** Cut and paste from original message *****
I am about to be a first time tractor owner. I have narrowed my search to two ford 3910s.
One is from an individual who says he knows the past 5 year history of the tractor, looks
to be in great condition 5500 hrs,

The second is from a garage (1800 hrs) that reconditions tractors and sells them. This
one is repainted, new clutch, new wet brakes, new seals, rebuilt injector.
They are willing to do a compression check on each cylender with me there. Is this any
indicator of the wear on the tractor? Does anyone know what it should be?

both cost 7500, any thoughts as to what to use as a deciding vote? Having not done this
before, I don't want to buy someones problem.

 

[hazmat]

Buying a high hour machine can be a gamble. Call your local NH dealer - they should be able to look over the machine for you at a nominal cost. $100 is cheap insurance against making an $8,000 mistake.

I'd say 4,000 hours is worth $1,000. Most of us weekend warriors won't ever put 4,000 hours on our machines. I've had mine for 2 years and am just now at 300.

 

[jinman]

The 5500 hours does change things, but it doesn't change the fact that the 1800 hr tractor was abused so badly it needed an engine rebuild. There would still be questions in my mind about the rest of that tractor.

I think a well maintained tractor should easily be able to make 10,000 to 12,000 hours with no major work on the engine. If the 5500 hr tractor has been maintained well and the owner has records, you can be pretty sure the tractor will last a long time. However, having the 1800 hour tractor to use as a bargaining "chip" to negotiate for a better price would certainly be something I would do. That tractor sold for about $15,000 when new in the late '80s, so the owner is probably trying to get 50% of the new price. If you have cash and can make a cash offer on the spot, you might be able to get if for at least $500 or less. ...just a suggestion.

Anyhow, I like to do a little math with hours too. If that 5500 hr tractor was used for 4 hr per day, 5 days per week. It would have 5500 hours in a little over 5 years. Since it is probably much older than that (over 15 years?) that means the tractor could have been used less than an average of 1-1/2 hr per day. All these numbers really mean nothing, but it does give a perspective to which we can all equate our tractor usage. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Woodbeef]

Check them all out,and take them for a spin trying them out. They are all in the same ballpark price range. Go with your gut feeling on which one is best. It's a gamble no matter what way you go,even with brand new.