ptsg
Super Member
A couple days ago, I was scrolling through Marketplace, mostly looking for lathe and milling machine tooling, until an ad for a cheap articulated tractor with a tiller popped up. That instantly got my interest, it was cheap and somewhat close by (only 1 hour and bit away).
While I wasn't actively looking for a tractor, I've been toying with the idea of getting a smaller and cheap tractor just to till the orchards at home, so I don't have to haul my bigger one back and forth between proprieties (about 50 miles apart) as fuel only gets more and more expensive.
Anyway, went there and looked at it. Seller said he bought it in a lot with some other stuff. All he knew was that it hadn't run in a long time and had a guy before looking at it before me that said it had a broken connecting rod. So I turned the engine by hand, 0 compression, only rotated like 270 degrees till it hit something inside. The center section, both steering and left/right tilt had a lot of play, some minor stuff missing, fairly decent tires for the use it'll have, along with some other stuff wrong.
So I did the next logical thing and bought it regardless. It also came with the original 2 point mounted tiller.
It's an Spanish made Agria 8900D, about 1970-ish would be my best guess. Here are some specs of it:
- Engine: Lombardini 4LD820 - 21HP 1 cylinder air cooled diesel engine with 817cc.
- Transmission: 8x4 - High/Low and Reverse with the same lever (almost like a shuttle) and 4 main gears. 4WD engaged with a lever (most equal wheel tractors can't disengage the front axle)
- PTO: 1 PTO output shaft with 2 speeds (540/750) + another one with 2 speeds as well but synchronized with the ground speed used with PTO driven trailers
- Steering: Articulated with a worm drive steering box, also no stops so it can go literally till the tires touch
- Brakes: Drum brakes on both axles. Brake pedal actuates the rear brakes and hand brake actuates front brakes.
- Hitch: Hydraulic 3 pt hitch
- Height: 38"
- Width: 32" to 39"
- Length: 95"
- Wheelbase: 44"
- Weight: 2000 lbs
- Tires: 7.5 x 16
- Front and Rear Diff locks
Some of these specs makes it a very nice tractor to work on orchards and hills. After all, it was made for it. A great reason why this one really got me interested.
After a quick assessment at home, here are the some of the main issues with it. More issue will arise as I dig further into it.
- What was a broken connecting rod translated into dropped exhaust valve instead, so hard it poked it through the head
- Various leaks on the engine
- Was run without a clutch pedal return spring so it destroyed the throw out bearing and put a lot of wear on the pressure plate fingers
- Missing the 3 pt lower arms and side links. Easy to make even though this will probably have the tiller attached most of the time
- Broken fender mounts
- Bent levers and linkages
- Messy electric system
- Various cosmetic stuff here and there
- A lot of play in the center section where steering pivots and where the front half pivots in the relation to the back half (like the front axle pivot on a conventional tractor).
- Surprisingly, only leaks a little bit out of the 3 pt valve and maybe one of the wheel seals
- Needs new seat
- Both U joint shafts have play
- Broken alternator mount
This will be a very budget oriented restoration. Mostly to fix stuff enough to get it running again, then with time, fix whatever it needs properly. Main focus is engine right now.
That's all for now. More to come as I dig into it further more.
While I wasn't actively looking for a tractor, I've been toying with the idea of getting a smaller and cheap tractor just to till the orchards at home, so I don't have to haul my bigger one back and forth between proprieties (about 50 miles apart) as fuel only gets more and more expensive.
Anyway, went there and looked at it. Seller said he bought it in a lot with some other stuff. All he knew was that it hadn't run in a long time and had a guy before looking at it before me that said it had a broken connecting rod. So I turned the engine by hand, 0 compression, only rotated like 270 degrees till it hit something inside. The center section, both steering and left/right tilt had a lot of play, some minor stuff missing, fairly decent tires for the use it'll have, along with some other stuff wrong.
So I did the next logical thing and bought it regardless. It also came with the original 2 point mounted tiller.
It's an Spanish made Agria 8900D, about 1970-ish would be my best guess. Here are some specs of it:
- Engine: Lombardini 4LD820 - 21HP 1 cylinder air cooled diesel engine with 817cc.
- Transmission: 8x4 - High/Low and Reverse with the same lever (almost like a shuttle) and 4 main gears. 4WD engaged with a lever (most equal wheel tractors can't disengage the front axle)
- PTO: 1 PTO output shaft with 2 speeds (540/750) + another one with 2 speeds as well but synchronized with the ground speed used with PTO driven trailers
- Steering: Articulated with a worm drive steering box, also no stops so it can go literally till the tires touch
- Brakes: Drum brakes on both axles. Brake pedal actuates the rear brakes and hand brake actuates front brakes.
- Hitch: Hydraulic 3 pt hitch
- Height: 38"
- Width: 32" to 39"
- Length: 95"
- Wheelbase: 44"
- Weight: 2000 lbs
- Tires: 7.5 x 16
- Front and Rear Diff locks
Some of these specs makes it a very nice tractor to work on orchards and hills. After all, it was made for it. A great reason why this one really got me interested.
After a quick assessment at home, here are the some of the main issues with it. More issue will arise as I dig further into it.
- What was a broken connecting rod translated into dropped exhaust valve instead, so hard it poked it through the head
- Various leaks on the engine
- Was run without a clutch pedal return spring so it destroyed the throw out bearing and put a lot of wear on the pressure plate fingers
- Missing the 3 pt lower arms and side links. Easy to make even though this will probably have the tiller attached most of the time
- Broken fender mounts
- Bent levers and linkages
- Messy electric system
- Various cosmetic stuff here and there
- A lot of play in the center section where steering pivots and where the front half pivots in the relation to the back half (like the front axle pivot on a conventional tractor).
- Surprisingly, only leaks a little bit out of the 3 pt valve and maybe one of the wheel seals
- Needs new seat
- Both U joint shafts have play
- Broken alternator mount
This will be a very budget oriented restoration. Mostly to fix stuff enough to get it running again, then with time, fix whatever it needs properly. Main focus is engine right now.
That's all for now. More to come as I dig into it further more.
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