It's a keeper
Model Year: 1969
I'm a long time loyal Ford car owner, so brand wasn't an issue. It's also American made, which pleases me more every year, as fewer things are being made here as time goes on. It's also the diesel engined version, (a choice I made in spite of the advice of an uncle who's owned, used, rebuilt and collected over 200 tractors), and it's turned out to have been a good move, but I mainly bought this particular tractor because of its heavy duty 730 loader. With a new box blade behind, it's paid for itself times over by grading and graveling the tractor roads and driveways here. The 2000 needed a lot of de-mucking and catchup maintenance and with rodent chewed/burned wiring and a broken hour meter, I'll never know how many more than the indicated 2850 hours were actually on it then, but I've added about 600 more to it's new one since then, and it's still running strong, doing all I ask of it. I've been accidentally grinding gears now and then, basically been overworking the hydraulics since day one, and it won't quit and aside from up sized rear tires, I haven't had to replace or repair anything expensive in over 10 years now, despite it's having often been idle for many months at a time outdoors, repeatedly snapping heavy shear bolts on a 2 bottom 14" plow in our heavy clay, and occasionally sliding off the roads, sunk in mud to its axles while plowing up tree roots and rocks, and in the pond. I've spent several times as much time, and more money keeping our garden tractor/riding mower in working order during the same time period, and that was bought new in 1997-not almost 30 years old then. Shuttle shift would have been nice to have, but the 4/1 speed, hi/low range transmission has been sufficient for my fairly low annual hour needs.
Pros: Nearly indestructible, simple, and cheap to run and maintain (so far).
Cons: Brakes could be better, the OEM type diesel exhaust is loud, and steering effort is pretty high with the loader.