Farmtrac 535 Disaster

[redlevel]

Our Farmtrac was made in Korea but the engine is a Mitsubishi.

If your failure is confined to the engine, what engine is in yours?

Engine is a three cylinder diesel manufactured by Escorts in India. This isn't one of the compact utility tractors with the Farmtrac badge. Those were indeed made in Korea. The ag utility line was manufactured at the plant in India. They are the tractors that look like the 70s era Fords. In fact, on their old webpage, Framtrac used to advertise bolt-in crate engines for Fords of that era. The 535 is the smallest tractor in that ag utility line. It doesn't have a Ford clone engine like the larger ag utilities, but has an Escorts engine. My dealer I bought the tractor from, who is still just barely in business, said he has no trouble getting the parts.

 

[IslandTractor]

Bad luck. I've seen those Indian tractors in Asia with many thousands of hours still going strong even with minimal maintenance. Sounds like you had bad luck with a valve casting. Hope the repair works out.

 

[cowski]

all tractor brands drop valves just some more than others.

 

[redlevel]

Got the repaired tractor back to the farm Monday, a day or two shy of a month after it went down. The dealer ordered the parts and everything came in except valves/seats, which delayed things by about three weeks. Replaced one complete piston/rings/sleeve assembly, valves, head gasket, magnafluxed and milled the head. Total charge, including oil, filter, anti-freeze, etc, machine shop, was $1175. All things considered, fairly reasonable, I guess. 90 day warranty on all parts and labor. Tractor is running good now, and glad to have it back. Meanwhile, I bought a JD 5105 with 400 hours, so I am "tractor poor" now.

 

[5030]

all tractor brands drop valves just some more than others.

It's not the 'drop', it's the stop.

Ask Detroit Diesel. The new DDEC's are dropping valves too.

 

[Kioti Tom]

Friend of mine has a 535 and his problem is the bearings in the front axle (4 wheel drive) went out. Dealer fixed it under warranty. 20 hours later,(about 6 months later) tractor warranty over, The bearings crapped out again. We ended up getting his Massey 35 running and he has been using that. We are trying to get all the parts so we can fix the 535 again. Wish we had a good IPC for the tractor.

He ended up selling all his cattle so does not need the 535 now. We will fix it and sell it. Hopefully, be done with it this summer. :thumbdown:

 

[Clint S]

Friend of mine has a 535 and his problem is the bearings in the front axle (4 wheel drive) went out. Dealer fixed it under warranty. 20 hours later,(about 6 months later) tractor warranty over, The bearings crapped out again. We ended up getting his Massey 35 running and he has been using that. We are trying to get all the parts so we can fix the 535 again. Wish we had a good IPC for the tractor.

He ended up selling all his cattle so does not need the 535 now. We will fix it and sell it. Hopefully, be done with it this summer. :thumbdown:

Here you go
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-97092812362812/PARTS435.PDF
Operators and Service Manuals for Farmtrac and Mahindra Tractors and Implements
I know some guys do not like this guy due to the whole FarmTrac debacle, but he has never done me wrong and gotten parts that had to be sourced from the factory in India for reasonable.

 

[redlevel]

Just an update . . . I sold my 535 a week ago. I ran it on Craigslist at what I considered a top-dollar price. Within two hours, I had sold the tractor. It had given me good service since the repair, but I could foresee having problems with parts acquisition in the future. It took my dealer nearly a month to get the parts and repair the tractor. I believe the parts were on backorder nearly three weeks. Evidently, the tractors are holding their resale value better than I thought they would. I guess the time of year, and the popularity of that size tractor/loader combo for small gardeners and food-plotters had something to do with it. Makes me feel like I should have asked more, but I am satisfied with what I got.

I got more than enough out of it to buy a loader for my JD 5105, have it installed, buy and install a fiberglass canopy for the JD, and to have some work done on my 600 Ford.

 

[RollingsFarms]

Just an update . . . I sold my 535 a week ago. I ran it on Craigslist at what I considered a top-dollar price. Within two hours, I had sold the tractor. It had given me good service since the repair, but I could foresee having problems with parts acquisition in the future. It took my dealer nearly a month to get the parts and repair the tractor. I believe the parts were on backorder nearly three weeks. Evidently, the tractors are holding their resale value better than I thought they would. I guess the time of year, and the popularity of that size tractor/loader combo for small gardeners and food-plotters had something to do with it. Makes me feel like I should have asked more, but I am satisfied with what I got.

I got more than enough out of it to buy a loader for my JD 5105, have it installed, buy and install a fiberglass canopy for the JD, and to have some work done on my 600 Ford.

I would love to hear a full review and see some pics of that 5105 when you get a chance. My friend has one and it will leave my 56hp John Deere 5203 mfwd in the dust in a race! We've tried several times and he beats me off the line everytime and leaves my by about 8 lengths. Not that you should be racing tractors but we have haha