eBay/Craigslist Bought a Ford 3000 Diesel Today off Craigslist

[Gale Hawkins]

Not popping to full size.


Not popping to full size.

I backed up and lost all of my long post so here it goes again from the CL ad.


ALL ORIGINAL SHED KEPT
None Nicer
Vented Hood, After market Power Seering that works & lasts, Ford's gave constant trouble
With one remote double valve
Spin out wheels
Excellent Tires
Lights work
No leaks, very clean & tight
Must see to appreciate


Posting again just to save my current work and will post more.


Photo of serial number.



The blue rear fenders raises a question for me. I thought they were all a gray like color. It as the canister oil filter and somewhere in the wee hours last night I read that meant 1965-1969 era.


It seems to be a heavier tractor than the gas and diesel 3000's that I looked at yesterday. They had CAT 1 hitches and our has the removeable balls to make it Cat 1 or Cat 2 on the fly which was another deal closer as we have most of the equipment setup for CAT 2 to use with the 265 MF.


Any thoughts or input in dating our NEW tractor would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sd455dan]

NICE 3000

The hood ( vents) and grille suggest a 1965-1967, 1968 and newer have the newer flat faced grille

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thanks sd455dan. The seller who is 70 years old and grew up on a farm in the region stressed the vents denoted age. I guess it being a 65-67 will cut out some guessing about the serial/production numbers. Dad bought a used gas 3 cylinder 4000 in about 1971 or 1972 and I think it had the vents and we were told it was a mid 60's model.

Do you know if blue rear fenders could have perhaps been OEM in those years?

What about the heavy lift arms that takes either Cat 1 or Cat 2 balls that clip in that I did not see on the new years of Ford 3000's that I looked at?

 

[sd455dan]

Mine had original paint and the fenders were definitely a light grey.

The manual mentioned the cat 2 balls and I tried to get some from the dealer that sold the tractor new, parts guy looked at me like I was nuts, and said they were no longer available.

If your tractor came with the cat 2 arms/balls, did you end up with bigger rear tires to? Ford and the dealers offered quite a few tire rim choices. Mine was equipped with 14.9x28 R1 6 plies which was nice for pulling a disc or box blade.
Looks like you got a very well cared for tractor:thumbsup:

 

[Texasmark]

That looks like my '65. Super tractor. You'll like the PS. Your pump must be an inline which, per the manual was the normal for those engines; mine has the distributor pump. Simms as I recall is the inline. If so, when you change your engine oil you need to change the oil in the pump sump too. Get an I and T serv manual at your NH dealer and see how it's done.

 

[NC419N]

From the oil filter size you can tell it's a earlier 65-68.
To me that is the best series Ford Tractors built for Size to power the only weak point in my book was Brakes (2000 and 3000) the 4000 series had the best of all with the addition of wet brakes but the were a little on the heavy side.
Looks like you got you a nice Tractor there!!!!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thanks everyone. The guy just dropped it off down at the main road and I drove it up the hill to the house. I came up the steep hill in 6th I think and it sounded good so I think the engine must have fair compression.I got a tarp over it (thankful for the down draft exhaust system) before I had to leave for the day but I think the rain is about gone for a few days. My best guess at the photo of the serial numbers is it is a 1966 or 15 years younger than me. Our daughter wanted to get it and learn how to drive it so I expect she will put her name on it in time. Later.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Mine had original paint and the fenders were definitely a light grey.

The manual mentioned the cat 2 balls and I tried to get some from the dealer that sold the tractor new, parts guy looked at me like I was nuts, and said they were no longer available.

If your tractor came with the cat 2 arms/balls, did you end up with bigger rear tires to? Ford and the dealers offered quite a few tire rim choices. Mine was equipped with 14.9x28 R1 6 plies which was nice for pulling a disc or box blade.
Looks like you got a very well cared for tractor:thumbsup:

No the rears are the stock 13.6?? I think. When it came this AM I checked the new Cat 2 balls that I got at TSC yesterday and they fit well. It did come with heavy duty lift arm stabilizers like pictured in the ad below.

FORD 281 291 391 4 461 TRACTOR RH RIGHT STABILIZER STAB KIT | eBay

Thanks for your comment and I think the 51 year old tractor has been well care for based on what I have seen so far but will get some time with it tomorrow afternoon hopefully to see how it handles the weight of our very heavy duty 6' bush hog. First thing I plan to do to change the oil.

 

[Texasmark]

No the rears are the stock 13.6?? I think. When it came this AM I checked the new Cat 2 balls that I got at TSC yesterday and they fit well. It did come with heavy duty lift arm stabilizers like pictured in the ad below.

FORD 281 291 391 4 461 TRACTOR RH RIGHT STABILIZER STAB KIT | eBay

Thanks for your comment and I think the 51 year old tractor has been well care for based on what I have seen so far but will get some time with it tomorrow afternoon hopefully to see how it handles the weight of our very heavy duty 6' bush hog. First thing I plan to do to change the oil.

My 3000 came with Cat 2 lift arms which were thicker and longer than the Cat 1s on my 2000. Figured PO put them on. Usually Cat 2 starts up around 60 hp. My 65 is a Cat 2 machine.

Tires come from 12.4 row crop, 13.6 on a 12 x 28 wheel which serves both sizes and 14.9 x 24 if you want the fat one for industrial or turf. I put 13.6s on both Fords when I got them.

 

[geoduck]

Those old Fords are GREAT tractors. Very nice, congratulations !

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Based on replies and one other web forum it seems the Cat 2 option was optional on the 4000 and I guess the 3000 series as well. Cat 2 option and the down draft exhaust plus not beat to heck helped my to go ahead and pull the trigger plus we really connected with the seller.

Today my son helped me get the oil changed that was blacker than black and I expect several years old. The canister filter had a learning curve in our case but that is behind us. Actually it is hard to go wrong but we did not pull it down hard enough the first time but at least we know the oil pump can kick out a high volume.

After dark I drove it around some in the field to test for oil leaks and to get the Archoil AR9300 well blending and working then removed the battery and started cleaning up 51 years of build up over time.

I watched a video on the instrument cluster because I need to find out why some lights are not burning and gauges not working.

It seems to be a strong puller the way it came up the steep hill tonight in top gear (8th). In my mind it sounds better with the new Rotella vs the jet black motor oil that was in the Ford 3000 this morning. Plan to find the right fuel filters in the morning. It has two on the right side but not sure if they are the same or different. I could not touch the PS fluid with my finger so I have to find out what it uses.

Thanks for comments and info.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Finally got around to changing the oil in the Simms injector pump but only about 1/2 oz. of red diesel fuel came out. Thankfully the oil is only for lubing the lower gears with the diesel fuel lubing the upper part of the Simms injector and there are reports of them running for years without motor oil in them.

After 51 years I would have expected it to be leaking diesel in a major way but that does not appear. Since the valve cover gasket does not leak the engine may be low hours or had a major rebuild perhaps. Reported the owner for the past 20 years died last year at age 83 so I expect it sat a lot for a long time since the battery would no longer hold a charge.

We added what to turned out to be used engine oil that was put back into the empty jug after an oil change but it did not look that bad and surely was better than nothing. After running that for 10 minutes we drained it out and completely filled the pump with diesel I drained out of the tank with the filters removed. It turned out to be trash free. The overflow line was not clogged and we filled the pump until it flowed out of the filler plug hole then did a total drain having never started the engine. We then filled with about 6-8 oz of motor oil and will keep an eye on it the next few days.

I expect many owners never change the motor oil in the injector pump. The engine sounds the same to me but I will sleep better knowing it is full of clean motor oil vs. being motor oil free. Tuesday I got the battery rack and engine head acid free then coated with phosphoric acid. Today I spray painted the battery tray flat black for the meantime.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The lift pump died and I messed up the replacement because of a bent line from the fuel tank. The third fuel lift pump came in this week and today came up with the right nipples to move the bent line to rubber and got the lift pump installed and pumping fine. The first replacement worked well but leaked after I messed up the lower set of threads trying to install the old bent steel line. When we pulled the old lift pump that was ran without oil in the Simms injector pump it was clear where the cam had worn into the softer lift pump arm that rides on the cam of the Simms pump. Now the cam is running in motor oil. If you have a Simms injector pump you may want to read up on it. Changing/adding oil to the Simms is a simple standup job.

 

[Steave]

Your tractor was built Sept 16, 1966. Serial # C150545 - Production Code = 6J16 which translates to the date built. Nice looking tractor. Mine is a gas burner but a good ole dependable tractor. You'll get many years use out of her because it's just getting broke in good. :thumbsup:

 

[Steave]

I have a '66 model and the fenders are blue. I'm not sure but I doubt mine has ever been painted.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thanks Steave. I have read of some others of the era having blue fenders especially in the UK version. While it is not a biggy to me I would like to know since I do not have access to the last owner of 20 years.

For a 51 year old tractor with straight sheet metal I am pleased with mine. The only real need I have found is rear axle seals since my brake drums are oily. I have some pedal left but standing on them does very little so I am going to try to find a shop to do that. Dealing with removing both the loaded tires and the spacers just to get started is a bit much with no shop. If new seals will last just another 40 years that will make me 106 so this will be a one time expense.

The down draft exhaust and Cat 1 or Cat 2 lift arms really make the tractor appeal to me plus it was relative clean right from the farm and solid sounding and good paint. The past owner I was told died last year at age 84 and the 20 years he owned it was barn kept.

Have you had your 1966 long? I would have been fine with gas but since the 1983 JD 310B and 1976 FM 265 are diesel another diesel is nice too.

Thanks for running the numbers.

 

[Steave]

Yea I've had mine for many years but don't recall exactly. Probably 20 years. My brakes are the same way and I've replaced the inside bearing on the axle shaft. (It's the easy one) just slide the axle out and replace the seal you can see. It helped a little but oil got back out to the shoes in about a year. The outside seal is another story. You have to take the axle nut off and remove the wheel bearing to replace the outside seal. The axle nut is slide onto the axle from the inside of the axle then tightened to hold the bearing. I'm going to build me some kind of large socket to fit over the axle and slide down to the axle nut. If I come up with something I'll let you know. I'm going to do mine this winter and will replace bearing and seals and brake shoes on each side. I'm hoping I don't have to replace the brake hub (expensive).

It's going to be kinda expensive after adding it all up. The bearings I think are about $60 each X 2, Seals about $15-20 X 4, Replace the Trans oil I think about 8 gals, I'll have to check to make sure. Lots of hand cleaner and bandaid's. Might fill up my swear jar on this one.

 

[Steave]

Yea I've had mine for many years but don't recall exactly. Probably 20 years. My brakes are the same way and I've replaced the inside bearing on the axle shaft. (It's the easy one) just slide the axle out and replace the seal you can see. It helped a little but oil got back out to the shoes in about a year. The outside seal is another story. You have to take the axle nut off and remove the wheel bearing to replace the outside seal. The axle nut is slide onto the axle from the inside of the axle then tightened to hold the bearing. I'm going to build me some kind of large socket to fit over the axle and slide down to the axle nut. If I come up with something I'll let you know. I'm going to do mine this winter and will replace bearing and seals and brake shoes on each side. I'm hoping I don't have to replace the brake hub (expensive).

It's going to be kinda expensive after adding it all up. The bearings I think are about $60 each X 2, Seals about $15-20 X 4, Replace the Trans oil I think about 8 gals, I'll have to check to make sure. Lots of hand cleaner and bandaid's.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Today I learned one reason our seals can fail over and over turning our dry brakes into wet brakes. The differential wear can let the axles move up and down a tad taking out the old seals. He said for long life we need to reshim the differential slack back into tolerance if lost motion is in fact a factor in our seal failures. I am guessing this will be more of a factor for the inter rather than outer seal since that is where the splined end of the axle may be working the most.

After the lack of service from the shop that has had the MF 265 for a couple months I asked a logger at church Sunday if he had any tractor shops names that I could try to get a long term brake solution for the 3000. One I did know about that is good and has a staff of about four. The new one to me is mainly an owner/operator with one grunt helper for like separating tractors, etc. He was a JD tech for 16 years then Kubota for another 10 years before going out on his own about 10 years ago.

We clicked today and I know the guy that gave me the names of both shops. He said he will put in the parts I take him but strongly suggests letting him get all parts from the local New Holland dealership which I plan to do. I want this done right so it never leaks again on me or the kids if possible. I am to call him in two weeks for a date. He has like an 8 bay shop that he likes to fill then empty in the same few days. Once a tractor comes into a bay it does not get pulled back out until all of the work is done.

Our second Pat's Easy Change Cat 2 hitch set came into and tonight I did a fast dry fit test (in the rain ) on the 3000 and it is going to work out well it seems using the Cat 2 balls. Now we will be able to hook to the Heavy Duty 6' bush hog for a test of the lift system and the strengthen of the double clutch before going to the shop so any issue with them could be addressed at the same time. Oh by the way he said changing the UTF on schedule is important because the "add pack" in it depletes with time as well as with use. He said this was a real concern to prevent pump cavitation damage in hydraulic systems.

If we can get the MF 265 with dry fuel lines a dry Power Steering system we will do the rest since we will now have two tractors.

 

[Steave]

Hope everything goes well with the redo. I wouldn't exactly call it a repair. Mine has the interchangeable balls also. I use the cat 2 balls with a cat 1 bushing. All my implements are cat 1, but some of my cousin's stuff is cat 2. If you use Pat's easy change will the stabilizer bars be too short?