MarblemountLane
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2007
- Messages
- 47
- Location
- Skagit Valley, Washington
- Tractor
- Massey Ferguson 204 circa 1959
I’m retired and past my days of buying just about anything new. If you have old enough cars, trucks, tractors, guns, tools, etc. and you take care of them, they appreciate in value.
What is your budget? What do you really need (as opposed to what you want)? Are you in business and putting lots of hours on a tractor? Or are you just a home hobby owner putting a few hours on it?
For me, a tractor helps harvest firewood (my favorite chainsaw is the Homelite I bought new in 1984), move dirt a yard at a time (LoadHandler in my 1986 F250 is the poor man’s dump), move brush, clear snow, etc. But life would go on without it (I have a couple of 4x4s and winches). So a 60+ year old MF 204 is fine, simple to maintain, gets the job done, and I’m not worried about the count on the hour meter. Going my route gets you a lot more tractor for $2,500 than you’d get for $25,000 buying new or near new. The picture changes if you plan to put a lot of hours on it, but I won’t buy anything new enough to have electronics and emission controls.
What is your budget? What do you really need (as opposed to what you want)? Are you in business and putting lots of hours on a tractor? Or are you just a home hobby owner putting a few hours on it?
For me, a tractor helps harvest firewood (my favorite chainsaw is the Homelite I bought new in 1984), move dirt a yard at a time (LoadHandler in my 1986 F250 is the poor man’s dump), move brush, clear snow, etc. But life would go on without it (I have a couple of 4x4s and winches). So a 60+ year old MF 204 is fine, simple to maintain, gets the job done, and I’m not worried about the count on the hour meter. Going my route gets you a lot more tractor for $2,500 than you’d get for $25,000 buying new or near new. The picture changes if you plan to put a lot of hours on it, but I won’t buy anything new enough to have electronics and emission controls.