knucklehead
Platinum Member
Hi
I've been mostly over in the Kubota forums, and in the general stuff - I recognize a lot of you blue guys' online names from other places. I got an interesting phone call yesterday. One of the guys I work with saw a tractor on the way home, and he knows the owner, who is a truck mechanic at the company I work for.
I went over, and it's a 1979 (checked serial number) Ford 1700, with what looks to be the 770 loader (is that model number right?). A lot of you guys probably know these specs, but it's a Shibaura 77.6 cu. in. (28hp/23PTO), 2cyl diesel, 4wd, manual steering unit, with the 3x4 trans (12F/4R). The PTO is transmission driven, not even a 2-stage clutch. There's 1400 hours on the clock, probably at lower than the specified 2245 RPM for 540 PTO speed, so it's actually more hours. He has owned it for 2 years, and believes he's the 4th owner. He has replaced the front tires (6.0-16), the rear tires (11.2-24) and rims, had a ROPS shipped from CA ($800), and completely rebuilt the steering box, with $500 in receipts for that. He changed the hydraulic oil last year. It's got two 65lb weights on each rear wheel, as he didn't refill the tires after replacing the corroded rims. It appearance is very good, some scratches, and a repaint some time ago, but very well done, and no signs of prior corrosion pits can be seen.
He wants $6000, and I think I'm going to pull the trigger, as my friends say. I'm not afraid of manual gears, or steering, especially steering that is newly rebuilt. I played with it this morning, and it's very nice, other than that old style two-lever loader control that has a little play in the levers. The PTO operation doesn't bother me, either.
Here's my question: what do you guys know about that 2cyl Sheeboom engine (it sounded good, and didn't vibrate as much as I imagined it would), and what do you know about the ball-type front axle mechanism? I notice it's like the old Jeeps, but I don't rememeber if that's a good thing or not.
This tractor will be our only tractor for the next 4 years, then we'll be looking at upgrading to something with 10 or so more PTO hp. We will be moving snow, a little fill/gravel/loam now and then, hauling wood, raking/scraping roads, and mowing less than an acre of grass and small whips to keep it from overgrowing. I'll say we won't put more than 50 hours on it yearly. We'll probably keep it after we upgrade, unless there's a good trade in or resale value. I am thinking about putting turfs on it and seeing if I can rig a belly mower under it, turning it into a garden tractor in the future. We may want to till with it, too.
I'd very much appreciate your advice, as I think I'm going to dive in within 24 hrs.
I've been mostly over in the Kubota forums, and in the general stuff - I recognize a lot of you blue guys' online names from other places. I got an interesting phone call yesterday. One of the guys I work with saw a tractor on the way home, and he knows the owner, who is a truck mechanic at the company I work for.
I went over, and it's a 1979 (checked serial number) Ford 1700, with what looks to be the 770 loader (is that model number right?). A lot of you guys probably know these specs, but it's a Shibaura 77.6 cu. in. (28hp/23PTO), 2cyl diesel, 4wd, manual steering unit, with the 3x4 trans (12F/4R). The PTO is transmission driven, not even a 2-stage clutch. There's 1400 hours on the clock, probably at lower than the specified 2245 RPM for 540 PTO speed, so it's actually more hours. He has owned it for 2 years, and believes he's the 4th owner. He has replaced the front tires (6.0-16), the rear tires (11.2-24) and rims, had a ROPS shipped from CA ($800), and completely rebuilt the steering box, with $500 in receipts for that. He changed the hydraulic oil last year. It's got two 65lb weights on each rear wheel, as he didn't refill the tires after replacing the corroded rims. It appearance is very good, some scratches, and a repaint some time ago, but very well done, and no signs of prior corrosion pits can be seen.
He wants $6000, and I think I'm going to pull the trigger, as my friends say. I'm not afraid of manual gears, or steering, especially steering that is newly rebuilt. I played with it this morning, and it's very nice, other than that old style two-lever loader control that has a little play in the levers. The PTO operation doesn't bother me, either.
Here's my question: what do you guys know about that 2cyl Sheeboom engine (it sounded good, and didn't vibrate as much as I imagined it would), and what do you know about the ball-type front axle mechanism? I notice it's like the old Jeeps, but I don't rememeber if that's a good thing or not.
This tractor will be our only tractor for the next 4 years, then we'll be looking at upgrading to something with 10 or so more PTO hp. We will be moving snow, a little fill/gravel/loam now and then, hauling wood, raking/scraping roads, and mowing less than an acre of grass and small whips to keep it from overgrowing. I'll say we won't put more than 50 hours on it yearly. We'll probably keep it after we upgrade, unless there's a good trade in or resale value. I am thinking about putting turfs on it and seeing if I can rig a belly mower under it, turning it into a garden tractor in the future. We may want to till with it, too.
I'd very much appreciate your advice, as I think I'm going to dive in within 24 hrs.
