thartweger:
Seriously man, you're way overthinking this. Just do like John Bud and myself have said - go use your tractor. Stop worrying. It's older, it will smoke at idle/no load. The smoke clears when worked hard - all's fine, its just an older tractor. That tractor has hundreds of hours left in it. You will definitely know when something serious is wrong. If the the tractor sounds like something is wrong, then you've got another story. If you really don't like to look at the smoke, go finance a brand new tractor. You'll pay an awful lot of money to get what you've got in that old Ford 3000. Work it hard - it will thank you by clearing right up. Don't believe me, go down to a construction site and look at a Caterpillar with a couple of thousand hours on it when it starts up first thing in the morning - it'll do the same thing. I've got an awful lot of experience with all types of diesels, I'm not lying to you. I've even owned a Ford 5000 - did the same thing you describe here, and I never gave it a second thought. If this is for your business, don't burden yourself with expensive repairs for no reason other than to make yourself feel better. If you've got that kind of disposable income, but it towards a newer tractor.
