Buying Advice High hour tractor

[mossbackfarm]

Hi there

First time poster, long time lurker...after 10 years of ranching, it's finally coming together to get a tractor, mostly for mowing and feeding haylage bales (1100lb) to the cattle. And, of course, whatever else I find to do (fencing, hauling, etc)

Our tractor broker has put me on to a JD5300, 4wd, with a loader that has a quick release bucket and pallet forks. Ideally, a bale spear would work with some of that. He's asking $13,500

The concern I have is the tractor has 4000 hours. Besides that, it's got good rubber, a couple of minor dings...all around pretty good. But, with that kind of time on it, I'm wondering if it's over the hill, and will be worth waiting out a better or more reliable deal. I'm not the best grease monkey out there, so while I'd be able to do some work on it, I don't want to end up knowing my local JD service center *that* well...

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Rich

 

[MFRED]

For a tractor that's been taken care of, 4,000 hours isn't much at all. You should get better than 8,000 out of one without too much in the way of headaches.

 

[ToadHill]

I had an old Massey 85 that ran just fine when I got rid of it. Of course I did a valve job at 10,000 hours.

 

[Builder]

I'd rather have a well card for 4,000 hr tractor than an abused 1,000 hr tractor. I bought a high houred Hew Holland and it's been great.

 

[TripleR]

Agree on the hours, we have tractors that are used all the time and were made in the 50's with nothing more than normal maintenance.

 

[flusher]

Hi there

First time poster, long time lurker...after 10 years of ranching, it's finally coming together to get a tractor, mostly for mowing and feeding haylage bales (1100lb) to the cattle. And, of course, whatever else I find to do (fencing, hauling, etc)

Our tractor broker has put me on to a JD5300, 4wd, with a loader that has a quick release bucket and pallet forks. Ideally, a bale spear would work with some of that. He's asking $13,500

The concern I have is the tractor has 4000 hours. Besides that, it's got good rubber, a couple of minor dings...all around pretty good. But, with that kind of time on it, I'm wondering if it's over the hill, and will be worth waiting out a better or more reliable deal. I'm not the best grease monkey out there, so while I'd be able to do some work on it, I don't want to end up knowing my local JD service center *that* well...

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Rich

Any service records available for that tractor?
It could have seen hard 4000 hours or an easy 4000--you need to find out how it was used by the previous owner(s).
Since you'll be relying on that tractor to do real work around your place, you need to check it out very thoroughly.

Leaks? What kind? How much leakage?

Smoke? What kind? White could be coolant leaking in the cylinders. Blue is oil burning. Black could be a fuel system problem.

Run OK in all gears?

3pt hydraulics OK? Best to check this out with an implement. Does the 3pt hold the implement up OK without slowly leaking down? Does the float setting work OK?
FEL OK?

That JD5300 was made between 1992-97. 13-18 years. 222 to 307 hours/year average. Pretty light usage actually.

My info tells me that the price is reasonable. If it checks out after inspection, I'd go for it.

 

[Jay4200]

Hi there

First time poster, long time lurker...after 10 years of ranching, it's finally coming together to get a tractor, mostly for mowing and feeding haylage bales (1100lb) to the cattle. And, of course, whatever else I find to do (fencing, hauling, etc)

Our tractor broker has put me on to a JD5300, 4wd, with a loader that has a quick release bucket and pallet forks. Ideally, a bale spear would work with some of that. He's asking $13,500

Seems awfully expensive to me - I'd expect a price around half that for something with 4000 hours, or a tractor with half the hours for that price. I bought my 2000-hour Kubota L4200GST w/ loader and Woods 9000 backhoe for roughly that amount.

JayC

 

[Interlaux]

How Funny that you mention $13,500 - exactly what I paid for my 1440 hour 4610
Whats tractorhouse say? The "high" hours on mine put it around $5k less than anything on there at the time so I went for it - no regrets one year and 300 hours later.
The only other tractor experience I have is the FILS Fiat/Hesston 566 which has around 12,000 hours on it. Guess when I compared working on it over the years vs my cars I did not think anything of getting a high hour tractor - knowing they are so much easier to work on.
Good luck Bro:thumbsup:

 

[Builder]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Deere getting a higher used price and resale value than other brands. The reason is because they're built to last a long time and you get excellent support from dealers on parts. It's why you see so many older Deeres out there still in service. Seems like evrytime I'm in the market for a used tractor, there's no used Deere equipment I can afford, but I know they're worth a premuim over other brands.

 

[mossbackfarm]

Thanks everyone....good info that gave me a lot to think about. Tractorhouse shows it right in the low end of the price range, which is promising. I'm going to arrange a visit to kick the tires and see it in person next week. Then, I'd better start getting the money together

Rich