at those hours I'd expect it to be wanting a clutch.. and if a gasser.. it will be showing reasonable engine wear.. but should still plow a field. if a diesel.. will likely still hold out another couple thou before it eats something major like an injector pump.
all this assumes good care and maintenance .. etc.
you can kill a brand new tractor in 1 hour.. or you can take care of an antique so that it is near mint after 5 decades.
soundguy
Yeah agree about the clutch - however it very much depends how it's been driven. Our 135 has had it's first clutch at just over 2000 hours but it's now at 6000 hours and still going well.
Nice thing about it is a complete new clutch won't cost more than a few hundred dollars and a mechanic could split the tractor, replace the clutch and put it back together in 3 hours. And it may not even need the clutch yet.
As for the engine, can't comment on the gassers, we never used them in this country, but I'd bet that diesel will still be running sweet as a nut. Plenty of those tractors still running with 8 thousand hours on them and no major rebuilds. Maybe lost a few horse power over the years but who cares
Gasser or diesel?
Being a newby, you need to know how to checkout a used tractor with a lot of hours on it. If you can, take someone with you who knows tractors.
If you see oil/fluid spots on the ground, you might think about passing on this one (bad seals, cracks in the block, etc).
If it's hard to start, you could have carburetor or injector/high pressure injector pump problems (diesel). Carburetors are less expensive to repair/replace than diesel injectors or injector pumps.
If it smokes--white smoke might mean coolant leaks, blue smoke means oil burning (valves, rings), black smoke may mean problems in the fuel/air system.
Drive it in all gears. Look for clutch problems (slipping, hard to shift into gear, jumping out of gear, won't go into one or more gears, etc). Check the two stage clutch to be sure that clutch works properly. Clutch repairs usually means splitting the tractor--can be expensive.
Check the 3 point hitch operation, preferably with a heavy impliment attached. If it has problems lifting the load or if it won't hold the load in position, then you have hydraulic system problems.
Check the tires for wear, cracks, dry rot. Rear ag tires are expensive to replace.
Also be aware that replacement parts for these old tractors may be hard to find and expensive.
Good luck.
The tractor is going to be minimum 35 years old with 4000 hours under it's belt! Of course it is going to have a few oil leaks around the engine and maybe some of the other transmission seals. Just means you may have to pour a little extra oil in every month or so. Consider it a running cost.
These old tractors didn't really get shifted. You set it in a gear and set off. I can't remember if it was a syncro gearbox off the top of my head but either way I doub't it'll be very smooth. But I bet it will be pretty bombproof. Maybe the selector forks will have a little wear, but I doub't it at only 4000 hours.
3 point hitch will almost certainly drop when you turn the engine off, as they did from new. However it should still lift as you say.
Parts - at least in this country, there were so many thousands of these things made, theres hundreds been broken and many comapnies now make pattern parts.
Finally, to put 4000 hours into persepctive.
On a farm in the 60s and 70's in this country, on average one of these tractors they would have about 800 hours a year put on them. Today we put about 1000 - 1200 hours on a tractor a year.
So really, this tractor may have only done 4 or 5 years hard work before basically being mothballed for the next 30 years.
