Buying Advice John Deere 950

[old gaffer]

I'm driving myself nuts, obsessing with getting as much information as possible so I don't make a huge mistake when buying my first-ever tractor.

I've just retired to TN, have about 6.5 acres, half of it woods, half cleared. I'll likely - eventually - put in some sort of a crop on a couple of acres and have a small home garden. I may sublet the fields for crops and not to "real" farming myself - not sure about that yet.

What I'm pretty sure I'll be doing is mostly bush hogging, with a little bit of dirt re-arranging, snow plowing, and the general lifting/hauling/grading work that I've heard is always going on on a farm.

I'm looking at a JD 950, 4WD, with a FEL on it. The power specs (from TractorData.com John Deere 950 tractor information) show 24 hp diesel engine, 27 hp at the PTO.

the tractor has 2400 hours on it, and is just under $7K asking price. the tires look good, the sheet metal, not so much, but if that drives down the price, I can live with dents in the hood...

Am I looking at a big enough tractor for what I want to do, and is this a decent price for this tractor? I know I can add bush hogs, blades, box blades, and myriad other stuff after the fact and as I need them, but buying a tractor that's too small seems to be both a common mistake among newbies (like me) and a rather expensive one that can be avoided.

At this same location, there's a JD 990 with FEL, only about 400 hours, but it's $15K, and I'm REALLY trying to stay under $10K with attachments if I can.

But if $10k isn't going to buy me want I need, I'd rather know up front.

thanks for any and all responses - I'm so knew, I won't know if I've been offended or not

 

[sal64]

i have both tractors they are both great machines,7k 2400hrs seems high for a 30yr old tractor.i think you would be better off with the 990 less hrs and newer.

 

[alorio1]

I like John Deeres and have an 850 with 1350 hrs on it. I think it's gonna outlive me, had it for 31 years and never done nothing but maintain the tractor. I can pull a 5ft bush hog with and 5ft finishing mower also. I have a 4ft box blade that the tractor handles well also. I was thinking about trading it in on a new Massy Ferguson with 40 ish HP, 0% intrest for 60 months that comes with a 6 ft bush hog, 6 ft disk plow and a fertilizer spreader for just under 14K.........Now that's a good deal, you may want to check your local dealer out.

 

[HarryN]

I like John Deeres and have an 850 with 1350 hrs on it. I think it's gonna outlive me, had it for 31 years and never done nothing but maintain the tractor. I can pull a 5ft bush hog with and 5ft finishing mower also. I have a 4ft box blade that the tractor handles well also. I was thinking about trading it in on a new Massy Ferguson with 40 ish HP, 0% intrest for 60 months that comes with a 6 ft bush hog, 6 ft disk plow and a fertilizer spreader for just under 14K.........Now that's a good deal, you may want to check your local dealer out.

I also have a JD 850 bought new in 1988. Only thing I changed on it were the front tires. All are turf tires. Wish I had ag tires though. Great tractor. 950 just a bit bigger.
Hey, "alorio1"... you wouldn't happen to have a separate set of rear Ag tires you'd like to sell???

 

[RollingsFarms]

That's too high for the 950. Does it have a loader on it? If the 950 was going to be my one and only tractor i would want something different. Heavier, more hp, etc. I had a 950 years back and while it was a great little tractor, parts were beginning to become hard to get.

 

[alorio1]

Sorry, no AG tires..........

I also have a JD 850 bought new in 1988. Only thing I changed on it were the front tires. All are turf tires. Wish I had ag tires though. Great tractor. 950 just a bit bigger.
Hey, "alorio1"... you wouldn't happen to have a separate set of rear Ag tires you'd like to sell???

 

[old gaffer]

That's too high for the 950. Does it have a loader on it? If the 950 was going to be my one and only tractor i would want something different. Heavier, more hp, etc. I had a 950 years back and while it was a great little tractor, parts were beginning to become hard to get.

Thanks, RollingFarms. This does have the FEL on it, and I hadn't considered the problem of getting parts for an almost 30 y.o. tractor.

It seems like its going to be hard to find anything worth having around these parts for less than about $15K, and for that kind of money, I have to consider the cost-benefit of having a tractor of my own or simply farming the work out when I need it.

hmmmm :/

 

[Anomic]

You can keep an eye on yanmar parts as well they often interchange.

I bought a 950 (no loader) garage kept condition perfect except the roll bar had been shortened to fit in the garage. Im only 5'9" so not an issue. Had 900hrs and paid 4000. I think 7k would be reasonable with a loader at 900-1500 hours but 2400 is getting up there.

I have 12 acres almost all fields except buildings. Also have 1000' of driveway that i maintain with the boxblade. I think the 950 does a great job overall. Is a good compromise size and weight. Never run out of power and only run out of traction when im pulling the boxblade full of stone up the steep part of driveway i have to lift the blade off or wheels spin.


Only issue i have had is overheating when bushhogging but that seems rare and a maintnance issue.


For 6.5 acres id think it would be plenty big. For my 12 i want to eventually get something that can handle a 7' bushhog, has a loader, and a bit bigger tires to make crossing my creek and the bumps and dips smoother.

 

[sal64]

i had same problem with my 950 once while brushing never did it again yet, never figured out why it overheated.

 

[D000D]

i had same problem with my 950 once while brushing never did it again yet, never figured out why it overheated.

My JD 950 overheats occasionally while mowing the pasture. Usually caused by debris in the screen in front of the radiator (thistle seeds are the worst). Usually I just stop the engine, pull the screen, remove the debris, replace the screen, and restart the engine. Usually within a minute or two the overheat light goes out and I can continue mowing. Sometimes cleaning the screen is not enough and I use my air compressor to blow out any debris that has become lodged in the radiator cooling fins.

 

[JimRB]

Tractor House is a good place to get pricing. http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/list.aspx?ETID=1&catid=1111&Manu=JOHN+DEERE&Mdltxt=870&mdlx=exact

 

[RoyJackson]

If maintained properly, 2400 hours on a Yanmar engine (which is what is in the 950 and most Deere CUTs) wouldn't bother me a bit. Problem, of course, is you don't know how the tractor was operated or maintained.
I'd go for the 990...it's a lot more tractor.

 

[PHPaul]

Hard to beat the x50 series. I have a 750 that I bought new in 1988 and I have worked the stuffings out of that thing, running a 5' bush hog, a 4' tiller and a Woods backhoe, among other things.

Other than the usual consumables, tires and batteries, I've put one alternator on it.

 

[Cherokee140]

My JD 950 overheats occasionally while mowing the pasture. Usually caused by debris in the screen in front of the radiator (thistle seeds are the worst). Usually I just stop the engine, pull the screen, remove the debris, replace the screen, and restart the engine. Usually within a minute or two the overheat light goes out and I can continue mowing. Sometimes cleaning the screen is not enough and I use my air compressor to blow out any debris that has become lodged in the radiator cooling fins.

I have a 650, the baby brother and it will overheat when mowing if you look at it sideways. It does not seem to matter if I use the belly mower or a 3point....it will still over heat if the temp is much above 80. Very difficult. Everyone has looked at it...I even took it to Deere and they could not figure it out....so it just gets little jobs.

As to parts.....be careful...some are just not available anymore, and I have found that John Deere really does not want to claim it telling me to go talk to Yanmar about parts....Yanmar telling me to talk to Deere. Getting some mule drive bearings was a supreme pain. Also had a damaged rear wheel....yup you guessed it, they don't make it anymore so I had to have one custom made to the tune of about $400.

Funny thing however when looking at new tractors it seems that the sales people tell me that the new 1series are all Deere, pretty funny but that stuck in my head and played no small part in my buying a Kubota.