Buying Advice Looking for tractor suggestions to maintain my new property

Turbys_1700 · Oct 8, 2012

Soundguy said:
much of the old stuff is sooo simple to work on. it was designed to be rebuilt swinging from a tree in a field by a horse farmer.

a set of paper manuals.. some basic tools and parts usually. i can get lotsa old parts from farm stores in some cases..

Soundguy is on the money...
We have a Ford 800 with FEL and two D-17's on the farm...
Very easy to work on and very dependable...
Ford and AC sold a lot of those models...
Parts are a non issue...
Most of those older tractors were utilized in row crop situations pulling plows, disc harrows, balers, rakes, ect...
Not a lot of stress on them...
The only issue you need to look at on the D-17's is that up until the series 3 and 4 they used snap coupler in lieu of 3 point hook ups...
IMHO, a good running D-17 is a lot of tractor for a little money...
Those D-17 series also like gas...
A lot of it...
They will pull like the dickens though...
Motor rebuilds are not difficult with the sleeved engine...

Soundguy · Oct 8, 2012

Turbys_1700 said:
Those D-17 series also like gas...
A lot of it...
...

them ford 801's or a ford with a replacement zenith carb will guzzle a lil bit too..

just a fact that if you are making near 50hp gas on one of them.. it's gonna be hungry..

94BULLITT · Oct 8, 2012

Another tractor you may want to look for is a 385 Case. My neighbor has one, they are pretty nice.

applescotty · Nov 14, 2012

I just wanted to come back and finish up this thread and let you know how it turned out. I ended up buying a '56 or '57 (not sure yet) Allis Chalmers WD45:
TractorData.com Allis Chalmers WD45 tractor information

After arranging to go see it, ended up being just a half mile down the road from me. The seller had owned it for about 30 years, and it had only a few hundred hours on a major rebuild (the local vo-tech needed an engine rebuild project). The rest of the tractor seems in mostly good shape. The paint is faded, it's definitely no show tractor, but mechanically it seems solid. I got a brush hog (just a 5' one, might upgrade to a 6' one later) and a blade, so I should be set for winter and for spring mowing. Didn't bargain too hard. The guy was pretty nice, and could be a helpful neighbor in the future (already got some recommendations for trash service and rock for the driveway), so I figured I was buying more than just the tractor in this case.

Thanks all for you input. I'll be saving my pennies and staying on the lookout for a nice compact tractor in the future, too.

Scott