DieselBound
Elite Member
As long as you have the tools and time...If you don't need a loader, I would look at buying an antique tractor. Far cheaper than new, tougher, more reliable, simpler to work on.
I can almost guarantee my 1955 Allis Chalmers will still be working when the new tractors are wore out.
Further, lots depends on whether parts will continue to be available. In another thread someone with as slightly older Massey is having difficulties finding a replacement loader cylinder. I've had no such issues with my newer tractors (2006 and 2016), which, at the rate I've killed hydraulic cylinders AND the rate of my aging, I likely will never have to engage in again.
I suspect if/when things get really difficult that our current activities are going to be different. I've game-theory'd things to the n-th degree: you'd be surprised to find how many blind spots people can have; my "solution," approach, is not to have one's eggs all in one basket (diversity is the key to survival). Having a survivable tractor is nice, but if you don't survive then the value of the equation is, I'd say, a bit different...
BTW - A loader on/for a CUT is what makes a CUT: it puts the "Utility" in CUT!