Two Massey 461's... help me decide

mf40diesel · Apr 1, 2014

Hello, I am looking at two Massey Ferguson 461's for sale. both have pluses and minuses, can you help me decide?

1) Located in Florida, 213 hours, R4 tires that look great, but no loader. Asking 17.5k
2) Located in Texas, 800 ish hours(unknown as dealer says tach was replaced???, it has less than 2 since replacement) Ag tires that look pretty good, but I would rather have the R4s, it has a Quicke loader. Asking 17.5k

Of course, trucking to Maine would be much more expensive for the unit in Texas, but it already has a loader. The biggest problem of that one is the questionable hours, and the fact that I will have to go by videos/photos. The unit in Florida I will be able to go look at, I believe.

I believe the Florida unit will be better in the end, I'll have to wait a bit for the loader, and therefore save my pennies for a while to purchase one. What would a Quicke loader go for, for that machine, any guesses? I figure about 6K? And with regards to that... I am a pretty handy guy, I feel like I could install the loader myself, would that come by truck, on pallets? I could borrow a tractor from a friend to unload and install.

Thanks ahead of time. By the way, I am pretty sold on the Massey 461/563. I love the fact that they have the Perkins, bonus that it has a turbo too. Plus they are pretty basic, no frills heavy tractors.. I want to stay away from electronics as much as possible.

Lemme know what you all think.

TomSeller · Apr 2, 2014

mf40diesel said:
Hello, I am looking at two Massey Ferguson 461's for sale. both have pluses and minuses, can you help me decide?

1) Located in Florida, 213 hours, R4 tires that look great, but no loader. Asking 17.5k
2) Located in Texas, 800 ish hours(unknown as dealer says tach was replaced???, it has less than 2 since replacement) Ag tires that look pretty good, but I would rather have the R4s, it has a Quicke loader. Asking 17.5k

Of course, trucking to Maine would be much more expensive for the unit in Texas, but it already has a loader. The biggest problem of that one is the questionable hours, and the fact that I will have to go by videos/photos. The unit in Florida I will be able to go look at, I believe.

I believe the Florida unit will be better in the end, I'll have to wait a bit for the loader, and therefore save my pennies for a while to purchase one. What would a Quicke loader go for, for that machine, any guesses? I figure about 6K? And with regards to that... I am a pretty handy guy, I feel like I could install the loader myself, would that come by truck, on pallets? I could borrow a tractor from a friend to unload and install.

Thanks ahead of time. By the way, I am pretty sold on the Massey 461/563. I love the fact that they have the Perkins, bonus that it has a turbo too. Plus they are pretty basic, no frills heavy tractors.. I want to stay away from electronics as much as possible.

Lemme know what you all think.

The Florida unit sounds "safer", but a loader is nice. I have heard good things about this series of Massey and with a Perkins engine, you should have a tractor or life. Any unit where they "changed the tach and don't know the hours" would be suspect.

GManBart · Apr 2, 2014

The big challenge will be finding the right loader and subframe moint for a 10 year old tractor. Doing a google search didn't turn up any...that would worry me.

mf40diesel · Apr 2, 2014

Huh, that didn't really worry me at all.... which maybe is troubling. I would assume that one could still find a new one, will likely cost an arm and leg, but happen nonetheless. We shall see, I have an email out to the local Massey Dealer, we'll see what they say. Maybe that will end the whole deal!

finspop · Apr 2, 2014

I wouldn't let the unknown hrs on the one in TX worry me too much. I'd be much more interested in the overall condition of the machine. I assume it's the one on Tractorhouse; if so, it looks really nice. Shipping might be less than you think. Is there a member here who could check it out for you, or maybe you could hire a mechanic from out there? Adding a loader is likely going to end up being more expensive than you think...

my 2 pennies...

WPSmolder · Apr 2, 2014

I'd much rather see something myself than just rely on pictures. Things can appear a lot different in pictures than in person. A loader is a big expense though, so I guess it really depends on how much you want to spend. I think it was somewhere around $7,000 to add the loader when I bought my tractor new last year. I definitely couldn't live without it though.