coondle
Bronze Member
The two are: 504 at 50 hp and 604 at 60 hp. The 504 is about 11 years old and has the Chinese diesel in it. Issues to date are a failed bearing in the transmission output shaft to the Front WD, replaced with off the shelf bearing and seals back to back (one to hold oil in the other to keep dirt out) at parts cost $27.00 plus $200 in oil. An off the shelf ignition switch replacement at circa $10. The only other issue with the 504 is it chopped out the front tyres doing a lot of running on sealed roads when I did a lot of contract hay work. Should have put the tyres the other way around as that eases wear of tractor tyres on roads, but rubbish grip on soil as the treads clog up as soon as slippage occurs. Paint on the 504 is rubbish some stripped of with high pressure cleaning and it has faded. Paint on the 604 is good so far, no stripping , no fading.
The 604 is about 4 years old and I have had 2 clutch plates replaced. It was bought new by a guy in his 80's and I expected clutch problems because he traded as he could not handle the clutch pressure. The first time the plate was resurfaced and only riveted. For some reason the surface stripped off one side, plate resurfaced again with thicker material and then riveted and glued.
I also had the studs holding the brace arms on the font end loader break which in turn put too much strain on the bell housing studs which caused them to come loose and break out part of the bell housing casting. Not pretty but I was cleaning/extending out a 2000 cu metre dam and I guess asking it do do that which I should have used the Fiat Dozer to do but the water pump on that was un-serviceable.
I drilled the high tensile studs out for the brace, a challenge but done. The bell housing was addressed by drilling through to the inside of the casting , there is plenty of meat and tapping out the holes and replacing the studs with higher rated HT studs, the lower 2 on each side with studs 1 inch (25mm) longer and the upper 2 with similar studs 1 1/2 inches (40mm) longer as that was the additional depth of casting available for each set of studs. The upper set of studs on the RHS of the tractor had broken out between 7 mm of cast (rear stud) and 10mm for the front. I am confident the problem created by my breaking of the front studs has been overcome and I perhaps should not expect the 604 to do the job of a bulldozer!
Tightening all accessible bolts/studs on Chinese equipment seems a standard requirement which I didn't do on the 604 which I bought with 122 hrs on the clock. The dealer I purchased from told me it had been through their worksop and everything checked. Perhaps it did drive through the workshop and there was a roll-call to ensure major components were at least checked as present.
Never the less I am very happy with the 604 and it is my go-to utility tractor. Does almost everything except mow hay (need min 100 hp to run the NH 1411) and plant seed (28 run min till combine seeder) needing 100+ hp.
I run a NH 96 mower, pull a 2000litre 60ft (18metre) Silvan Boom spray, run a Bale Bandit, bale with a NH 570, rip rocks, lay poly pipe, pull 7ft grader blade, and a 16 tine scarifier with either foton. Load haybundles of hay (up to about 550kg) with the fel on the 604 and handle two 4x5 cereal hay rolls (700 to 800kg). Will not manage 3 but 3 at a time is a piece of cake with my industrial FEL.
So enjoy your new tractor that either you could afford or that left lots of $ in your pocket.
The 604 is about 4 years old and I have had 2 clutch plates replaced. It was bought new by a guy in his 80's and I expected clutch problems because he traded as he could not handle the clutch pressure. The first time the plate was resurfaced and only riveted. For some reason the surface stripped off one side, plate resurfaced again with thicker material and then riveted and glued.
I also had the studs holding the brace arms on the font end loader break which in turn put too much strain on the bell housing studs which caused them to come loose and break out part of the bell housing casting. Not pretty but I was cleaning/extending out a 2000 cu metre dam and I guess asking it do do that which I should have used the Fiat Dozer to do but the water pump on that was un-serviceable.
I drilled the high tensile studs out for the brace, a challenge but done. The bell housing was addressed by drilling through to the inside of the casting , there is plenty of meat and tapping out the holes and replacing the studs with higher rated HT studs, the lower 2 on each side with studs 1 inch (25mm) longer and the upper 2 with similar studs 1 1/2 inches (40mm) longer as that was the additional depth of casting available for each set of studs. The upper set of studs on the RHS of the tractor had broken out between 7 mm of cast (rear stud) and 10mm for the front. I am confident the problem created by my breaking of the front studs has been overcome and I perhaps should not expect the 604 to do the job of a bulldozer!
Tightening all accessible bolts/studs on Chinese equipment seems a standard requirement which I didn't do on the 604 which I bought with 122 hrs on the clock. The dealer I purchased from told me it had been through their worksop and everything checked. Perhaps it did drive through the workshop and there was a roll-call to ensure major components were at least checked as present.
Never the less I am very happy with the 604 and it is my go-to utility tractor. Does almost everything except mow hay (need min 100 hp to run the NH 1411) and plant seed (28 run min till combine seeder) needing 100+ hp.
I run a NH 96 mower, pull a 2000litre 60ft (18metre) Silvan Boom spray, run a Bale Bandit, bale with a NH 570, rip rocks, lay poly pipe, pull 7ft grader blade, and a 16 tine scarifier with either foton. Load haybundles of hay (up to about 550kg) with the fel on the 604 and handle two 4x5 cereal hay rolls (700 to 800kg). Will not manage 3 but 3 at a time is a piece of cake with my industrial FEL.
So enjoy your new tractor that either you could afford or that left lots of $ in your pocket.
