What Older Reliable Tractor for Small Farm?

[jenkinsph]

arodrigz,
That D17 was a good find hope you are having fun with it.

 

[ghenges]

Hi all, we've recently purchased 23 acres split up into fields, pond and trees. Some of the land it tillable, about 6 acres. I have a JD2320 but it is a bit underpowered for some of the things that I need to do. I'm looking for an affordable and reliable older tractor between 40 to 80 hp. The max I could spend is $4k but if it can be had for less, that would be great too.

Let me know what you think. I was looking at Massey, but not too keen on multi-power.
Thans for the info.
Alex

Look at the Farmall/IHC tractors pre-1980's. They were the simple to maintain and most importantly;
there are scads of them out there, therefore prices are cheap and parts are available.

For example Farmall 540 would be ideal for 25 acres.

 

[Soundguy]

that's quite a bit of tractor and toys for the price!

 

[arodrigz]

like us older people with some battle damage it takes us a little while to get going in the morning, and we may need a little more oil now and then but we do work.

Had to quote that; Love it!

Very happy with the tractor, just trying to learn how to work it. It has front and rear hydraulics as well as the 3 point hitch. All three work off the same pump. They installed closing valves up front and in the rear so that you can stop one device while working the other. So, for example, I can raise the bucket a bit then close the valve which will hold the bucket up regardless of what I do to the back. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a way to shut off the 3 point hitch and only use the rear hydraulic hookups. This slows down lifting the disc because it lifts and lowers the 3 point hitch first and once that is all the way up or down then it gives more power to the cylinder on the disc. If there was a way to stop the 3 point hitch I could work the disc's cylinder a lot faster.

May try to figure out how to better setup the hydraulics on this thing. I have a selector valve that I'm not using. I wonder if that would work better than the turn valves in the front and rear?

On another note, does anyone know where I could pick up ROPS for this thing?

 

[buickanddeere]

Trade the Deere up to the new 4 series.

 

[Cherokee140]

On another note, does anyone know where I could pick up ROPS for this thing?

I think that is going to have to be custom made for you. Back when this machine was made America was a place where if you did something stupid and killed yourself that was your fault. Now it is the company that made the machines fault....how on earth could you be the one responsible for running over your kid with the mower deck on?

 

[GManBart]

On another note, does anyone know where I could pick up ROPS for this thing?

This thread says one is available, but it isn't cheap:

Available ROPS for AC tractors - Yesterday's Tractors

 

[wmonroe]

Congrats on the new tractor. I would agree with the others that you did very well for the money. How many hours on the tractor? It looks to be in very good shape.