Where to start

[sdfireman]

So I used to surf every day and now I live on a ranch cause I married a girl with horses. The place has been complete for two years now, and the up keep is creeping up. I need a tractor! What do I look for. It will be used in southern California, repairing rain rutted roads, moving the poop pile, maybe clearing brush, raking the arena. Never did like the new Kubota/John Deere kinda thing. Had a spot for the more vintage Ford or alike kinda tractors. What level of machine should I look at???

 

[Soundguy]

Road repair and haulng poo.. sound slike a box blade. angle blade and front end loader.. clearing brush? sounds like the front end loader and a rought cut rotary mower.

raking the areena.. ounds like a rotary hoe.. or disc.. or landscape rake... or drag harrow.

how much land you got depends onte tractor size.

if you like the vintage fords.. then I'd look at an 860/861 preferably with power steering.. or a ford 3000 - 4000 3 cyl models.

good basic desigs. lotsa parts support.. etc. those models cover the hih 30's hp range into the 50's

soundguy

 

[greggh]

Road repair and haulng poo.. sound slike a box blade. angle blade and front end loader.. clearing brush? sounds like the front end loader and a rought cut rotary mower.

raking the areena.. ounds like a rotary hoe.. or disc.. or landscape rake... or drag harrow.

how much land you got depends onte tractor size.

if you like the vintage fords.. then I'd look at an 860/861 preferably with power steering.. or a ford 3000 - 4000 3 cyl models.

good basic desigs. lotsa parts support.. etc. those models cover the hih 30's hp range into the 50's

soundguy

Don't forget they have some good 35 to 50 HP MF's out there as well. The older (JD's 2020"s etc.) are real good tractors also.

 

[Egon]

What type of budget is anticipated?

 

[flusher]

Road repair and haulng poo.. sound slike a box blade. angle blade and front end loader.. clearing brush? sounds like the front end loader and a rought cut rotary mower.

raking the areena.. ounds like a rotary hoe.. or disc.. or landscape rake... or drag harrow.

how much land you got depends onte tractor size.

if you like the vintage fords.. then I'd look at an 860/861 preferably with power steering.. or a ford 3000 - 4000 3 cyl models.

good basic desigs. lotsa parts support.. etc. those models cover the hih 30's hp range into the 50's

soundguy

Soundguy knows his Fords. Check this website

Identifying Old Ford Tractors

to help decode Ford model numbers.

I have a 1964 Massey Ferguson 135 diesel that I bought in 06 for $3600. 45 hp engine, 37 hp pto, power-assisted steering. No FEL however. The MF-150 is in the same class as the MF-135 and is better suited to handle a FEL. You can find both of these tractors for sale in your area. Parts are readily available.

You don't like new Deeres, but there are JDs dating from the 1960s that would satisfy your needs. Example: JD 2010 (~50 hp engine), JD 2020 (~60 hp engine).

 

[Soundguy]

Don't forget they have some good 35 to 50 HP MF's out there as well. The older (JD's 2020"s etc.) are real good tractors also.

I'm not downing MF'ers.. I'm just not as familiar with them as i am with fords of that era.... The venerable MF 35/135 is just as well known as the old 8n, and has earned a place in tractor history for durability.

I believe an 860 is a tad more tractor than a 135.. which is why I made the recomendation for that size...

soundguy

 

[sdfireman]

Thanks for the starting point. I guess I'm looking for a good all around small ranch tractor. Mostly moving piles of this and that, smoothing out the road after it rains (when it rains???) and maintaining the brush clearance in a fire prone area. It would be nice to do arena work also, although they do make attachments for a quad, to just drag out the sand. I have seen units of a fine vintage in the $3000 to $8000 range on the used tractor sites. I would like to spend under $10000, hopefully well under, and get some attachments if possible. Many people in southern California use the Kabota or John Deere machines which can fetch $14,000 to $20,000 in this region. I just kinda like the older tractors. The Fords are of interest, but can be overwhelming when looking at the many choices of model numbers. Thanks for the tip on Fords, any other Ford models I should be looking at?

Thanks

 

[Soundguy]

The units i mentioned should all come in around 2500$ to 4500$.. add a loader and maybee add 500-1000$.. plus the implements. in other words.. you could get a good 860/3000/4000 with loader, plus mower, rake, and blades for say....under 7grand easy.. if you got lucky.. you might get a 5000$ package deal... I see em like that every now and then..

soundguy

 

[sdfireman]

Very cool! I'm excited to get started. Thanks for the advice Soundguy. It helps that you told me what I wanted to hear. Any tips on where to look online? Also, adding implements as I go, if I didn't get it as a package, are items like a gannon, brush hog, posthole digger fairly universal??? Or do they become specific to the tractor?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Soundguy]

A gannon, usually referes to a gannon box setup, which is a pretty specific setup that has top and tild hyd functions.

most of us just use a 'box blade'.

The 860 and 4 cyl 4000 and the 3000 are going to be cat 1 tractors. the 3 cyl 4000 can likely be cat 1 or 2.. but for your stuff.. probably stick with cat 1 implements.. just get HD ones if you get the 3 cyl 4000.

Yes.. many places sell online.. but shipping usually eats you up.. best to try to get implements locally.. or at least within reasonable driving distance.

check classifieds in your paper.. and onlne.. ebay.. craigslist for your area.. etc.

this board and others have online sales as well.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

forgot to mention.. 3pt implenets just pin on and are easy to remove.. they do not become 'married' to your trasctor.

soundguy

 

[wwalkersd]

A gannon, usually referes to a gannon box setup, which is a pretty specific setup that has top and tild hyd functions.

most of us just use a 'box blade'.

While I'm sure you're correct, Soundguy, here in SoCal "gannon" seems to have become synonymous with "box blade", at least in tractor ads. Hydraulics may or may not be present (usually not, in my experience).

sdfireman ("sd" = "San Diego"?), you mentioned a need to move "piles of stuff". As Soundguy said, that says you need a front-end loader (usually abbreviated FEL here). They can be a little hard to find on the older tractors, but they're out there. I recently bought a 1944 Ford 2N with a FEL in central CA.

Here are a couple of other resources for you to check out:

For basic tractor specs on nearly every make and model: TractorData.com. These are important to check on older tractors because sellers don't always know what they have.

For a forum dedicated to the older tractors you seem to prefer, check out Yesterday's Tractor. You'll run into Soundguy over there, too. He's an acknowledged old Ford expert.

As for finding used tractors, keep an eye on the "Farm & Garden" section of Craigslist.

 

[Soundguy]

Here's a link to a gannon setup on an industrial tractor.

soundguy

While I'm sure you're correct, Soundguy, here in SoCal "gannon" seems to have become synonymous with "box blade", at least in tractor ads. Hydraulics may or may not be present (usually not, in my experience).

sdfireman ("sd" = "San Diego"?), you mentioned a need to move "piles of stuff". As Soundguy said, that says you need a front-end loader (usually abbreviated FEL here). They can be a little hard to find on the older tractors, but they're out there. I recently bought a 1944 Ford 2N with a FEL in central CA.

Here are a couple of other resources for you to check out:

For basic tractor specs on nearly every make and model: TractorData.com. These are important to check on older tractors because sellers don't always know what they have.

For a forum dedicated to the older tractors you seem to prefer, check out Yesterday's Tractor. You'll run into Soundguy over there, too. He's an acknowledged old Ford expert.

As for finding used tractors, keep an eye on the "Farm & Garden" section of Craigslist.

 

[jake98]

What about old Farmalls? I'm no expert but mine always ran good.

 

[Soundguy]

Many of them have no 3pt.. and have narrow fronts... the narrow front is not ideal for a loader tractor ( but is workable.. )

soundguy

 

[flusher]

Very cool! I'm excited to get started. Thanks for the advice Soundguy. It helps that you told me what I wanted to hear. Any tips on where to look online? Also, adding implements as I go, if I didn't get it as a package, are items like a gannon, brush hog, posthole digger fairly universal??? Or do they become specific to the tractor?

Thanks,

Mike

Gannon boxes usually are hitched to much larger tractors than you're interested in. This one was used to build my driveway.

The black hook-like things are the scarifiers (aka rippers) and can be adjusted hydraulically. Also the hydraulics allow the box to be tilted side-to-side.

Most TBNers have box blades, smaller, lighter weight than Gannons.