This little Massey never lived up to do what I purchased it for. First it's engine: pretty reliable, but had to have screaming to get anything out of it. I bought it for snow removal. Problem was it would not start in the winter, so still had to use my allis. If you were mowing or tilling etc , it would burn just as much fuel as my allis unless the allis was pulling a disc or glow or something similar. With the enclosed hood design, it always wanted to run hot. I always ran with the side panels off in the summer time.
Front end: I had (3) front axle rebuilds, the fourth failure I did not spend any more money on such a piece of junk. I also busted a steering cylinder. Merz, a dealer in Nebraska finally admitted after 3 rebuild and the steering cylinder, that that particular tractor has weak front ends(that came from the dealer). He tried to talk me into a 1700 series. I told him he was crazy. The problem shelled. I asked agco if the was a closer dealer. They said kanequip. I took the tractor to kanequip in Topeka ks. The rebuilt I costing $5500. Eight months later I'm tilling the garden. Pto shells again. No body wants to warranty the repair. I got agco involved. Agco said they warranty repairs for 12 months. I said good, fix this piece of junk you call a tractor. Agco continued to wiggle. The said kanequip in Marysville is an authorized dealer and kanequip in Topeka is not. The reason there aren't many dealers in Kansas except for the larger towns in my opinion is simply( an agco dealer would starve to death, no one would buy there tractors). There are John Deere and case-ih dealers everywhere. Look in the fields. It is primarily dominated by John Deere and case-ih.
The salvage yard: we are both offspring of family friends that go way way back (70-80 years). First thing he asked about is the front end. He said he gets calls a couple times a month with people looking for front end parts and rarely does he find one with a good front end. He said them little Massey's are not much of a tractor. Truthfully I'm glad I'm rid of that piece of junk and getting into a deere. Agco cleaned my plow, but they lost out on any future purchases of their products from me. I will admit that I did a lot of work with the loader. I handled gravel, sand, dirt and did some digging. But the loader has a relief valve that should prevent overload. Looks like "agco geniuses" ought to think about building a front end for their so called tractor. I will give the hydrostatic drive a good review.
