I'm going to look at a 1963 Ford 2000 tractor which is advertised on FB in the next couple of days. I've owned a 1955 Ford 600 for nearly 20 years, so am familiar with basic tractor. The pictures in the ad don't shows much detail, but I can see that it has power steering with the old Eaton Pump (with the reservoir on top.) Is this something I should be concerned with in a tractor of that vintage? I'm an old man and power steering sounds nice, but I have had some experience with a dripping cylinder and leaking pump on a Ford 960 I bought a couple of years ago. If the power steering develops problems, can one just remove the belt and use the tractor as a manual steer?
The second thing I noticed in the pictures is radius rods are arched upward quite a bit. Does this signal excessive wear in the front axle, or is it just normal to have to straighten the rods periodicallly (like I did last year on my 600?)
Is there anything else I should be especially concerned with on this model. The tractor is located about a 100 miles from my city home, and I don't have internet service at my country lhome.
The second thing I noticed in the pictures is radius rods are arched upward quite a bit. Does this signal excessive wear in the front axle, or is it just normal to have to straighten the rods periodicallly (like I did last year on my 600?)
Is there anything else I should be especially concerned with on this model. The tractor is located about a 100 miles from my city home, and I don't have internet service at my country lhome.