Massey Harris 555 Value

[DanielW]

Hi folks,

I asked this a while ago, but I had no pictures at the time so here I go again. I'm looking to sell my Massey 555 diesel. A bit sad to see it go as it was the first tractor I ever bought, but I just can't justify it taking up shed space for the one or two hours a year I might get it out to put around on. I bought it to run my circular sawmill at shows, but shortly after buying it I picked up a Case 630 diesel that's far handier to trailer and more efficient to run the mill with.

My problem: I really don't know what it's worth. I won't say what I bought it for 10 years ago because I know I overpaid. I bought it right when I had just got my first higher-paying job out of university. Because I always wanted a triple-nickel I knowingly paid a little more than it was worth. I've now attached the link to my ad below; I'm tentatively asking $3500 CAD (located in South-Central Ontario). Any honest opinions of whether I'm near the right ballpark or way too high/low are greatly appreciated. There aren't too many 55's here in Ontario and almost no 555's, so it's a bit of a rarity around here. But it's also not too pretty of a unit (though it runs well).

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/classifieds/massey-harris-555-diesel.1898/

 

[rustred]

Hi folks,

I asked this a while ago, but I had no pictures at the time so here I go again. I'm looking to sell my Massey 555 diesel. A bit sad to see it go as it was the first tractor I ever bought, but I just can't justify it taking up shed space for the one or two hours a year I might get it out to put around on. I bought it to run my circular sawmill at shows, but shortly after buying it I picked up a Case 630 diesel that's far handier to trailer and more efficient to run the mill with.

My problem: I really don't know what it's worth. I won't say what I bought it for 10 years ago because I know I overpaid. I bought it right when I had just got my first higher-paying job out of university. Because I always wanted a triple-nickel I knowingly paid a little more than it was worth. I've now attached the link to my ad below; I'm tentatively asking $3500 CAD (located in South-Central Ontario). Any honest opinions of whether I'm near the right ballpark or way too high/low are greatly appreciated. There aren't too many 55's here in Ontario and almost no 555's, so it's a bit of a rarity around here. But it's also not too pretty of a unit (though it runs well).

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/classifieds/massey-harris-555-diesel.1898/

It’s got an engine miss and is not running smoothly. As for price , don’t want to beat up up but I hardly think u will get 2k for it. The good … the Ihc muffler and fuel cap , lol. The bottom has fell out of this old tractor market already. And no idea if it has hydraulics , that’s a plus.

 

[DanielW]

Fair enough, I appreciate the honest response. I'm curious, did you notice the engine miss in those videos? Maybe in the first one where it started cold? It runs pretty smooth most of the time. It does have hydraulics. I suppose I'll keep it posted for that price, even if no one wants to pay it, and keep it around if it doesn't sell. If you're correct and $2k is all I could get for it, it's worth more for me to keep around as it still makes a decent tractor to rake and pull wagons with. It's not like I'll ever find a 70 HP tractor that cheap again.

 

[rustred]

Fair enough, I appreciate the honest response. I'm curious, did you notice the engine miss in those videos? Maybe in the first one where it started cold? It runs pretty smooth most of the time. It does have hydraulics. I suppose I'll keep it posted for that price, even if no one wants to pay it, and keep it around if it doesn't sell. If you're correct and $2k is all I could get for it, it's worth more for me to keep around as it still makes a decent tractor to rake and pull wagons with. It's not like I'll ever find a 70 HP tractor that cheap again.

Yes I can hear it huffing and puffing on start up. The driving down the road . You’re only running on 3 cylinders. Sounds like a bad valve to me. Check the compression and check the plugs. The missing cylinder will have a fouled up plug. Or post pics of the plugs.

 

[DanielW]

Plugs? It's a diesel. Those JD382's have a bit of an odd sound with their Lanova combustion chamber design. I'm sure you have a good ear for these things, but I'd be pretty surprised to learn that it's down a cylinder as I think even I would have noticed. It's sounded the same since I bought it, and I had it on a dyno at a local show shortly after I bought it and it was right around 68 HP.

 

[rustred]

Plugs? It's a diesel. Those JD382's have a bit of an odd sound with their Lanova combustion chamber design. I'm sure you have a good ear for these things, but I'd be pretty surprised to learn that it's down a cylinder as I think even I would have noticed. It's sounded the same since I bought it, and I had it on a dyno at a local show shortly after I bought it and it was right around 68 HP.

Ok, a side walk around round have been good. So with it bring a diesel , that will make it harder yet to sell. These tractors are very hard to sell. And that pbs injection pump is another down fall. Totally obsolete and no parts. You’re right it could be the diesel sound. Another thing is to include the top of exhaust on start ups. And what are u calling cold start ? A cold start is first thing in the morning . That way I look and see what the exhaust is doing . Not letting it cool off for a few hrs during the day.

 

[DanielW]

Hmm, now I wish I asked more for it. A few hours after having posted it on Facebook Marketplace last night some chap bought it and has already transferred money, and I have another guy in Ohio who's offering to pay more if I back out of my first deal (though I wouldn't do that). O well, at least it's sold. More room in the shed for the next project...

I never really understood the fear of the PBS pump (though one day that will probably come back to bite me on one of my projects). We had a guy that bought an Ollie (super 88, I think?), that had the quill shaft of the PBS pump twisted off from being stuck (unfortunately not an uncommon problem with them). He brought it from the diesel shop nearby into our work, our junior engineer kid drew it up in CAD and our machine shop made a new one lickety-split, which apparently worked dandy. If this was 30 years ago with manual machining everywhere, maybe I'd be a bit more leery of the pbs pumps, but with modern CNC mill-turns, there's no part of one of those PSB's you couldn't make new for a few hundred $, as long as you have someone who can accurately measure and infer the original dimensions.

 

[rustred]

Wow u did good , u found that rare Massey guy out there. Must be more Massey guys down east than here.

 

[DanielW]

I suspect so. And there aren't a lot of large wheatland tractors around here, so they're a little more rare. Out West I know units like the 55's and WD9's are almost given away. Around here guys seem to covet them.

 

[rustred]

I better advertised some down there. Lol. It’s a dead market here.

 

[mark49]

I know this is late, but do you happen to live at Otty Lake? I've seen one there on trips to my uncle's cottage.