3600 Ford question

[M Nut]

I have absolutly no expereince with these tractors, but a friend of my father's asked me if I would be interested in one with a 3 cylinder diesel engine and a loader. The tractor was supposedly in very good shape, but was damaged by a fire located near it. The damage is supposedly limited to one rear tire being destroyed and one hyd. hose for the loader. The fire was put out before anything else was damaged. It has been several years since it ran, but has been kept inside since. He said I could have it for $1500. I have no idea if this is a good deal, a fair deal, or if I should leave it go to the salvage yard. That's what he is going to do if I don't want it for $1500. Thanks for any advice you can offer. I truly am going into this with no knowledge of what to do.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had a track loader get burned and it took out a lot of gaskets and o-rings and such and the sheet metal would not paint back right. but I fixed it and used it for about for years before I sold it.

 

[balatonm]

I'd go look at it first, but if the tire and hose are all that need to be replaced, and the rest is in good condition, i'd buy it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Unless it's roasted, jump on that deal. In good repair, the tractor sells (around here anyway) for $5000 to $6000, add loader, another $1500+. Great little tractors.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Have you seen the 3600 ? I'd be wary if the paint was off it completely and appeared to have gotten real hot, but if it was just scorched like you mentioned, very possible not much harm was done, you won't know until you try to get it running. I'd be curious to know how it ran prior to the fire. Great that it's been inside, the loader is hard on the front axle pivot pins on them if it had a lot of hard use as a loader, industrial type front end is better, adjustable ag front still does the job, just not as heavy.

We have a 3600, it had a loader, been off some time, they are great utility tractors, if it were near me I'd have no choice but to look into buying it for that money, even if it ended up in parts, sounds real interesting, they are a great tractor and hold value, price one in good condition. They same as most Fords of that size, need lots of weight on the back, loaded tires and or chains sometimes depending on conditions and what you are doing, 3 cyl. diesel may be prone to cavitation if the coolant is not maintained, don't know a heck of a lot about that. It's a decent price, just need to look it over to see how far the heat really got.

 

[M Nut]

Ok, I am going to look at it this weekend. It sounds like price is ok? I'll take a close look and see how hot the fire seemed to be. I do know this fellow, and I know he will be honest with me. If he says it ran great, it did I'm sure. I'll also look at the front end as was suggested. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[Kirk Grau]

I will echo most of the other responses you have received. Take a good look at it, but if damage is not bad it is well worth that kind of money even if only for parts. I own one with a loader and gave ~$7000 for mine 2-3 years ago. Really a handy tractor to have. Parts are readily available for service from New Holland so go take a look and bring it home.

Kirk

 

[Anonymous-0]

Price is right, bring the cash and a trailer with you, if that 3600 has not been baked by the fire, it's possible or very likely to be a good deal. If he is set on scrapping it if not sold, the first hint of a srapper being involved tells me to have cash in hand and a trailer ready with something like this, you never know.

Don't be too worried about the front axle pivot pin too much, it's relatively minor compared to the rest of the tractor's value, just a wear item to know about, again if it was not cooked, to the point where gaskets, seals, o-rings, and fluids are burnt etc. ,and metal fatigue from heat, sounds like it was just scathed avoiding serious damage.

Scrappers make me nervous as they tend to jump the gun to get their hands on things, convincing owners that whatever it is, is junk in many instances, I'd be all over this one to see what the deal is before a scrapper shows up or the owner changes his mind.

I had that happen over a weekend over a '68 firebird converible 350 V-8 with 53,000 miles on it as a kid, told him it was sold friday he brought it in to work, he worked for us and we were on a crew together '83, told him I'd have $700 cash in hand on monday morning, had to get to the bank on Sat., he sold it over the weekend, never forgot that one, learned that early in life, no time like the present to make a deal when it's right.

 

[M Nut]

Good though. I'm going anyway, have the money, might as well bring the trailer. My only concern is loading it as this fellow has no other tractor or anything. I'm thinking I'll have to haul one of mine there to load it, haul the 3600 home, then go back and get my running tractor. Only 25 miles from home, so not a big deal I guess.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Take a few photos and post em here, would be interesting to see what it looks like, best of luck, hopefully it's good enough to repair and not too much trouble to load, 100 miles of driving is probably worth doing for something like this.

 

[RodinNS]

If it's only lightly damaged then go for it. Otherwise.... if you want a loader tractor, keep looking. The 3600 is not a good loader tractor. It's too light, mainly in the front. It's not something that you want to dump a pile of money into...

Rod