Buying a 3000 help

[Ken(Ark)]

I have a neighbor that wants to sell me his 3000 diesel . he ran it out of diesel and could not get it to start . he got tired of working on it and bought a new kabota . that,s all I know so far , I have not even seen it but I know the guy and he is not trying to pawn it off for more than it is worth .

I will trailer it to my shop and prime the injectors and get it started before I buy it . what things should I look at for wear or problems .

I have N tractors and have worked on gasoline motors all my life but not diesels and limited to the N,s on tractors .

Thanks for any advise . I don't know what fair market value is either ? Yeah I know that's a wide range on price too . Thanks - Ken.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I had never owned a diesel till about 7
years ago.
I already owned a 3000 gasser.
Then I bought a 3600 diesel that had caught
on fire. It was an easy transtion. I had a
parts tractor - a diesel that broke the
crank, so I started swapping parts -
injector pump, filters, lines and injectors
and reading the I&T FO-31 on how to bleed
everything. It wasn't hard at all. When I
got it all bled the battery was too low to
turn it over so my brother towed me with the
pickup and it popped right off and ran like
a sweet heart.
Since then I've had several diesels and
while I'm no expert on them, I've learned
there's no reason to be afraid of them.
The 3000s are outstanding small tractors.
They're an N with a lot more options.
I too started with Ns and will say they are
quite familiar to anyone who has owned an N.
As for value, well you know we can't help
much without knowing more about it - tires,
tin, paint, etc. The twin stick 8 speed is
worth more than the single stick 4 speed.
Live pto adds value. Power steering is a big
plus. If he gave up on it I'd guess he'll
let it go reasonable.
Around here Average 3000 starts about $3K
and goes up to maybe $5.5K for a pretty one
with the good options.
I would expect to pay significantly less for
one that didn't run - kind of a pig in a
poke as you well know.
I have owned a bunch of 3 cylinder Fords -
2/3/4000, etc. They come and go here. But my
own 3000 is my all time favorite. They will
pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
Get us some decent photos of it and we can
help you evaluate it.

 

[Hobo,NC]

Hard to say with out more details. Before you go working on it what is he asking for it... After I got my 3000 Gasser like I wanted it I rarely used a N anymore, I even sold my best N and put the money toward a Bota DDDiesel but the 3000 is not for sale nor my collection of farmall 100's/140's.

 

[Eman85]

look at Craigslist to compare prices and condition for value. Diesels eliminate spark as a factor replacing it with compression. Fairly simple to diagnose as long as it has compression. I'd start by charging the battery and make sure it cranks over fast enough. You can bleed the filter and the pump and then the injectors. You'll get white smoke out of the stack if it's getting fuel. If it's empty I'd pull the petcock and clean or replace the tank screen and the fuel filter. If it was running fine before he ran it out of fuel it should run fine again. Keep in mind that those diesel didn't start good in the cold when new. If it's cold out i always plug my 2600 in and let the coolant warm up.

 

[souNdguy]

Dittwaht UD said. as long as it is not an SOS trans.. just add fuel, open valve, open throttle, and get a tow. easy way to prime one.

 

[TimInd]

One land mine: A lot of folks have over used starting fluid on the diesels, and have broken dthe piston rings as a result. You need at least 200rpm to fire up a 3000. If it is well above freezing temperature, it ought to fire up pretty quickly. But if it cranks and cranks, that could be a sign of low compression, perhaps due to cracked rings. Also, once she gets warmed up, she should not be blowing blue smoke out the exhaust.

 

[flyingace]

The hydraulics have always been a fly in the ointment with mine. It seems to lose prime easily and takes forever to get it working once it does. I'm not the only 3000 user with this problem either. Make sure the lift is working when you first start it up.

Besides that, I have had no major mechanical problems. I think they are very solid small tractors.

 

[Ultradog MN]

What all have you done to fix it?
Which style of hydraulic lines do you have - early or late?
I have pulled my hair out a couple of times getting them to prime but then they worked good and held prime after that.