MF 2805

[Steve in IL]

For various reasons, there hasn’t been much of a following/demand for these tractors. But there was a nice one at a local consignment sale that sold pretty well… $27,000. 2600 hours. All new tires, including radial duals. 3 remotes. Small 1000 PTO. I’d give it a 9 out of 10 for general condition.

 

[moresmoke]

They got a bad rap at the beginning of their production. The 3 speed power shift had problems, some from design, some from workforce issues. That 640 V8 was also capable of much more hp than the rear end was designed for. At that point in time the hp races were on. The 2805 was a better fit for something like a forage harvester, than weighting it down and doing heavy tillage.

Had an old dealer mechanic tell me they tried one on a dyno to see how much power they could get out of it. Said they stopped at 450 as that was the end of the dyno.

I had a 2805 for a while. Was not a bad tractor, worst part was it was thirsty unless you were making use of the power.

 

[Steve in IL]

They got a bad rap at the beginning of their production. The 3 speed power shift had problems, some from design, some from workforce issues. That 640 V8 was also capable of much more hp than the rear end was designed for. At that point in time the hp races were on. The 2805 was a better fit for something like a forage harvester, than weighting it down and doing heavy tillage.

Had an old dealer mechanic tell me they tried one on a dyno to see how much power they could get out of it. Said they stopped at 450 as that was the end of the dyno.

I had a 2805 for a while. Was not a bad tractor, worst part was it was thirsty unless you were making use of the power.

Yes. They did have some issues… But they sure were nice (for that era).

The V8 was a beast. That little shaft 1000 PTO is likely the weak point.

The other issue for this tractor is that at this size the hobby farmers don’t generally go that big, and the serious farmers don’t generally go that old.

 

[moresmoke]

They could be swapped to a big 1000 shaft. All it took was unscrewing the retaining nut on the shaft and switch them. Most of the 2805’s did not have the 540 gears in them. Mine did. Not sure if it was factory or done after the fact.

 

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I really enjoy my 2805. Mine has 1945 hours as of last week. It's used on an 80 acre farm. Still has the original rear tires and original paint. In fact, tractordata.com has my photo in the photo section for that model. It gets about 15 hours a year and is part of one show a year.

 

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