Tractor purchase

[flying belgian]

It's to late now but you should have kept your 1586. I've never heard anyone complain,,,gosh I wish my tractor didn't have so much horsepower. Even with 2 wheel drive a 1586 makes a good loader tractor. "sold my 1586 as I didn't use it enough" What's that even mean? You could get a 30 hp sub compact and really have to use it a lot to do your tractor work if work hours are what your after.

But like I've said many times.... ias long as you don't owe me any money I don't care what you do with yours. I would go with the CaseIH.

 

[ASE guy]

I don't want to hijack this thread with a lengthy list of my thoughts on the 105, but if you look at my reply in this thread I list my reasons. But I do acknowledge that most of these are personal preference, and other folks may have completely different views.

8

Thread 'White 2-85'

May 11, 2023

Can anyone tell me the good and bad about a white 2-85. There is one coming up on an auction locally. I believe that model had the Perkins motor in? Any info would help.TIA

• 86ontherez
• Replies: 9
• Forum: White

I have a Massey Ferguson with the Perkins 3 cylinder. In my opinion it is a very good engine. No complaints at all.

 

[ss55]

Well, here's an update. I'm thinking of retiring sooner than I had planned, so I think I'm going to try to find something a little older. I've seen Deere 4020's and 4230's and looks like loaders can be added, and I've seen some that already have loaders. Not stuck on Deere's, that's just what Ive seen so far in my new price range.

2X on find a tractor with a loader already on it, unless you plan to buy a brand new loader.

Are you thinking of retiring from an off-farm job or thinking of cutting back on your farming? This might be a good time to cash out of farming before another 1980's style farm crash.

 

[DanielW]

I suspect you'd have to pretty much rule out FWA/4WD and loader for under $20k - at least in the HP range you were initially looking at. If you say you were looking into 4020's and 4230's, it sounds like you've probably ruled out FWA already.

You might consider some of the lesser-popular brands/models, because Deere's (and IH's to a lesser extent) will demand a premium. Although I hate our 2-105, loads of people love them, and you could likely get a pretty tidy one for under $10k. I'll mention again our neighbour's Deutz DX90 that I absolutely love, and he uses as a go-to tractor and beats the heck out of. You could probably even find a 4WD DX90 for $20k (though I'd want to look over it carefully, because any 4X4 tractor less than $20k has a good chance of having been beat to heck).

It may be time to re-examine your HP/size/loader requirements. This is a bit of a guess, but it sounds like you're primarily doing food plots and some CRP work, and not a lot of regular tillage nor heavy farm work? How many acres are you working per year, and how much of that will be heavy tillage and require a large or loader tractor? We run a pretty small/pokey operation compared to most: About 850 acres at our Northern farm, and about two thirds of that is bush that we operate a pokey sawmill operation from. But we still have a fair amount of farm land and run cattle. And up until 10 years ago our largest tractor was a 2WD Ford 6600. Our main loader tractor is still a 45 HP Kubota 4X4. Even now that we have the 2-105, it sees very little use compared to everything else. And if it died tomorrow (or if I drove it off a cliff, which I'm tempted to do every time I get in it), we'd get by just fine.

I'm currently in talks with a chap to buy an Allis 7045 for our Southern farm. Something like that might be worth you considering. You pay a lot less for Allis. You do have to be a little more careful about what you're looking at: A lot of the 7000 series had concerns. But the 7040/7045 was a good unit: Built on the same frame as larger tractors like the 7060, but with less power, so the rear-ends and trannies were robust because they were designed to handle more HP. And the 426's were decent, snappy engines.

Also keep in mind that an 80+ HP loader tractor is not going to be very nimble for loader work. And a cab will be especially limiting on where you can go for loader work. If we had a loader on a cabbed tractor, I doubt it would ever get used, because so much of what we use a loader for is in the bush and under/around barns, where the cab wouldn't fit or would always be catching branches.

I'm making a (possibly incorrect) assumption that you're not covering a huge amount of land per year. But if that's the case and I was in your shoes, and knowing you're probably not going to see huge return on investment from food-plots and CRP, I'd maybe consider a complete re-evaluation of what you're looking for. Some cheap 2WD HP in the 80-140 HP region for tillage work (like the 7045, DX90, or 2-85/105) would probably set you back $5-10k. Then spend another $5-10k for a more nimble 40-60 HP loader tractor. Or find a compromise with an 80 HP loader tractor without a cab. Just an idea.