Worst Massey tractor?

[Richard in Bee]

I'm trying to do an article on what is perceived as the worst model of most of the major brands is. JD guys will say the 2010, Ford the 6000 and Oliver seems too be the 1855.
What do you think the worst model of Massey is, particularly from the late 1950s on? For those of you "Massey never built a bad tractor" guys, okay, what was the least good?

 

[Dale39]

(quoted from post at 12:10:47 06/09/17) I'm trying to do an article on what is perceived as the worst model of most of the major brands is. JD guys will say the 2010, Ford the 6000 and Oliver seems too be the 1855.
What do you think the worst model of Massey is, particularly from the late 1950s on? For those of you "Massey never built a bad tractor" guys, okay, what was the least good?

1085 ranks right down there near the bottom

 

[GreenEnvy]

The Massey 1500/1800.

 

[nrowles]

I don't have a lot of knowledge on this but from my experience looking at the smaller older tractors it seemed to be the 235 had a bad reputation.

 

[Roy in UK]

1080 and what replaced it in Europe, The 595.

 

[Tony in Mass.]

Hey Roy, in your mind, how bad were the MF25's? Both Sam and Julie were pulling me away from a nice barn find at the FENA show. I cried for days..

 

[C Elliott]

235 (power steering from hell), 1080-1085
(head gaskets), 1500-1800 four wheel drive
(everything bad!), 2745-2775-2805 with 24
speed trans (transmissions were a nightmare
and cost Massey to lose most of their market
share for large 2wd tractors? , Brazilian
built Massey's like 451-491 (quality control
issues).

 

[DavidP, South Wales]

Hi, I would tend to agree about the 1080 although once the gearbox input shaft seal problem was resolved it did improve the tractor. Didn't have a lot of trouble with 595s here in South Wales.
My choice for this title would be split between the FE35 and the 130.
The FE 35 was a sweet running tractor but once the compression lost its edge it became a problem to start. Numerous cures have been tried with varying degrees of success.
The French-made 130 was a very different tractor to the UK-made 135, 165 and 175 that it was launched with in 1964. The 4.108 engine had a bit of a habit of poor breathing which caused the oil to gel and in some cases led to the attempted escape of a con-rod through the side of the engine block. Later French 'in-betweeners' such as the 122 bore a greater resemblance to the 135.

DavidP, South Wales

 

[miner09]

Tony if you had bought it you might have cried for months. LOL

 

[ptfarmer]

The FE35 with the Standard Motor Company 2.3L 4-cyl diesel, those engines were horrible.

 

[John Deere D]

Massey Ferguson 88 Continental Diesel....Nothing really nice or dependable about the poor thing:

OH.....High gear was ok for a trip to the Pub:

 

[richardinnz]

1080/595 and the 130 had to be the worst. also the 2640, I think it was splitting in half at the centre housing, leaves only the cab and the gearbox shafts holding the tractor together, real job to load up on to a lorry, then trying to clean the oil off the road!

 

[Tony in Mass.]

Were those 2640 castings made in India? I've seen MF housings from there crack.
Miner, you might be right... but .... i bet it is still there.... poms in the know telling me about one off wheels, weak arsend and pto's, the worst of all Perkins engines- who CAT does not make replacement parts for.... but still.... i think of what could have been...
Dieseltech is still trying to get the bugs out of my 23C, but the rest of the 35 is as good as the rest- David! Do you know when the design for the 35 up arsend went out of production? I was told 1985 to 90 or so?

 

[chuckinnc]

Massey 35 with 4 cylinder standard diesel, even in middle of summer it required 1/2 can of starting fluid and a prayer to start.

 

[Tony in Mass.]

I speak to my 23c when it doesn't start too... but it isn't a prayer.
Got it so starting isn't such a problem, but the smoke still is.

 

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I would say the 2700/2800 series tractors which began in 1976. The transmission issues nearly cost Massey Ferguson their name. Several recalls on many items. Those tractors in which recalls were completed had new decals to make them the newer model tractors as introduced in 1977. One could start with poor designs causing fires in the engine valley. Hydraulic issues causing the indicator lights to illuminate on the dash. Three point cylinders being too small to lift large attachments. Shift and blown o-ring problems. The dash wiring was/is a ribbon with contacts which caused failures. The list goes on.