# What's too much to spend on a tractor repair



## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

I have an Oliver 550, I think it's a 1974 if I decoded the serial number correctly. It has a front end loader, a pair of hydraulic remotes in the back, and sway locks on the 3 point. Sheet metal and paint are in real nice shape, engine in nice shape, tractor has just a little over 2,000 hours on it, 41 hp, good tread on tires (rear tires are probably 90% but are cracking and getting some dry rot). All in all, it works real nice for me, perfect to do things around the acreage and bale my hay. I paid $6,000 for the tractor last year.

However I'm looking at getting some PTO clutch work done, as well as some brakes (I'd say braking power is probably 10%). The costs I'm getting are $1200-1400 to do this work.

I think my wife is having a hard time coming to terms with that, but she's looking at this like a car. I've explained to her you can't look at a tractor like a car. A tractor lasts a very, very long time, they don't need repairs too often but when they do, it's never cheap. however that repair might make the tractor go another 20 years. And if I were to go get a different tractor that had the same features as this one, it probably would cost me more and would still be an old tractor with no guarantee that it wouldn't require repairs too.

I'm very mechanically inclined, I restore cars as a hobby and do make some repairs to this tractor myself as well, but I'm not comfortable with these types of repairs on a tractor as I don't know a lot about it, and frankly, I don't have the time, and can't afford for the tractor to be down very long because I use it frequently.

However, as part of my due diligence, is it crazy for me to put this kind of money down on repairs or is this something everybody is doing, is part of tractor ownership, and is worth it?


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Let's say the tractor, if repaired, is worth $6000. Seems reasonable enough considering you just recently paid that, but I can't guarantee you didn't over or under pay. (Of course, the tractor surely needed brakes then so really as far as value goes we're only concerned with the pto clutch)

I doubt you'd get $4500 for it now in need of repair so it seems a no-brainer to fix it. And if you need it back ASAP, you'd be more likely to over pay for a replacement tractor in lieu of repair. Fix it.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I know $1,400 is a lot of money, but in today's repair expenses, I'd say do the repairs. 
I just spent $1,000 to replace the controller box on a 3 yr old baler. Pissed me off to no end. No excuse for having that piece take a dump so new. 
If you are considering a newer tractor, the repairs will only be more expensive.
I think you probably know deep down inside its best to fix it. You know you'll have an even improved version of what you already really like.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Two years ago I put a clutch and pto clutch and a rear main seal in a 1972 model JD 4000. It is my rake tractor and sometimes pulls a baler.
I didn't even think twice about it and haven't looked back. It was almost $2400.
You know what you have, and also the replacement costs of a different one. Get it fixed.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Other option scrap this tractor or just down grade to loader tractor, bit dangerous with poor brakes tho. Than spend another $6000 on another tractor that will need 1000-2000 in some sort of repairs. So than you spent a lot more money to get no farther ahead.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Thats cheap, replaced injection pump and injectors on one of the articulated tractors this spring, was closer to $1800. Then spent $450 on a rebuilt driveshaft, another $600 for a used scavenger pump assembly for another articulated, if your gonna use em, you have to fix em sooner or later, simple fact of life.

The tires on our big articulated are close to $3000 a piece.

It is nice though when you can do your own repairs, the reverser was slipping on our John Deere backhoe, local JD construction place was talking at least $2000 and that was 20 years ago, mainly the o-rings were bad and leaking too much oil, think I had less than 20 bucks in o-rings and maybe a couple hundred bucks more in a input and output bearing and other odd JD specific wear items.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

Hit the brakes...and not on your Oliver, but on the proverbial car. Why would a car being any different than a tractor?

In my honest opinion, if a person is applying different logic to a tractor then a car, then they are going down the wrong road in fiscal terms as well! I dislike repair costs and the inconvenience of them as well, however when people start thinking that it would be cheaper to make new car payments rather then do repairs, they are fooling themselves. With more expensive parts, registration rates, insurance and taxes...it would take an AWFUL LOT OF REPAIRS before the tipping point was reached.

Myself, I run junk. I admit it. The family grocery-getter (Ford Explorer) for my family of six is a 2009, and my run-about-town car is a 2008 Ford Focus that has 150,000 miles on it. I got another 100,000 to go before I even consider replacing it. My last Ford Focus had 245,000 miles on it before it was retired. Yeah the Government hates me because I don't contribute a lot to this new throwaway economy, but I like my debt-free lifestyle just the same.

Pay down debt any way you can, starting with the high interest stuff first. Then fix ANYTHING you can, for as long as you can, and you will be shocked at what you gain in a short amount of time. This is not just a suggestion for the repair of this tractor, but for life in general.

(Note: The written word often lacks the ability to properly convey tone; this is not an in-your-face-post by any means, just a way to try to get you to look at financial dealings in a different way)


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

I wish I could take credit for the above post, but actually it is derived directly from the bible. Proverbs to be exact.

Today there are pastors on main stream TV who claim if you do this, that, and the other like the bible says, you will get rich. It is called Prosperity Preaching and it is just plain wrong. There is no magic formula.

It IS true there are over 2000 versus in the bible on money and God did that because money is important. Let me tell you how it worked in my life. Only when I realized God is all knowing, and I am an arrogant person yet who in reality is really is no more then pond-scum, yet God loves me anyway, I started to realize maybe I should try and live by what he says in the bible. Guys, I am struggling so hard with the do's that I really don't have time to get bothered by the don'ts. Spending my money wisely over the last 6 years is one of those ways, and it has been hard, but I am really starting to see where being financially conservative is the way to go.

The key is not doing what 2000 verses says to do; its having a relationship with God first.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

RuttedField said:


> Hit the brakes...and not on your Oliver, but on the proverbial car. Why would a car being any different than a tractor?


Because she was looking at the tractor like it was at the end of its usable life, just because it was old. In that respect, as someone who likes to work on old cars, I'll say tractors are a lot different. They were built to last for a very long time and for the most part, they do; cars simply are not, and do not last a very long time, not like tractors do. Just look at the number of unrestored tractors of 50's, 60's, and 70's vintage still in regular use today. You just don't see that with cars, and when I seek out cars to restore, they're in bad shape. There's a lot of systems to maintain that wear relatively quickly on a car, and it's not safe to 'get by' with them in all cases like many of us do with our old tractors.

Yes, I've been known a time or two to put my loader on the ground to stop the tractor when it wasn't stopping fast enough  Hence the reason for finally getting this repair.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just brought my Grandfathers 1964 Oliver 1600 home today from the last field of hay I baled, tedded over 120 acres of hay without so much as a hiccup, no silly sensors on it, all gauges are mechanical and it was paid for decades ago. It used to do all the round baling as well and never let me down, had to drop a clutch in it this spring, but that's minor compared to some of the electrical or emission nightmares the newer tractors have.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

We have a tractor that spun a rod bearing this spring, it's an '81 and we aren't gonna fix it. Not because we don't want to, but it has a shot peened counter balanced crank which is near impossible to grind. Hoping to find an 8.3 Cummins to repower it. Stuff is too expensive to throw away and buy new. Even if we were independently wealthy, we'd still go the cheap route.

Fix the tractor or sell it to me! I need more projects...


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

RuttedField said:


> Hit the brakes...and not on your Oliver, but on the proverbial car. Why would a car being any different than a tractor?
> 
> In my honest opinion, if a person is applying different logic to a tractor then a car, then they are going down the wrong road in fiscal terms as well! I dislike repair costs and the inconvenience of them as well, however when people start thinking that it would be cheaper to make new car payments rather then do repairs, they are fooling themselves. With more expensive parts, registration rates, insurance and taxes...it would take an AWFUL LOT OF REPAIRS before the tipping point was reached.
> 
> ...


The other difference is the world is covered in used cars. Cheap. They are a throw away item to many people. A want instead of a need, so therefore there are plenty out there available that were replaced simply because someone felt like it. Need a cheap car tomorrow? No problem. They all do basically the same thing - get you from point A to point B. If one must replace a tractor tomorrow, good luck. There isn't the same glut to select from and once you find a few to need to determine features you need, as in this case a loader would be necessary.

If you have something solid, reasonably clean, and has the features you need, it's easy to decide to fix something. Granted, you still don't want to sink a bunch of money in a tractor and get upside down, but you have to recognize that the depreciation curve is completely different than an automobile and that, hopefully, ownership and maintenance of the tractor is going to make money.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

double post


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

So my plan has been all along to get it repaired (I'm taking it in on Thursday), and that's because I am the repair it rather than replace it kind of guy, even with my cars--even with my 2005 F150. I can make a lot of repairs to that truck before I'd come close to paying for a significantly newer truck. Fortunately the truck hardly needs anything but I wouldn't blink to put $1k or 2k in it. Still much cheaper than the alternative.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

What mlappin said about simplicity and not all the stupid emissions crap and electronic sensors and stuff is right. Simple equals reliable, less to go wrong. That has value in and of itself.

When it comes to vehicles, I look at it this way-- I can afford a LOT of repairs for what payments on something newer would cost. I'm running an 02 F-150 Supercrew with 289,000 miles on it, the wife's car is a 95 Buick Roadmaster she inherited from her mother when she passed, and we also drive Dad's old 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, just to keep the miles down on the F-150 since that's our farm truck. I still have the 1996 F-150 we had before we bought the 02 pickup in 04, though it had about 200,000 miles on it when we stopped licensing and insuring it. We kept it as a backup.

Yeah, I just spent $1300 last fall on the 02 F-150, to replace the timing chains and chain guides because it kept throwing repeated lean on bank 1 and rich on bank 2 codes... (it's a long story). Also replaced the catalytic converters for a second time... BUT, payments on a newer used truck would still run about $400-500 a month, FOR YEARS, before it was paid off. Looking at it that way, even a $1300 repair bill every couple years still wouldn't equal just three months of payments on something newer. AND, just because it's newer DOES NOT mean that it won't have problems... my sister stays in newer cars and she still ends up having to take the car to the shop now and then and drops several hundred bucks or more on it....

SO, having it paid for, I just generally run stuff until its falling apart, and cheaper to buy something newer than keep repairing it.

Works for me!

Later! OL J R


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

My favorite tractor is a JD 4010 that we bought my senior year in HS. I decided to start restoring it as it is a workhorse. I told my wife it was more that likely going to take around 10K to do it (2X what it cost new) but she said it was a lot cheaper than a new tractor. So far it's had a complete in frame OH and a new clutch, new injectors and pump and all new gauges and seat. I'm now using it mowing hay to get all the leaks stopped before painting intending to get it looking just like it did in 1963. And no it's not going to be a show tractor. It will still be working long after I am gone. So it just depends what you want to do. These older tractors a far and away better than what is sold today Yes they are not as sporty or have lounge chairs for seats and heated seats and fridges in them but when taken care of they will run and run and are very simple to work on. My neighbor trades every two years and every time the least little something goes wrong he has to call JD to hook the computer up to it. My 4010 won't start? just hook a chain to the pickup and pull start it. Nuff said.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

A 4020 is my 'dream tractor,' as nerdy as that sounds. 4010 might as well be the same thing. I just like the way they look, sound, good power, I like the collar shift too. Both of my grandpa's had 4020's, I always thought they looked so cool up on those big tractors, and the 4020 was the tractor I learned to drive on (one of my grandpa's, naturally). I guess the nostalgia factor is probably a lot of it too. I keep warning my wife that some day, I WILL own a 4020. And I would just be tickled if it were my grandpa's.


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

mlappin said:


> Just brought my Grandfathers 1964 Oliver 1600 home today from the last field of hay I baled, tedded over 120 acres of hay without so much as a hiccup, no silly sensors on it, all gauges are mechanical and it was paid for decades ago. It used to do all the round baling as well and never let me down, had to drop a clutch in it this spring, but that's minor compared to some of the electrical or emission nightmares the newer tractors have.


Can't say if this is really true or not, someone told me it was around 12K to get into the DEF system on a tractor. Thanks EPA!


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

TJH said:


> Can't say if this is really true or not, someone told me it was around 12K to get into the DEF system on a tractor. Thanks EPA!


My distributor for Heatmaster also handles the Bad Boyz mowers, said their diesel model with the Cat 4 cylinder went up almost 3K in price because the previous model year was non DEF and the new model was DEF.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

TJH said:


> Can't say if this is really true or not, someone told me it was around 12K to get into the DEF system on a tractor. Thanks EPA!


I can buy an entire older tractor in running condition for that.

Screw the gubmint... I'll keep my old stuff.

Later! OL J R


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Upkeep isn't cheap. New iron isn't either.

Sounds like a nice tractor for what it is. Fix what goes wrong and it will pay. Or let it go and scrap it.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Took me awhile to figure this one out, but that is why some used stuff is really cheap. And some not so. For the "same" thing.


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

While it may be painful to drop a grand or two to repair an old tractor, that 8 or 9 hundred a month payment will get old very quickly and still won't guarantee you won't have a grand or two repair bill.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

I know what you guys are saying, and I agree...too a point.

What my point is, even "throw-away-cars" like my junk Ford Focus can go a lot farther then people give them credit for. It is a junk, cheap car, yet I can get 250,000 miles out of it. I typically buy rebuilt Ford Focuses from a guy that gets them from insurance salvage auctions. For 5 grand cash I can buy one, put it on the road with minimal insurance and pound out a 180,000 miles before I need to rinse and repeat.

It may be different in various parts of the country, but here I see this all the time. People with 3.5 acres having 60 HP Kubota tractors when a simple 25 HP tractor would work just fine. Here we call them "Kubota Farmer's". I had one guy ask me how I could get by with my 27 HP tractor with so much acreage. This guy only had 27 acres and had an 80 HP tractor.

Me I am a minimalist by nature. My little 27 HP Kubota pulls out 12 cord of wood per week burning 4 gallons doing so. I make a living at it, yet the guys around me with feller-bunchers, skidders, delimbers and loaders all burning 5-6 gallons of fuel per hour...not to mention big payments, have them beside the road for sale now that many paper mills have closed. I guess I just look at things differently.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Nothing wrong with that Rut.

And nothing wrong with being over prepared either. To each his own.


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## chazhk (Apr 17, 2016)

Hayjosh, when reading your initial post it sounded like you had your mind made up to repair but just needed a second opinion. I think the results are in and repair has won the election. Sounds like a no brainer to me. I just bought a new tractor and I think it's more electronic than mechanical which means after warranty if breaks down it's going to take $$$$ to fix it. If I were you I'd repair that sucker and smile every time I cranked it up! Good luck and hope you get many more years of work out of that Oliver!


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

Spending money on old stuff is common around here, and a lot cheaper than owning new.

The engine on my JD 3010 diesel ate her pigs a couple weeks ago. A rod bearing let loose bad and took the crank, and the piston slapped the head pretty good. The repairs will likely cost $6000. The tractor is worth around $8000. it was a no brainer to fix it up right. Its a handy and useful tractor. It is 55 years old and has made it this long. I could go buy another similar one for around $8000 but it could hatch as soon as I buy it too. Fix it right and you shouldn't have to deal with the area you repair for a very long time.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

A $250,000 New Holland silage chopper was down for 3 days during prime chopping season due to a broken ground. Stinking (1) 12 gauge wire broke and caused that much loss of production. Finding it took 3 days, .69 cents for a crimped terminal fixed the problem, but with today's computers and ambitious lawyers and equally high liability, if a sensor is not working, it shuts the machine down.

A 936 Cat Bucket loader I know of was also down. It had a blown fuse caused by a chaffed wire in the dome light. THAT was hard to find. But the fuse panel...you had to stand on the ladder going up into the cab, reach around the door, under the dash and behind the ROPS frame to get to it. What MORON engineer at Caterpillar deduced that was an ideal spot for a fuse block?

Me...I am NOT running for President, but if I was, I would make it a law that anything has a running engine, would have to paint any SMOG, liability switches and other non-essential parts some funky pink-fusia color so in the throes of a breakdown, a mechanic would know just which parts are functional and which parts could be quickly eliminated so the engine driven machine could be put back to running with a minimum of fuss.

Rutted Field for President (no...really...NO!)


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

chazhk said:


> Hayjosh, when reading your initial post it sounded like you had your mind made up to repair but just needed a second opinion. I think the results are in and repair has won the election. Sounds like a no brainer to me. I just bought a new tractor and I think it's more electronic than mechanical which means after warranty if breaks down it's going to take $$$$ to fix it. If I were you I'd repair that sucker and smile every time I cranked it up! Good luck and hope you get many more years of work out of that Oliver!


Yes, you would be correct. I figured it was an easy call to get the repairs, but as I'm not very experienced in this area I needed a gut check.

It's a nice tractor and has tons of life in it, and I find the gear shift to the side of you much easier to work than in between your legs.

I dropped it off to a guy on Thurs night. I think this guy is a right match for me and this tractor to do this work so I'm glad I was able to find him.

I've attached a pic of this tractor.


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## chazhk (Apr 17, 2016)

Great!

Uuhh...you are gonna turn that tractor right side up before you drive it aren't you? 

Congrats!!


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Didn't you get the memo? I'm in the South Pole!


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## chazhk (Apr 17, 2016)

Ooooh...well that makes perfectly good sense!


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## labdwakin (Jun 21, 2016)

Just my thoughts when it comes to explaining the cash expenditure to the boss lady...

A tractor's life doesn't have as much to do with years as hours and rough use. A car isn't built nearly as tough but it's pretty easy to get 250k miles out of one if you take care of it. That's about 5,000 hours at an average speed of 50 mph. Tractors (especially the older ones) are easily twice as tough as a car. 10,000 hours on a well-maintained tractor isn't hard to do either.

So, if it comes up again, I'd just try to explain to her that it's not the years, it's the hours


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

That's what I had explained to her too...this tractor has only a little over 2000 hrs which is really low.

The flip side to it is not operating a motor is almost as bad as lots of operation.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

If it makes you feel any better I'm getting ready to shell out $3,000 to fix an 8 yr old truck.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Just an update, guy texted me and said great news! PTO clutch just needed adjusted and has a lot of life left from what he can tell. Brakes are in dire need of rebuild. Cost now would be $700-800.

So that's good to hear. Spending half of what you were expecting is never bad news


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Hayjosh said:


> Just an update, guy texted me and said great news! PTO clutch just needed adjusted and has a lot of life left from what he can tell. Brakes are in dire need of rebuild. Cost now would be $700-800.
> 
> So that's good to hear. Spending half of what you were expecting is never bad news


Congratulations on the great news.

A couple of years ago, I had the clutch on our only tractor, a JD 5410 bought used, adjusted full out by a JD repair shop to make it go a few more seasons. Not wanting to have the tractor down when alfalfa was on the ground, I took it in for a new clutch after completing the fourth cutting this season. The AC and the roof leaked also. Had the roof and clutch replaced and the AC repaired for about 3.5 K and considered that a worthwhile investment considering the cost of a new tractor, or even the cost of a low-hr used JD 5410 similarly equipped. With the summer heat being quite intense, I really enjoyed the functional AC on my renewed, used tractor while using it with a brush grapple to remove downed trees from pastures yesterday. Had to readjust clutching as the tractor began moving much sooner than I was used to.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

Sooo glad I got these repairs. It's like a new tractor. The brakes are so responsive now it almost throws you out of the seat, PTO works great, clutch works great...tractor in general is just a lot more responsive and makes hooking up to implements a lot easier too since it stays in place with the brake and doesn't roll forward after you just got lined up. Will definitely feel a lot more comfortable when I get it out in the field.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Yep amazing what a few small repairs can do especially after fighting something that was broken, rigged enough to get by or in need of replacements... .btdt and put a little over full value in one and two thirds in another to get everything fixed properly now they're good to go for hopefully many many years. Just remember they don't make them like they used too and that's a big factor imo


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## labdwakin (Jun 21, 2016)

My dad passed away on Christmas Day of 2013. He had a New Holland TN75D that he bought used. He hated the enclosed cab and wouldn't listen to me about it being bad news bears to get dust and rain and everything else in the cab of a newer tractor. Since he passed away I've had to: buy a new ECM, 2 doors, 2 windows, hydraulic pump, drill out and re-tap mounting holes for the loader, clean the fuel tank and lines (he lost the cap and when NH said it was $35 for a new one he just cleaned up an old Mayonnaise Jar and turned it upside down over the filler neck), foam filled both front tires, bought one new front tire, re-charged the AC system and changed the filters for the cab... and the list goes on.

My point is this: pay me now or pay me later, but if you don't maintain your equipment, you'll pay in SPADES.

Glad you got your workhorse up and running in good shape!


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