Ford 971 tractor buy or not ?

I have found a ford 971 tractor, diesel, power steering, SOS, and "Brand New tires" . The problem ----- the tractor was taken completely apart and split, then the owner passed away. The wife is looking to sell b/c she has no use for it. As far as the wife and other family members no the reason for the tractor being tore down was for a complete restoration. I guess it was used daily and ran fine, who know"s ?

Would you buy it for 1500 and take a risk or walk and keep looking.

Thanks for the advice

If the motor is still together then it alone would be worth the $1500. If you are a good mechanic and can do this type of work then it should work out alright. At today's prices the tires alone would be worth most of the money. If I did not already have a 981 I would be hot for it. I always liked the diesels just because they where more rare.

I would offer about $ 750 to 850 .Who knows if everything is there?

JMHO

Vito

The engine was removed and is now on a engine stand. Very little rust and was always stored inside. 3pt hitch, lights and tin is really straight. Is the SOS trans any good? heard they are expensive to fix when broke

SOS is the best transmission Ford offered in that era. Of course that's my opinion and others will disagree.

SOS repairs are no different from any other repair in terms of expense. They can run from 10 cents to thousands of dollars, depending on the problem . . . if they have one.

Admittedly, the original 01 series red transmission was not the bullet proof unit that the first blue ones were and continued to be as long as they were produced.

Some of the 01s were updated to the blue transmission under a Ford replacement program. This 971 may or may not have been. Study the casting number on the transmission. If it's 312259 it is the original case and may or may not have had any updates. Any C*NN-7006-B is a blue transmission.

thats very helpful.. Thank you

Forgot to add - the * in the blue number could represent either a 0 or a 3.

The SOS transmission is not that hard to work on IF you are familiar with modern car automatics or tractor power shift transmissions. It just is planetary and band that are hydraulically applied.

They where fine IF you did not do stupid things with them. Under heavy loads don't shift with out clutching when you shift the gears that shift two clutch packs at the same time. That was a large jump that would jerk the tractor. They would do what ever you told it to do. So if you wanted to shift to road gear chained to tree it would try it.

As far as cost the parts are getting high priced and many are not available through Ford anymore. A lot of the discontinued parts where just orings and such. These you can make or buy. Some of the valves are in short supply too but many times you can have yours repaired by some one that has a machine shop.

It sounds like it would not lose you money even if the trans was bad. The sheet metal,tires, and engine will bring more than the $1500 they are asking. I would not push it too hard on the price. If anyone that is knowledgeable about Fords finds out about it they will snap it up. The diesel engines are in demand. The transmission parts are worth a lot too.


How I would go about it is to put the engine back in the tractor. Then get it running. With it running you then can tell if the engine is good and if the transmission is good. This is the best way to tell if problems are in the SOS. I have had SOS trans apart that looked fine and they would not work. Had to go through a shift/trouble shooting chart to locate the problem.

I just bought a 981 last year with a gas engine that had a broken piston in it. The tires are 90% but the sheet metal is rough and the rims are mismatched. I gave $1000 for it. So to me the $1500 for a diesel even apart is not too far out of range.

The things I would consider:
1)Are you wanting a tractor to use a lot or just one to collect use a little?
2) How good of a mechanic are you?
3) How big of a project can you complete?

If you are wanting a heavy usage tractor then I would pass on it. If you are just an average mechanic then I would pass on it. If you have trouble completing long projects then I would pass on it.

You can get a running Gear drive model for $2500-3000 so unless you want something rarer to collect then I would pass it.

It is a parts tractor. Although it's worth at least a grand as such, you should not delude yourself in thinking you can buy it and get it running for less than it will cost to buy a running tractor in good condition. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, it's a pig in a poke.

I'll be one to agree. We had a 6000 Commander that us teenage kids ran the heck out of on the farm back in the early 70's. Only problem was the seal between the tranny and the rear end would fail and fluid from one would get into the other (forget which way it went). It had to go in a be split and repaired. Otherwise it was a strong tractor and transmission combo.

plow24 i went and looked at this tractor it was only the engine that was removed and tore down
it had a new engine rebuild kit and came with a big engine stand tires are new like add said