950 Engine Rebuild Questions/Price

So have moved from AK to CA, and sold my little Bobcat before moving and looking now for a deal on a compact tractor, as frankly I think it will be more useful than a Bobcat in retrospect.

There is a early 80's 950, 2wd for sale locally with a "rod knock." It has the Deere 75 loader in it. It is in generally good condition, sunbaked but most hoses replaced, no significant leaks, shows 2687 hours, and has 2 brand new (last fall) rear tires. The size here is good for me for what I want it for.

Now I've never heard one of these 3 cylinder Yanmar's before, but I have had several 3 cylinder Kubotas in various equipment. The noise it makes is deeper than I associate with a rod knock (in an auto 4 cylinder or v8 sense) more of a heavier thud, though it does increase when you lift off the throttle.

So asking price on the rig is $1500, I'm imagining I might get it for half that, optimistically, probably $1000 as the guy knows what he had in the tires last fall.

Frankly I'd be surprised if this rig would get $4000 running solidly being 2wd, maybe a bit more with the new rear tires, but you see 4wd Kubotas of similar vintage asking at the $5-7k mark.

I see that complete overhaul kits go $1400 or so, but a crank is $700, as is a head, rods about $140, and that if the block is toast for some reason when I get it apart, then I'm doomed.

So I'm wondering about taking a chance, hoping I can get buy turning the crank, new bearings, maybe a rod, and hopefully just re-ring at the same time, and maybe be under $500 in parts and outside labor, a bit more if I wanted to rebuild injectors while it is apart. Mostly I'm wondering about obvious pitfalls, how much trouble getting the motor out will be, and just general thoughts.

I'm also wondering about if this ever had a "factory" backhoe, I think I looked at a 850 once in AK with one on it, or whether I might find something off a Kubota or other that would adapt.

TIA
John
 
The JD #8 backhoe will fit a 950. The backhoe brackets tie into the #75 loader brackets.

If it were running properly with a loader on it, it would be a steal at $4k. I have an 850 and it is a great little tractor.
 
Thanks Dan,

Will keep that in mind for the backhoe.

Around this area in CA, 2wd Kubota, Mitsubishi, etc only ask $4000-5000 or so with loaders, and like I said 5-7 for a 6100/7100/7200 4wd with loader. There are excursions in that pricing either way, but I could find something running 2wd with loader for $4000-4500 easily. Older US machines with loaders (8Ns, MF, etc) can be had for $2500 in useable but obviouslly well worn shape.

The draw here is the new rubber and the chance of being all in for $1500-2000 if I get lucky... the risk, is being out $1000 if I don't, but I could probably sell the rubber at that point...
 
If you want to use a front end loader on it, I highly recommend you hold off and look for one with powered front wheels (MFWD).
 
Hey John,
I was a mechanic for a JD dealer during the period that the 850,950,1050's were out. Saw a lot of them with a lot of hours and while they sold a lot of them we never did an engine. They were very reliable and tough. It would be unusual for this engine to be bad with such low hours unless very poor maintenance or sabatoge of some nature occured. Those engine do have a very deep diesel sound to them so one unfamiliar with them may confuse the noise for a knock. Good Luck!
John
 
Well, I too have a '81 2WD 950 with a 75 loader and in good running condition fetch more than $4,000 easily, and in my opinion too much. In good shape, nice little tractors but not worth what they are fetching...in my opinion. I paid $6,000 for mine ten years ago and have probably another $4,000 worth of buyer beware in it. My buddy needed the money badly, and so did the Deere guy. I'm taking it to the grave with me because I'm not going to sell it at a loss. It has its place. It can pull start a 4520, but not in snow because its a pretty lite little tractor. Great at augering fence posts (railroad ties) with a 12" auger IF you don't get too agressive of a bite and corkscrew in.

Personally, I would pass it up because of the rod knock. You might be able to get a crank and replacement rod on Ebay, or purchase another for parts, but you aren't going to get them easily through Deere because of its age as a Yanmar. When I split mine for instance about four years ago, while I was in there I replaced the flywheel, and that depended on the serial number of the tractor for which style was used because one fit, and one didn't. I went through my local Deere guy, but to get a new one through them was going to take months, and we settled on a used one that they located that took me weeks.

If you are seriously thinking about purchasing this thing, then I would seriously consider taking the crank to a machine shop and have the journals ground down, welded up to oversize, then ground down to standard size because I have no idea about grinding down to the ability of oversized bearings for a Yanmar, And then because of the rod knock, you would have to get the connecting rods resized. And because of the rod knock, you may have bearing particles that made it up through the oil pump sump pickup and into oil passages throughout the engine and block, which calls for some serious cleaning BEYOND hot tanking.

Sounds to me like this is a parts tractor. Buy it for $1,500 and part it out for $4,000. OK, it has a 75 loader on it and they are handy for small stuff, but they don't lift that much and the front end on a 950 won't support that much. That loader fits the 850, 900HC, 950, and 1050. I don't think it fits anything else. Get a good look at the axle tube, the axles, and the cups for the spindle assemblies. I'm going to guess that with a rod knock and a loader, that little tractor has been worked and ridden hard.

Its your money, you can do with it as you please, but personally I think that there are tractors out there in far better shape for not much more $$$ and easier to get parts. When I go to the Deere parts counter, they ask which tractor. If I say the 950, they jokingly throw up their hands, ask me when I'm going to get rid of "...that beast", and then ask me "...what do you have..." as they go to the computer. Filters, belts, other minor stuff they have in stock. I think they even had a thermostat, but may have had to order it along with the radiator hose. It's your money though. If you do buy it, the tech manual is TM1192 and cost me about $100 ten years ago through the Deere guy. Best of luck.

Mark
 

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