ever wish you had a tractor back?

Nick m

Member
I've got one that I've put alot of time and cash into sitting in the barn that doesn't get much use, other than the the occasional show or tedding hay in a pinch. Quite sure it'd bring good money at the right auction. I am also quite sure I'll never have a chance to buy another one and I'd regret parting with it down the road. Have you fellers ever parted with one you wish you never had?
 
Two.

A Massey Harris 44 and an 856 Farmall.

I screwed up royally on the 856. I bought it in the mid 80's when farmers were going under right and left and you could buy machinery on farm auctions for 50 cents on the dollar or less. I used it for 9 years and sold it for about what I'd paid for it.

Here comes the rub. I'd put it on a 10 year depreciation schedule and depreciated it on my taxes for 9 years. Then when I sold it, the IRS wanted the depreciation back. It's called "recapture". For what I had to repay the IRS in depreciation, I could have kept the tractor.
 
Yep, I had a "59 JD 330 that I wish I had back. Made a pile of money when I sold it, but it has been "fixed up" --not restored and looks good but I can't afford it now even if it was for sale. Local MD bought it to complete his collection of all the 30 series-330, 430, 530, 630, 730 and 830.
 
A JD 730 diesel electric start. It was useless as a user,but would have made a good show tractor.
Every Oliver I ever got rid of,Dad's 66,the 77 I drove home from Archbold,an 88 diesel,Super 77 gas and two Super 55's,a gas and a diesel.
 
"A JD 730 diesel electric start. It was useless as a user"

WHY was it useless? I can't even GUESS how many hours I spent on ours, years ago, mowing, raking, or baling hay, plus it spent quite a few hours beating up the PTO drive setup on our big MC grain dryer.

Worst thing was getting on and off the darned thing with my big feet and long legs.

A neighbor has one as well, mowed and baled MUCH more hat than we did, plus planted a LOT of 'flowers with a 6-row planter for 20 years or so.

NOT useless, at all, IMHO!
 
My first tractor was an AC 170 diesel. It was a good low hour, inexpensive tractor, EXCEPT, it had a cracked block. Old fellow left water in it. I bought it, carried water on it, and used it for a few years, than traded it off. If I had known then what I knew later, I would have found a block, fixed it, and kept it.
 
Mine is one that I let get away without buying it. A JD unstyled BR that ran like a watch, guy wanted $450, I offered $400 and walked when he wouldn't take it. Wish I'd have sprung for the other 50 bucks.
 
I had a pair like that. Neighbor had 2 farmall 1206's. Told mehe was ggetting out of farming and was having an auction. Thought I'd be respectful and wait until the auction and try and buy one. A guy offered him something for the pair and he took it. All the farmer told me was he was happy he used them for 30 years and got his money back out of them. Makes me think they sold for mid 80's prices. Makes me sick.
 
You got the "beat up the PTO" part right. That thing hammered the daylights out of everything that was ever hooked to it. I bought it in 76,so it wasn't an old tractor by any means,but just like the 3010 diesel and Farmall 706 diesel that I had,it was just a constant money pit. You couldn't take it to the field without something going wrong. A taper lock flywheel would have been a good start to fixing the some of the problems,but I had a rear axle seal go bad and everything had to be taken apart from the inside. The whole PTO assembly had to come off to get it apart. Then there was the PTO clutches that went bad right after I bought it. The power steering was non existent,the injector pump went bad,if I thought about it a little longer I could come up with a lot more. Just not something that should have been my main big tractor. Like I said,a good collector tractor.
 
I miss the MM 670, but I also wish these had never left the farm-- a '58 Chevy convertible (sister's) and my '53 barrel spring Cushman eagle.
a184667.jpg
 
Absolutely

I certainly miss and would likely buy if I could find em (I am not actively searching for them though):
Uncles then Dad's IH 1066 diesel.
Uncles then Dad's Oliver 1800A (my all time favorite tractor to work ground with and operate as a young kid).
Uncles, then granddads, then a different uncles, then finally Dad's John Deere 730 diesel.
Dad's 430 Case diesel.


Do Not miss at all
Dad's Ford 8N side distributer even though I logged lots of hours on it.
Dad's Earthmaster

Would have kept some of them after Dad passed in the early 90's but we had no farm, Mom needed the money, I was a struggling college student with no acres of my own. I did what I had to do and sold them all to help mom. No regrets from that perspective.

If you do not need the money then keep that tractor. If money is tight then decide if a little bit of heartache is worth it in order to better your financial situation.

Alternatively, can you find more uses for the tractor so you appreciate and enjoy it more?
 
When you say "Archbold" do you mean the one in Ohio? My dad grew up just a few miles from there - I have a lot of relatives in that area.
 
My "should have bought" tractor was a 1972 4020 diesel that a fellow up the road had. It was the mid-1980's with me in college and my parents against the wall financially. The gentleman had an auction and it left the area. I guess if I had REALLY scraped I could have bought it but it would have left no room whatsoever to wiggle financially. We needed many things at that point but we really needed a haybine the worst. I did not think I could work the kind of hours to pay for the tractor plus haybine and keep my grades up. Minimum wage was just under 3 dollars per hour and there were no high paying jobs to be had for college students locally. A student I knew always had a construction job waiting back home in between semesters from where he was from that he was pulling in 15 dollars per hour on flag duty. Lucky him.
 
Kind of a tortious and the hare thing. Go like crazy with the 730 for a few hours then work on it for days.
 
When I was in high school I was offered a MM G850 that was my uncle's who had just passed away. At the time I didn't have a way to get it home, a place to store it inside, and didn't have a need for anything that big so I passed on it. One I would like to find, but probably wouldn't be able to afford it if I did locate it.
a184672.jpg

a184673.jpg
 
Yes, if you even question yourself you probably going to miss it. I I shouldn't have sold my Massey 65 but I did and now I regret it all the time.
 
My youngest son had a 2-105 2WD for a couple of years. Sure wish I would have scraped up the money to buy it when he sold it. Been several years since he sold it and have regretted letting that one get away every day since. Really regretted having to sell Pop's 1650 4WD from the estate, but it needed a lot of tranny work and I simply couldn't afford to keep it. Pop had a 4010 with the M&W turbo kit. When the motor wore out he just let it set and finally sold it to a mechanic for parts. The tractor was too light for the hp. to make a good field work tractor, but that thing made a superb wagon hauler, and hooked up to a silage blower, man, could you unload a load of corn silage in a hurry!

Two that I DIDN'T have any qualms about sending down the road were a clapped out old JD 50 and a 1355 4WD that was almost as whipped.
 
I think you must have gotten a lemon of a 730. They were typically the kind that ran for 1000s of hours after they should have been serviced. They made a bunch of farmers some money. They were durable and fuel efficient. I wouldnt say they were ahead of their time in features but they were at least equal. I would say I cant think of any makes or models at the time that were any more durable.

I cant disagree with the 3010. I'd have to be hard up for a tractor to buy one. I'm not and never will be a Farmall 06 fan. You cant get em into reverse and the seat is like sitting on a bar stool. The TA was far from being durable enough to be on a farm tractor.
 
Grandpa had a 3020. Dad had a 706. I wouldn't give .50 for a 3020. Worst tractor deere ever made was the 10 and 20 series.
Still have dad's 706.it shifts into reverse just fine.The ta still works fine.
 
I had an Oliver 70 that I sold, and then the buyer got buyer's remorse so I bought it back. I kept telling the wife "See, I sold one." Then somebody was sent to me that needed it worse than I did so he has it now. But the next year I took a third of the money and bought another 70. I think that the fella who bought my Ford 8240 May wish that I hadn't sold it. He took care of the transmission problem that I knew that it had, then when He pulled it out to test drive it, It would go no further than just out the door. He had to push it back in and go after another transmission problem.
 
So nobody thinks I'm "Deere bashing",I loved these two and the 60 that I had was OK,but the 730 and 3010 were enough to drive a person right over the edge.
a184707.jpg

a184708.jpg
 
Oh ya! Just for starters grandpa Oliver 1550 nf gasser and his oliver 550 gas with the 1510 loader,both bought new and my 1750 deisel with the yearround cab(first tractor i bought)
 
The worst tractor I ever owned was a 1950 with fender fuel tanks and a continental cab but as a show tractor I wouldn'd have to worry about the rear end going out. Also my wife's dad's 52 SM. When he died, his brother bought it. We told them if they ever were to sell it we would like to have it back. Her uncle traded it and his SM and a WC for a 2830 with a loader. The guy who bought wanted $2500 but it was a $1250 tractor. It got sold at Bement, IL at a comunity sale. I have found 2 out of that sale but they were not his and am still looking without an sn.
 
Grandpa had a 99 Oliver with a 3-71 Detroit, he stored it in the lean to off the old grainery. When the roof started sagging so much it wouldn't go in he sold it figuring he'd never have a use for it. My dad still grumbles about not buying it but grandpa never really said anything about selling it until he said it had been sold.
 
I bought a 1755 Oliver tractor and had it about 5 years I ran good and had good power. It had some oil leaks that I fixed. I traded it for a new loader about 2005. It only had around 5000 hours on it . The paint had yellow showing threw all over as it had never had been kept in side till I got it. The grill was not like any Oliver I had seen before You could see mm on the top of the grill screen showing threw . And after I parted with it I found out it was an 850 MM . When the tractor was bought new it was repainted because the buyer wanted an Oliver .
 
Yeah, I wish I had just stuffed my Super M away in a shed on somebody's farm in 1984 when I gave up farming and could have went and got it out and restored it when I retired in 1999. I got a couple nice John Deere G's now and I like 'em but I miss my old wore out hard workin'
Super M.
 
It was worthles cuz it was a john deere typical fag comment if it was any other brand it would be the best thing ever
 
(quoted from post at 14:39:35 02/28/15) You got the "beat up the PTO" part right. That thing hammered the daylights out of everything that was ever hooked to it. I bought it in 76,so it wasn't an old tractor by any means,but just like the 3010 diesel and Farmall 706 diesel that I had,it was just a constant money pit. You couldn't take it to the field without something going wrong. A taper lock flywheel would have been a good start to fixing the some of the problems,but I had a rear axle seal go bad and everything had to be taken apart from the inside. The whole PTO assembly had to come off to get it apart. Then there was the PTO clutches that went bad right after I bought it. The power steering was non existent,the injector pump went bad,if I thought about it a little longer I could come up with a lot more. Just not something that should have been my main big tractor. Like I said,a good collector tractor.
Grease the u joints they will last longer
 
Lots of them. 38 JD A, 46 JD B, 49 JD B, 50 JD AR, 51 JD A, 41 Farmall H, Ferguson TO 30, Ford NAA, 65 Ford 4100, 68 Ford 4100, 68 Ford 5100, then there is the 44 MM U that would not mind having for show to show how usless it was for field work. Also few that were on both sides of family but were gone before knew them, IHC 10-20 and 26 Fordson, Moline Universal and Mogal, 35 JD B, 37 JD G and 41 JD B, I slightly knew the 10-20 and 41 B. Then I would like to have the 2 that Dads brother had, JD LI and Avery A.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top