2870 Report and Q's

I went and looked at a 2870, with 3ph, pto and single 20.8 x 34's.

It is in pretty rough shape. The seller claims that the engine has only 1000 hrs on a rebuild. The fact that it started easily (at 25*F) and seems to run well (sounds great) would support that claim.

The steering cables on the front wheels are broken. The pipe that goes from the turbo to the muffler and the muffler are rusted right out. The turbo sounds really good, it took at least five seconds for the turbo to wind down when I shut the engine down from idle. The engine shut off cable is broke. The lift pump is leaking. The tack cable is broke and looks like its been that way for a while, 5200 hrs on clock. Other gauges are working.

Front and rear steering work. 3ph and pto work, although the final gear box on the pto sounds a little noisier than I think that it should.

All gears and power shift work. However when I depress the clutch it makes a whirring noise and the engine works a little harder. (Needs C3 clutch work from what I have read on this forum).

One of the hood hinges is broken.

Brakes don't seem to work that well, parking brake does not work at all.

Incredibly, I could find no signs of any leaking fluids.

Fluids all look and smell good.

Now the questions:

How big of a job would it be to open her up and rebuild all of the clutches?
How many hours of work and how much expense for parts?

I read that the Ujoints are truck parts, does anybody have a manufacturers part number?

Also, it seems like there may be a little bit of slop in the hubs. Is that a planetary final reduction or some other type of gears in there?

How hard and expensive would it be to fix the brakes?

Any other things I should have looked at or any suggestions?

I hate to say it but I really like the look and sound of this tractor. With ALOT of TLC she could be a real nice tugger.

Thanks for staying with me!

JP.

Dad bought a 4890 last winter and i think its basically the same as the 2870 except with some upgraded steering, and its been a good machine. We only use it for grinding hay, but it has plenty of power, runs smooth at any rpm and starts well in cold weather. We put a tank heater on it for winter time. Tires are poor but we just use it on pto anyway. I think he paid just under 9000 for it and it came with a full set of duals, but those tires are worn as the main set. If you could put it on a dyno before buying it then you could hear it pull and make sure it does not have any major issues, good luck whatever you decide.

Thank you all again,
JP.

The Hand and Foot brake use the same hardware, mounted on the transmission output shaft. It's a multi-disk unit basically mechanically applied, which stops all 4 wheels together. A hydraulic master cylinder/slave cylinder system applies the mech with the foot pedal (kinda like a pickup hydraulic clutch) and a cable is attached to the hand lever, which moves the same mech. Hydraulic rebuild kits and the cable are available thru CIH-CNH. Could be that the hand brake simply needs adjusted. The end of the lever turns clockwise to tighten the cable, like most older medium trucks.

If you didn't realize... that big 676 cubic inch engine is NOT a Case engine! It made-in Sweden, by Scandia. Initially for highway trucks and the military. One unique thing about the engine... there are no oil filters, as such! It has a centrifugal oil cleaner. It needs to be removed and cleaned at oil changes. Like the Turbo, it should also spin-down when the engine is shut down. If you don't hear and/or feel it spin-down then it needs to be cleaned immediately.

I suggest, if you intend to DIY for maintenance & repairs... Case published excellent Service and Parts Manuals for the 70 series machines. The "How It Works" section is most helpful. These manuals are, sooner or later, usually available on eBay.

Also, the Tractor absolutely needs duals to use all that horsepower. The wheels and even the lug bolts & nuts are unique to Case. Took quite awhile before we found a used set when we got our 2870. Cost us $1400 for a set with worn-out tires. If you install duals you will find that the Power Steering won't work well at Idle. I believe that's because the duals are spaced about 10-12 inches outboard of the singles which, with those big tires, make a really big foot-print. Works OK in the field but needs be at least 1000RPM to provide reasonably normal steering.

"It has a centrifugal oil cleaner."
I was wondering what that thing was!

"Case published excellent Service and Parts Manuals for the 70 series machines."
Yes, I have pricing on those and some parts coming from the local CIH shop.

"As for other stuff you can go to cnh web site an see breakdown of whole tractor an can get part nos."
Wow, that is nice!

Thanks again,
JP.