Looking at a 560 - What to look for?

Hello all,

I am helping a friend tomorrow going to look at a 560 he is interested in. He knows little to nothing about tractors, but he will have me along with him and I have a pretty good sense of what I am doing (or at least that is what I tell myself). He just purchased a small farm in southern MN. Tractor will be used for light to medium duty work around the farm - mowing and square baling, snow removal (tractor does have a wide front and all hyd. loader), tires seem worn but decent from the photo. 2-3 sets of wheel weights. Looks to be overall pretty original. The owner says the tractor runs well, but does have a few small oil leaks. Also has leaky hydraulic cylinders (not typically an issue to repair in my experience). Has power steering, and fast hitch with 3 point conversion. Also mentioned it has an upgraded hydraulic pump. I'm not sure what he means by this (I am a letter series and pre-'39 IH guy).. But any insight to this would be appreciated.

Also, I need to know what should I watch for? This would be my first experience look at a tractor with a T/A, and quite frankly have never used one. I have included a photo of the tractor, and look forward to my first interaction with one.

The 560 rear axles are fine, people seem to forget that they were all fixed by IH in 1959 and were made pretty well bulletproof

Sloppy shifters on tractors with lots of hours can be a PIA with it getting stuck in two gears at once - the old diesel 560 we had did it a lot - would turn a 5 minute job into an hour real quick when it happened - but that was with a 12 year old doing the job. After the engine and transmission the clutch is the biggest thing I would check out, making sure it doesn't slip under load. Most brake issues can be repaired by the owner using the manual. The degree of difficulty goes up significantly if oil is leaking into the brake housing.

560s are good tractors and can run lots of hours.

Look at the condition of the coolant and hydraulic fluid. A Fast Hitch conversion may not work as well or be as flexible as a real 3 point hitch (706, 656 models). Is the loader easy to remove and reattach? Is the loader a Farmhand or early Westendorf brand? A loader tractor needs fluid in the rear tires for extra ballast. Is there deep rust around the rear tire valves? If the seller has either tire chains, snow bucket extensions, or a Heat Houser, see if any can be included in the deal. The wide front end is an aftermarket unit, check its condition and the brand, some brands are better than others.

The 560 gets a bad rap because of the rearend repair fiasco, ONLY tractors used in a small area, south central states where they ridged fields with Middle-busters had rearend issues. 55+ years after the repairs they have proven to be a good tractor.