Early Ford 6000 Identification

Josh M.

Member
Location
Northeast Ohio
We are headed to an auction this weekend to hopefully add a 6000 to our collection. The entire tractor is painted blue, I would like to repaint it back to factory red and grey if thats what it would have originally been. From what I understand, they were red and grey from the factory from 61-62 and from 63 on they were blue and grey, and obviously most of the 61-62 recall tractors were repainted by ford or the dealership to be blue and grey. Is there a serial number break that would tell me if it was originally red? I had also read on a website that some 6000s had an R or RD stamped at the end of the model number to indicate it was recalled, is this true?
 
Let us know if you get it or at least the numbers off of it. The numbers will tell you what it should be by year.
 
The serial numbers matched the other series that were made at the time, so in 1961-1962 they were in the range of the '01 series tractors, and then at the beginning of the 1963 model year they reset to 1001 to match the 4 cylinder 2000/4000 series serial numbers. Then again, when the 3 cylinder thousand series were introduced they reset the serial numbers again and would start with A000001, B000001 or C000001 depending on where they were being made, but I think the 6000's were all still made in the US so they would have Cxxxxxx serial numbers.

So a red 6000 would have a serial number with no leading letter and the number would be above 131427. A blue one made during the run of the 4 cylinder 2000 and 4000 series would have a serial number with no leading letter that was somewhere between 1001 and 100000. A blue one made during the run of the 3 cylinder thousand series would have a serial number starting with a C (or possibly A or B, but I've never seen one of them) and the model number should match the same style as the early 3 cylinder model numbers as well, like 610xxx for an ag chassis model, and 620xxx for a row crop. Since the 6000's all had the SOS trans and single or double speed independent PTOs, these are the only model numbers of those late ones that could possibly be:

61014E - diesel engine with single speed PTO
61015E - diesel engine with dual speed PTO
61024E - gas engine with single speed PTO
61025E - gas engine with dual speed PTO

The earlier ones followed the model number pattern of the 4 cylinder 2000 and 4000, and if the second digit was a 0, then it should be a red one and if the second digit is a 1 then it should be blue one.
 
I look at the rear axles, if they are single groove key that's an early one. All later have two groove/key axles, and I'm not sure if the axle update was part of the change on early tractors. I parted one out awhile back with single groove axles. Also look at the fender hand grips, early tractor fender grips looked like brass knuckles, all later models had steel loops for handles.
 
I'm not aware of a serial number break between red and blue tractors, however red ones are not hard to spot once you chip some blue paint away. That said, unless it was recently repainted, you shouldn't have to do any chipping.

I have some factory literature for the first generation blue models, and on one page you can see a spot of red where someone obviously had scratched the paint.
 
I cant help with serial numbers but heres a pic you probably already have from an old tractor calendar with supposedly correct original paint scheme.
cvphoto121787.jpg
 

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