420 Opinions Please.

The value of any particular tractor is highly dependant on where you happen to be. I'm in the Raleigh, NC area, and small (30 hp sized) tractors are at a premium around here. It's not unusual to see worn out 1960 vintage machines going in the $8000 range.

Another way to approach this is to look at new machines in the same class, where they sell in the $20k range. Compared to that, $3500 is pretty good as long as the machine in question is running well.

These machines do have very good reliability. I have a 1958 420c crawler/dozer that was my dad's and that has worked pretty hard over the years. It's unrestored, but we've always kept proper maintenance on it. It's still a reliable running unit.

I also have an 'M' and a fairly new JD 4500. I wanted a machine with a loader, and decided that adding one to my 430w was a bit much for that machine (no power steering). I looked around for a year for a decent used late '60s to early '80s machine and found quite a few over-priced, over-used, and under-maintained 'pieces of junk'. I finally bit the bullet, and bought a brand-new machine, and I've been very happy that I did. However, if I had found a decent, used, loader-equipped unit, I'd have been happy with that as well.

Hope you make out well with whatever you wind up with.

Stan

Sounds like a fair price to me, especially if it has been mechanically restored/checked and the tires are good. Of course, the wide front and independent PTO are nice features to have.

If I read correctly, the IPTO was offered only with the 5-speed transmission (but was not on all 5-speeds).

And yes, the two-stage clutch is a big advantage with a brush hog or other PTO-driven implement. I can personally tell of standing on the brakes wondering whether I could get stopped soon enough while operating a tractor without a two-stage clutch. I imagine others can tell more hair-raising stories!

To see if this is truly an independent PTO (IPTO), push the clutch all the way in and engage the PTO. Gradually release the clutch; if the PTO starts turning before the wheels start turning, the tractor has IPTO.

As far as the bush hog, make sure you use a slip clutch or soft shear pin (see above post). A 5 foot bush/brush hog is about as large as the 420 will handle easily, but it could handle 6 feet in light mowing. Since this 420 has IPTO (some don't), an overrun coupler won't be necessary.