Opinions on 3000 series?

1. Starting at the front, if buying a 4wd check the wear in the front axel bushes as they tend to wear badly and if not replaced will let the axel tip, putting weight on the front axel pinion shaft which in turn wears away the splines on the pinion shaft which means a new crown wheel and pinion.
2. Gearbox, if possible avoid the 32 speed box with A B gear ranges, these in the past have caused many a problem and when new were subject to many changes by MF who ended up deleting this option all together.
Check all the gears one by one and listen for grating and noises from the transmission in general. It may be that the transmission has been repaired in the past 7000 hrs, if not be aware that it is a very costly part of the tractor to repair if it is needed.
3. Check the hand brake, make sure it works, the hand brake is mounted on the pinion shaft in the rear axel, and if the tractor has been driven with it on it wont be any good.
4. Make sure all the electronic operated systems 4wd, diff-lock, PTO, speed shift and the ELC operate correctly. The wiring dose suffer from connectors corroding and causing problems

On the whole a very nice tractor to drive and one of the first tractor ranges with electronics on the market.
One with a good service history would be an advantage and you may be hard fetched to find one with out wireworm in the doors and roof.

Hope this is of some help.

Couple of quick questions:
The tractor I drove had electronic speedshift on all gears, is this different from the A-B 32 speed gearbox?

Is there an easy way to check the front axle for worn bushes/damaged pinion shaft?

Shame about the tinworm!

Many thanks

The only real way of telling the wear on the front axel is to jack up and lower the front of the tractor, but not under the axel and watch to see if you can see any movement particularly noticeable at the rear of the axel, if a lot is present and believe me you will see movement if there is wear then I would defiantly check the pinion shaft more closely

I`ve seen a 3080 for sale that seems good aprt from a noisey gearbox
when in high range. Is it difficult to swop boxes if I could get a replacement ,
or is rebuilding the better option?

Sorry for all the questions!

You're opinions are really appreciated.

If you want to email me direct I'm on ted at 'removethisbit'targetmedia dot net