Looking at 1850 (Pics)

Found this 1850 and I am going to look at it hopefully this weekend. I m completely new to Oliver tractors. I have barely drove one before. They are around in my area but not overly common so no local experts that I know of. The information I have is as follows:

1967 Oliver 1850 diesel
354 Perkins overhauled 40hrs ago by local mechanic with papers
Original owners son, got it new when he was 16 and farmed with it until last fall when they sold the farm. He said it was his "go to" tractor. It has 10,000 hrs and "nothing wrong with it, field ready"
He is asking $8,500 and sounds pretty firm on price. May take $8,000 at best I think.

I need to know what I need to look for on these tractors how to test the hydra-power etc. I ve never been around an 1850 so treat me as such.

Thank you in advance.

Just step on the brake and pull the hydropower rod out and make sure it shifts down without slipping,then back up when you push it in. They free wheel in underdrive. They're a great tractor,but that's about $4000 more than one of those should bring in most parts of the country,but it's your money.

FYI, that one has the ?Over-Under Hydraul Shift?; not Hydra
Power. So it is three speed, not two.

grew up on the olivers 77 up threw 4-150 white 1650 1850 and 2150 were all great unit 550 was also, the unit in pics is not hydra power it is 3peed unit, warning in under it will free wheel downhill!!!!. great tractors but he is priced way out of market today. 2500 t0 best of 5000 last I seen sell and those units all had wide front. to me that unit as is 3500 tops

So the seller sounds pretty attached to the tractor- both sentimentally and financially. Around here that would be a $5-6k tractor assuming the rest is good. If the overhaul included anything needed in the drivetrain and a hydraul rebuild as well, you could be getting a decent deal, even at $6-6.5k. If anything is wrong with the hydraul, I always figure a $2k estimate for parts+time, whether I was to do it or have it done. It's a definite dealbreaker at $8k with 10k hours. At 10k you'll have a lot of other stuff that's ready to be rebuilt/replaced.

I have 2 1850?s I farm with. Next to my 2255 they are my favorite rigs, one is a MFWD which is a pain in real tight irregular hay fields due to the large steering radius.

You know, if the engine rebuild has around $5k in parts and labor, just a thought, the remainder is $3k for a decent 1800. It?s real easy to rack up a lot of cash in the engine if it has new injectors, pump, top notch head rework, all the lower end rotating parts being refreshed/rebuilt, and all block work completed properly. Look at the paperwork and make a smart determination.

The first thing I do when making a purchase is drop a little oil from the final drives/transmission. Water and metal fragments are your enemy. If there is any metal, I remove the PTO clutch adjustment plug and take a peek at the condition of the LH bull gear teeth which is one source of metal. The final drives and bevels with 10k hours will be questionable if the owner hasn?t maintained the recommended oil changes. These repairs are time consuming and expensive. I have found out that once a tractor gets this old, farmers tend to run them until they drop thus a lot of expensive oil doesn?t get changed. There shouldn?t be any strange noises when doing a test drive. The one thing that kills a lot of non-cab tractors is sitting in the rain with a bad shift lever boot!

Good luck, $8k is at the very very top limit in my mind.