Should I buy a Case 730 Diesel ?

I am looking at a nice Case 730 Diesel Tractor, wide front and 3pt, great tires. Anybody got any advice or info about this tractor? I am not a Case person so any help is great. I think its the row crop version. Thanks

Buy it. Good tuff tractors. The worst thing about them is they start a bit hard in cool weather.

Is it a comfort king? I think that's what my friend has, it just sits in the shed. Not sure why he dosent use it.

(quoted from post at 18:40:23 12/26/13) Buy it. Good tuff tractors. The worst thing about them is they start a bit hard in cool weather.

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I find the cold starting varies from one to the next. My older 63 (red fender) 730 starts not bad when its cold if I use the manifold heater. My brother has a newer (yellow fender) 830 and it is a little harder starting. A little ether seems to help.
They are a good old tractor if you can find one that isn't worn out after 50 years.

Not much info to go on from your post. there were several versions of 730's over the years. Two catagories, pre 1964, Eagle hitch tractors, and 65 to 68 DOM, (raised platform) tractors.
Both were available with either an 8spd standard dry clutch, or a COM converter driven 8spd with a hyd converter lock up. They all were very solid tractors and tranny's. The engines were indirect injected (fuel cells) and operator obuse over time could cause top end engine problems. ( obuse being lots of either or overlugging and heat buildup, and hot shutdowns).
You need to get on it, cold start it, and run it. If it is a COM tranny, you must realize that is driven by a converter, like an auto tranny in your truck, and drive it the same. The only diff is the pedal on the left is not a clutch, it is a dump valve to stop converter output rotation for shifting only, and the lever on the dash or steering column controls a valve and hyd clutchpack that locks the converter solid to the tranny.
Repost with more details, (sn#, pics) after you have looked at and drove the tractor.
We can give you better advise then.
Loren

They all had Desert Sunset fenders, never Flambeay red ones, if row crop tractors.
The Eagle hitch 730's had shell fenders (pre 64) the later tractors had a high flat operator platform with flat top fenders. Only exception was early production "Westerns" with full coverags round fenders, std front axle, and no 3pt. They could have had flambeau red fenders.
Loren

Jim's is about a 67 comfort king, maybe 68?
Loren

Sounds like a nice tractor. Since you're apparently not worried about the price, neither am I- Just buy it, and don't look back.

Did Case have the rounded fenders on any of the 730,830comfort kings like they had on the 930 six speed comfort kings

I have a pre 65 730, and I love to use this tractor. sips fuel, good gear selection , 56hp makes it good for cutting hay,baling,pulling seed drill,ect. I always plug my older Case tractors in to start them When it gets cold. Brakes and power steering will be something to look for. Otherwise good tractor. Bruce

For a daily chore/feeding/manure hauling tractor, IMHO a Case 730 in good condition would be a good choice. It would also be a good field work tractor.

Generally Case 730's are simple, stong, reliable tractors that could be 5 to 10 years behind on features compared to other brands of the same age. They are around 55 HP, were made from 1960 to 1969, and are heavier than most other tractors in that power range (7000 pounds without any ballast?). Engines and transmissions are solid, brakes are fair at best, the power steering belt squeels whenever you turn the streering wheel, and the hydraulic pressure can be lower than other makes (1500 psi open center hydraulics?). They were very manuverable with a narrow front end, I never drove one with a wide front end.

They were available with either a standard clutch or a Case-O-Matic drive that used a locking torque converter instead of a clutch. People either love or hate the Case-O-Matic drive. It does handle somewhat differently than a regular clutch tractor. If you have hired help or change operators often I personally would prefer a regular clutch drive over the COM. The COM is a good transmission, it's just hard to use if you don't know its quirks. Some people do prefer a COM for loader work, some don't.

If I remember correctly, older models have a proprietary eagle hitch instead of a 3 point hitch. They are limited to two hydraulic valves total, including the eagle hitch. The eagle hitch has claws at the ends of the lower arms, and the lower arms have no side to side movement. Later Draft-O-Matic models have a normal 3 point hitch (cat 2 ?), and they can have two hydraulic valves plus one for the hitch, for a total of three valves.

Traded for an 830 the other day, haven't picked up yet. Just a few miles down the road. Grew up on VAC, LA, 930, then 1070. Good Tractors

(quoted from post at 20:26:51 12/26/13)

Generally Case 730's are simple, stong, reliable tractors the power steering belt squeels whenever you turn the streering wheel, and the hydraulic pressure can be lower than other makes (1500 psi open center hydraulics?). They were very manuverable with a narrow front end, I never drove one with a wide front end.
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Power steering must be nice. My old 730 is plenty heavy steering, especially with the dozer blade on. Of course all we see here are the wide front versions and I have never seen one with three point hitch. The 930 was a comfort king version before the 7 and 830. I ran a 63 model for a while and you sat way up high an forward compared to the smaller 7 and 830 until they came out with the square fender (comfort king) version. Take a ride along on my old 730 diesel here on youtube. '
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wBZZnqgRLw

I never liked the hi-profile models made from 62 to 64, the seat is low and with the high hood a person can barely see over it. I have three 830 diesels a 61 Case-a-matic,61 dual range and a 69 comfort king, a guy not too far from me mounted a steering valve below the fuel tank and put a cylinder on the wide front end eliminating the original ps unit, he says it steers really nice

Jerry,
To my knowledge, no. The CK's had 24" wide semi-flat top fenders, (see second pic., bottom row) that supported the platform, like the narrower square nose row crop fenders.
Loren