CIH 5140

Looking for information on case international 5140 tractor. The good/bad on them. We have been looking awhile for another tractor of about this size or slightly larger and might have chance on one with 4 wheel drive and cab, coming from a reputable dealer. Any information is greatly appreciated.

I Had a CaseIH 5140 , I bought it used with about 2200 hours in about 1995 . At the time this was the biggest tractor that I had ever had and I thought that I had died and gone to heaven !! And it really was a good tractor , I kept it until 2014, and it had about 8000 hours on it when traded. While I had it I added a CaseIH 510 loader and this really made my 5140 a truly great tractor for me. Lots of power for my needs, and plenty of hydraulic power, and a smooth running 6 cylinder . Decent cab with air also added to the enjoyment of this tractor for me.
Now the bad,and there really wasn't much bad , just some age related things. The electric switches that control the power shift , and forward revers were starting to act up. And I did find the over head air venting blowing on you and obstructing your view was a pain in the butt. On newer tractors the air vent tend to come up from the steering console , and you get full floor to roof clear view. Doesn't sound like much, but I got real sick of leaning down trying to see wear I was going , and where that loader disappeared to as the loader rose. You can live with it, but it will wear on you if you run the tractor a lot doing loader work., I also hated myself leveling loader , but that had really nothing to do with the tractor itself.
One thing that did bother me , even though I never had any trouble with it on my tractor. I understand that the hydraulic pump for this tractor is a internal pump , and is specific to this model series , and only available through CaseIH , and CaseIH is not real good at providing parts of this nature , for tractors over 20 years old. I have no idea if this is true or not, but might be something to look into. I don't think any company is going to continue to make and stock parts for tractors after they get to a certain age, and after market stuff likely won't be available for tractors built for such a short build period.
I am not trying to scare you away from this tractor, they were a great tractor , in 1992. This is 2018 , and a different owners now control Case IH. Bruce

I would look more towards a 52xx or better yet would be the MX110 to 135 series. 51xx had all kinds of electrical gremlins/problems, otherwise good efficient tractors. It was improved in the 52xx series but I have still have had a few problems with the powershift switches Bruce mentioned. Hydraulic pumps are available now aftermarket but are still pricey. We have a late 5240 with 4500 hrs and also bought a low use CIH510 loader to put on ours but as Bruce mentioned the cab can be hard to see out the back or front when trying to see up higher in the air.

Brad

The parking brake setup on 51/52xx is not the greatest idea either. Make sure the dash warning light and alarm buzzer for the parking brake are working otherwise it is real easy for someone to drive with it engaged and ruin it and to fix them requires splitting the tractor.

Brad

Splitting, and much $$$$. After there was no adjustment left on the parking break on my 5140 , we just dropped the loader . Leaving a tractor with a hydraulic shuttle in gear means nothing after the engine is shut down. Funny I had forgotten this quirk. .Still a good tractor though , just park on the level, lol. Bruce

Dang, one other thing that used to bug me, but I would not let it scare me off , more just something to be aware of if you should buy this tractor. There are two tubes that are drains for the air conditioning condenser tray, and it is located in that darn over head compartment in the cab. The tubes run down both sides of the cab, and let this water flow away. Now if you should use your tractor as I did, dusty spring work like planting corn, and then go straight into hay. These drain tubes will plug with dust when they become wet, and it will cause a rain storm inside the tractor cab. You do have to remember to blow these drain pipes out quite often, unless you like a shower while baling hay. lol

Seems to me the 5100?s don?t have a neutral on their shuttle lever where the 5200?s did.

I was going to warn about the evaporator pan drains too. Your best bet would be to remove the top cover and give the pan a good cleaning and get rid of all the mud in there or you will have to just keep cleaning the tubes

Bruce, already had that "rain storm" in the combine cab. Wondered what the heck was going on til I found the drain tubes plugged. Thanks for all the information. Dealer we are friends with is getting this tractor in on trade and knows we have been looking for something to pair up with our IH 3088 or a little bigger (equipment seems to be getting bigger these days). When the 3088 goes down it really slows us up - use it for planting, mowing, baling, most of the spraying, and it handles the grain wagons better than any of our other tractors.

Thanks for the heads up on the park brake Brad. Just looked at a IH 5088 last week that needed brake work and it was like that - would probably need split down and final drives off to fix $$. We decided to pass on that one plus thought we would like 4wd better.

Now that's what I would call a complete analysis Bruce! Much appreciated. I know what you mean about the parts availability, since New Holland got involved the old IH parts and even CIH parts are getting harder to get in some instances. This would probably be the biggest tractor on the place but not by much. The 3088 is very close at 85HP and I have seen some 3088's dyno over 100HP with factory settings. Also would be first tractor with a cab, got to protect all those new fangled monitors from sudden storms - plastic bags only hold out so much water, not to mention I'm getting tired of getting soaked too or froze in colder weather. Thanks again.