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if you had your choice.

I"d rather have the Ford because I"m more familiar with them but there"s nothing wrong with that model Massey. I think either would be OK. Dealer support would probably be the determining factor for me
 
Don't know that there has ever been a Massey dealer within about 50 miles, so don't see many of them. So, just because I'm only familiar with the grey/blue, I'd choose that.

If you have a dealer network, I'd be looking which machine is in better shape/ better value.

--->Paul
 
All things equal, it's a very close call but I would prefer the 3000 unless the MF was a very late model with the 4x2 transmission rather than the 3x2.

Keep in mind that several different engines were used in the 135, the Perkins AD152 diesel being the most desireable.

Dean
 
Depends. First thing I would ask is what color iron is out front of your closest/best dealer?

For me there are 3 dealers with in 25 miles. Red and Green to the west and Blue to the east. Closest Massey dealer now is 40+ miles to the north. The blue dealer is hands down the best one close by and it is 3 miles out of the way when I am on the way home from my night job.

Dave
 
I bought a new Massey Ferguson 150 in 1971. (It's VERY similar to a 135...Same engine/tranny.rear end/hydraulics) I bought a Ford 3000 new in 1973.

The Ford was a good tractor. The MF150 IS STILL a GREAT tractor.

The MF/Perkins is easier on fuel
The 150 would work circles around the 3000
Parts are equally available for both.

If I knew then what I know NOW, I'd have bought TWO Massey's.
 
Diesels were ALL Perkins AD3-152's
Gas 3-cylinders were Perkins AG3-152
Gas 4-cylinders were Continental Z134 (used on 135 Custom_ and Z145 (Used on MF135 Deluxe)
 
Massey is an agco brand, and CNH parts are so high $$$$$$$$$. Those the only choices? Both diesel? Massey I suppose.
 
If it's a diesel it's a Perkins AD3-152. If it's gas and 3 cylinders it's a Perkins AG3-152. If it's gas and 4 cylinders it's a Continental, either a Z-134 or Z-145. There should be a name plate on the side or it's cast into the block. All are very good engines but the diesel is arguably the best small diesel engine ever built. Starts easily in the cold and runs almost forever on a tank of fuel. I have a diesel 135 and would recommend one to anyone wanting a 40 HP class general purpose tractor. Parts are readily available and reasonably priced if you ever need them. Dave
 
I'm kinda looking myself also. IHC is the nearest dealer support but I like the looks of the 135's. What's with the multipower that some of them advertise?

Thanks,

Dave
 
they are actually very close....


but.... check ebay and aftermarket parts. the ford will have more parts availible after market as it was sold in evey country in the world.
The ford had 8 speeds.... the ford parts are generally cheaper if you get them from a&i, ebay, or other places. there were many more fords sold... there are parts availible from the 3600, 3610, ....3640.. that pretty much bolt right on... and the engineering was a generation newer on the castings, sheet metal and parts design.

extermal hydraulic valves can be added easily and interchanged between 2000-3000-4000-5000/2600/3600/5600/6600/7600/2610,3610 and the older jublee-64 series...

and no.. you cant compare a massy 150 to a 3000.. anymore than you can compare a ford 5000 to a massy 135.

I had both,, I would take em again,, but if given a choice i would take the 3000 every time.
 
Ford 3000 would be my choice of those two.
You probably won't find much difference between them really. They're both about the same power and weight. Mostly have similar specs, etc.

If you want to look at test data the MF is a bit more fuel efficient... but it also has considerably less pull on the same test data... so what you gain on one hand you lose on the other.
Overall I'd give the engine edge to the Ford. It's not as easily repaired but if you look at the internals it's considerably more robust...

Again, all that said, if you're color blind, you'd still buy the one that's in better shape relative to the dollars you're spending. There'd be no point buying the Ford if it was in poor shape and a known money pit for the same money as you'd buy a good working 135 and the reverse would also be true...

Rod
 
The Eord 3000 is nicer to drive. You sit higher and there is a suspension seat to even out the bumps. The 135 might be a tad harder to get off,'specially if it's in forth gear and high-low in nuetral. The 3000 also has a 20 mph or so road gear as opposed to the 135's 12mph or so.And the 3000 has a three point that raises when the clutch pedal is fully depressed disengaging the live pto. The 135 threepoint on;y raises when the live pto is clutched in.But the 135 has many advanteges like fuel miser,tougher power train,lower center gravity,better guages.Get one of each like me!
 
This is a good thread.
Folks will come on here and ask what's the best small utility ever made. These two tractors consistantly come out near the top of the heap. But I never saw them discussed head to head so to speak.
Thanks.
 
You need to do a little more research. Your obviously more of a Ford fan. 135's out sold every other tractor in the day by a pretty good margin. Since you're grouping a whole bunch of Ford tractors together parts wise, the same could be done with an even bigger group of MF tractors. I read that the 3 cylinder Perkins was the most popular engine ever put in a tractor. MF has OEM heritage parts that are very reasonable in cost. Of course parts from A&I etc. may be cheaper as well.
Why can't an MF 150 be compared to a Ford 3000? The 150 has the exact same power train as a 135 and is in the same HP range of a Ford 3000. A 5000 Ford isn't even in the same HP range as a MF 150. The only real difference is the front end on a MF 150. Ford made some good tractors but in some models Massey made better ones. Any tractor with the 3 cylinder Perkins is hard to beat. Dave
 
Test data is good....But actually using them side by side, in same conditions, doing same work, for yeaars and years, well, that means MORE (To anyone with a lick of common sense anyway....)

I parked the 3000 after finding out that the Massey was a better all around tractor. And aAssey would out pull/out work the Ford in every instance. BTDT, had both...Still have the Massey...
 
and the reason for emperical test data is to rule out what billybob said.... because billybob was a fan of one or the other tractor. If you look on Youtube you can find videos of a Fendt 930 hooked bar to bar with a large Kirovets FWD. The Kiro probably has several tonne of weight and a bunch of power on the Fendt (I'm assuming from the size of it)... yet the Fendt used some very carefull ballast placement, a high hitch point and the finesse in it's transmission controls to drag the big Ruski all around the yard on concrete. It really made the big tractor look foolish. Probably 90% of the reason for this was that the Fendt was hitched a good foot or more higher in the air and it was literally pulling most of the Kirovets ballast off it's rear.
If someone had changed the hitch points the Kirovets would have made mincemeat of the Fendt...
Just because someone can take those two tractors and set one up to it's advantage and the other to a distinct disadvantage... then turn around and say one is better than the other... it's pointless.
On the respective drawbar tests the Ford 3000/3600 outpulled the MF 135 by nearly 1000 pounds of pull when hooked to the same test car on the same concrete track, no doubt with the same test engineer supervising.
That's a reflection of available torque/power and the ballast to get it hooked. That's also a figure of nearly 20%. At the same time the Ford burned probably close to 20% more fuel.
So for the purpose of achieving maximum pull on a known comparable surface (concrete), the Ford wins hands down with the gearing and power it has. That's not to say that this particular gearing scheme is usefull for anything. Just that it can pull more at ~5 mph. If you used yours at 3 mph the comparison between them might be quite different. If you used different impliments or hitch points the result could be very different...But if the next guy wants to work the pair at 5 mph then the MF is going to get eaten for lunch...

Beyond that I can't see what major differences you see in them. They both have the same helpless brake system and light axles, nearly the same curb weight and wheelbase, much of the same poor Lucas elecrics because at their hearts, both are UK derived tractors.

Rod
 
I don't recall ever seeing you post any empirical data on production numbers other than hearsay or something you read somewhere.
Ford data for the thousand series tractors is pretty easy yo get because of sequential serial numbering from 1965. While it doesn't account for each model separately there were I believe (I'm not checking right now at this moment) something like ~350,000 assembled in the US at Highland Park and Romeo, probably a similar number at Antwerp and well over one million at Basildon. The balance fo those tractors were 3000, 4000 and 5000 series though the serials would include 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000, 8000 and 9000.
Again, those numbers are pretty easy to obtain. I've never seen similar numbers for MF that add anywhere even close...

Rod
 
But ridiculous none the less.

Rod is without a doubt, color blind. Anyone who reads this website knows he always CLAIMS if it's got blue paint it's the best. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that isn't so. I'll call a spade a spade. And his "rebuttal" is based on assumptions, opinions (not based on real hands on experience with the tractors in question) and his "view everything through blue tinted glasses" mentallity.

I've owned BOTH tractors mentioned. I've used them BOTH for several decades, side by side, under the exact same conditions, and have actual on the job RESULTS rather than posting selected portions of "test data" and unsubstantiated opinion.

Plain and simple, the Massey will work circles around the Ford..... I can understand how that would be hard to accept for someone who can only see what they want to see, but to someone with an objective opinion, not so difficult to understand.
 
Assuming both have live pto and at least one set of scv's.
Cold weather operation? The Massey's Perkins are good starters.Get a block heater anyways.
I think I've seen 135's around with two chassis styles, rowcrop vs standard or such. One was a straddle mount short tired low profile.The other a flat platform with 34" rims.
I don't know, is there aftermarket or factory rops that bolt on either? Makes a good mount for a sun shade and rain roof.
Watch the crank thrust bearings in the Perkins. If some slob has let the clutch freeplay get too short or rode the clutch pedal. The thrust bearing will fail. Father-in-law has yet another one in the shop for a crank thrust bearing and clutch throwout bearing.
He makes good pocket money repairing tractors hobby users abuse.
 
Note the poor use of "defelction" where Rod TRIES (unsuccessfully) to use tests by OTHER TRACTORS as his "evidence"? Not working there Sparky.....

And the idea of an EQUALLY ballasted 3000 Ford out pulling and EQUALLY ballasted 135 by 1000lbs....Not happenin' in a REAL world. I expect even YOU understand THAT, even if you can't ADMIT it.
 
BOTH were offered w/OEM ROPS/canopies. Aftermarket ROPS available for BOTH.

No such animal as a 135 "row crop" (flat deck") That would be a 150 "high arch". (and they were equipped w/38" rears)

EITHER could have been originally equipped w/remote hyd. BOTH can still be equipped w/aftermarket remotes.

Riding clutch causes trust failure on BOTH brands.
 
Not all smaller tractors are used by hobby users. I've seen bigger farmers abuse stuff a lot worse than hobby users. Dave
 
How come Ford and every other manufacturer never got together and sued Massey for false advertising? Massey have been the number one selling tractors in the world since 1962(by a good margin) and no other manufacturer has ever questioned it. Why is that? Over 279,000 135's were built in the UK alone. In the day 1 out of every 4 tractors purchased in the UK was a 135. They were extremely popular tractors in the US as well and also made in France. In addition they were built under license in other countries and used some original components with other components made in the country of manufacture. 135's are the most highly sought after used 40 HP class tractors even today. There are companies in the UK that do ground up restorations of 135's and have a waiting list of customers who will pay big bucks to have one. 135's have earned a legendary reputation for good reason. Ford's are good tractors too but don't have the same following the 135 does. Dave
 
Why would Ford bother to sue MF over something so trivial? They all made lots of claims none of which mean a whole lot. No less at least Ford's serial number volumes are out there, readily available...
It's also little secret that Ford/Fordson built nearly 6 million tractors throughout their history. Another statistic likely equaled only by International Harvester.

The rest of your statements are merly a matter of opinion...

Rod
 
I guess UNL test data isn't 'real world' enough for you?
The reason UNL was mandated to perform these tests was to provide soild data that a buyer could use as a reference instead of making buying decisions based on manufactureres inflated claims and billy bob's colored opinions.

I think you're the one that's color blind. You haven't produced a single fact yet other than what your username implies.

Rod
 
For the record... I've probably cursed more Ford tractors on this forum than nearly anyone else and I've worked on a good many of them.
I don't think I've ever once suggested that any one of them didn't have faults although their line, by and large had a lot fewer faults than most of the others.
I've said before and I'll say again... MF's main selling point on 100 series tractors was price followed by a widespread dealer network with small dealers in every little hole you came across; the vast majority of which had not a whole lot of servicing ability. At least they didin't around here which is why most of them no longer exist.


Rod
 
Why would they sue? Another manufacturer making false claims for decades could seriously affect Ford sales. The Banner lane MF factory in the UK was the largest tractor factory in the world until it was closed several years ago. I think the number of tractors just from that factory was something like 3.2 million units. World wide MF has produced the largest number of tractors. In the early 80's it was over 25% more than it's nearest competitor which I believe was Ford which was a fair bit ahead of third place. The big majority of MF tractors sold were lower HP models but the sales were mostly attributed to the superb performance of the 135, the most popular model. Maybe the MF tractors were lower priced but you got a lot of bang for your buck. The best 3 pt. hitch ever designed for one thing. The original Ferguson 35 is the most copied tractor in the world. There's still copies of it being built. You say 135's sold because of the lower price. Didn't the Fordsons sell because of low price as well? And they are generally regarded as less than desirable for a working tractor unlike a 135. Dave
 
well to let everyone know, i went with a MF135, it was close to me, and looks to be in great condition, tires need some help, one tie rod is bent, but steers straight, no major leaks, just had a new steering box put in by dealer, all fluids changed, new alternator, voltmeter. dont think i did too bad, it is a 3 speed though. $4300
a19001.jpg

a19002.jpg

a19003.jpg

a19004.jpg

a19005.jpg
 
I don't think Ford was worried about ANY claims that MF ever made, hence no need for a lawsuit...
Ford just went on about building tractors.

You still didn't give total production numbers for MF...
Somewhere around here in one of my Ford history books is a picture of Ford's 5 millionth tractor. IIRC it was a 1983 model 7710 assembled at Romeo. Given that they were still producing over 100K units a year at that point, they should have been near six million at the end... If you want to play the derivative game with the knockoffs, then they're still being made in India and NH is still building a few models based on the last of the 40/TS components... and I'm sure they're building a LOT of them in India.

The Fordsons... The 'F' was probably one of the most vile things ever built but they were less vile than a team of horses. They were cheap and nasty but they still sold something like a million of them. Then a million or so more Fordsons after the 'F'. A million more N's and various hundred series tractors, a million odd thousand series tractors and probably a million and a half plus that again with 600 and 10/30 series and 40 series tractors.
There were probably some periods of time that MF sold more tractors per year then Ford but I doubt it makes up for the periods of time that they wern't even in the game...

Rod
 
at least it has good filters on it...

Looks decent enough for the money. Just keep those bloody Titan's aired up if you go carrying much weight around.
For me that would be a big strike against it.

Rod
 
Wow, my guess at value on the MF forum was on the money. I'd get a new(or good used) steering arm and straighten or replace the radius arm as well. Something also doesn't look right with the right brake pedal. Did the tractor flip on its side or fall off the side of a trailer or something? All the damage is only on the right side. Armstrong/Titan tires are as good as any tires out there. It is actually a 6 speed trans. 3 speeds with high and low range. Other than a few minor things to fix, I think you did pretty good. It would be a good idea to check the bushing in the front axle where the pin goes through. When they wear out, the fan can hit the shroud if a wheel goes in a depression. It's not an expensive repair and the hot set up is to put 2 bushings in instead of only 1 (1 from each side). You should be very happy with your new 135. It looks like it's a later model one. Do you know the year or have the serial number? Dave
 
There's a LOT of people who'd disagree with you about Titan tires... Mabey not on ~this~ forum, but...
Perhaps in this size on that tractor where not a whole lot is expected of them... they will last OK. Put a load on them, make them pull, etc and the sidewalls come out... BOOM.
They are in no way comparable to Firestone or even GPX (Galaxy/Primex).

Rod
 
This is the one time I'll have to disagree. We have a 150 high arch on our farm with the 3 cylinder diesel. That is also a straddle mount. The only real platform in the 100 series was the 180. Which we also have. After that there was the 1080, 1100, 1130, and 1150 which were all platform models. You can't beat that 3 cylinder perkins diesel on fuel efficiancy. I've always wished that Dodge would get smart and put one in their Dakota. Imagine the fuel economy.
 
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