Farming with old iron..... value of 966

I got a question for you.

I am looking at getting a black stripe 966 that is in real good shape. It has factory cab. Hours are just about right. It appears to be a cared for machine. If I get it I am going to end up putting a loader on it for occasional loader use. It will be used as main tractor on 200 acer beef cattle farm. Running discbine round baler and such. My question is, is it wort it I am looking at 9,999 for the tractor and another 3,500 for a loader and plumbing. Thats close to 14,000 for a 30 year 100hp tractor. That sounds like a lot to me but if I price a new or newer one we are looking at 20-30 thousand.

What do we think, am I crazy for putting close to 14,000 in a 30 year old tractor???

I ran a 966 while working for a friend for a little over 2 years. Nice size tractor, and the shifting is WAY better than an 06 series or 86 series tractor. In my opinion for a gearshift tractor from IH, the 56 and 66 series had the easiest. We use our 1256 for most of the loader work, 2nd gear high and reverse works out just about right.

As far as price on the tractor, the friend's 966 had around 5500 hours on it, was in nice shape and had a recent clutch job and sold for $13,000 on the auction sale. It was always stored inside and looked like it had a fresh coat of wax on it - but didn't, the original paint was still that good.

Personally I say go for it. You won't find much more in the way of a loader and tractor for that price.

Make sure that it has a water filter on it and if possible find out if it has been changed and how often or if radiator treatment has been used in the anti-freeze. Cavitation of the sleeves and or block is a common issue in the early X66 series.

Once I put the loader on my 966 I started having problems with clutches. The damper springs in the clutch would break and start to fall out and jam things up. I finally put a flywheel and clutch in from a 1466 (get the hydraulic assisted one if you can) and had a custom made clutch that had fiber pads instead of the ceramic ones. This made it shift a LOT easier AND ended my clutch issues. I’m not sure if the bigger clutch or the fiber pads did the trick since I did both at the same time.

I don’t mean to scare you away, just want to let you know my experience. I like the loader on the 966, it’s not terribly awkward, and with a bale fork on the back it will handle 2 big round bales just fine.

My rule is cost of tractor plus all needed repairs should not total more than the tractor's original selling price. You've got a lot of headroom yet at $14K for the two.

You'll never touch a new tractor and loader (that sized) for 20-30 thousand.

Go buy your tractor, put an engine and clutch in it and then run it for another 30 years. You'll be money ahead.

Allan