Well, my boy and I went to look at that Ford this afternoon. Turns out it was a '68. Looked pretty decent, but I had one major concern. I printed out the pages of the 2000 service manual concerning serial numbers. According to the serial number, the tractor did indeed have a live 540 PTO. The guy told me the guy he bought it from told him it had a two stage clutch, but that's all he knew about it, he didn't know how to work it. He told me he had to turn the tractor off to engage the PTO and he just cranked it with the PTO engaged. I tried pushing down the clutch and it did feel like it was a two stage clutch catching just a couple inches before it hit the floor, but when the guy would gently try to engage the PTO with the tractor running, it would grind. Is this a sign that neither of us know what the heck we're doing, or a sign that the PTO engagement is worn out or needing work? My other thought was that the original serial number signified that the tractor was built with a live 540 PTO, but possibly the transmission had been changed out at a later date. My son got pictures of all the various serial numbers I think, so we can look that up if we can figure out how to. I admit I was a bit disappointed, but glad I didn't jump into anything. I told him I'd ask my mechanic buddy about it and see if we could figure it out. He really didn't seem like he wanted to sell it even though he's only had it about 6 months. He said he sold his 8N to buy this just to bushhog with, but this was too much. He could do everything he needed to do with his JD zero turn mower. He's only bushhogging a couple acres. Any thoughts? My other question is how do I tell if it has a locking differential? The brake pedals were locked together with a pin underneath, but after the PTO discussion, I didn't feel like getting into a differential discussion with me not knowing anything about that either. (sigh)
My buddies want me to go to a tractor dealer and finance a brand new tractor. They say it will last me the rest of my life and they're probably right. I just see a lot of horror stories from ALL brands about not getting dealers to honor warranty situations and what not. And dang it.... I don't WANT to finance a new tractor. You'd think that at 50 years old, I would know how to handle peer pressure by now. LOL
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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