Because I really needed another project in my life, its itime for a tractor

In reply to NickD :

Thats cool. I like it.

In reply to Dirtydog :

Thanks. Does your ferguson have the three point hitch? I always thought it was cool that little ferguson invented the design that is still used today by all brands. IH tried to compete by introducing the fast hitch i have. It has some good qualities but definitely didnt catch on like three point.

The torque amplifier is all assembled and spins like it is supposed to. Now i just need to turn the pile of parts in my garage back into a tractor. Im hoping for a productive saturday, because sunday i am helping dad load cattle.

3 point hitch and PTO.   Handy little machine.  Some before and after pictures.

Can't post pics.   Piles of parts and finished product seems to be a theme around here.

Ok i may have skipped ahead a few steps, but the tractor is back together and running. 

Almost exactly one year ago i went out on a sunday afternoon to scrape the snow off my driveway, and locked up the torque amplifier, causing my tractor to be down for ten months. 

Today, it is sunday, my driveway is covered in snow, my tractor is ready to go, and im nervous. Im not a superstitious person, but this feels like bad juju. 

Ill let you know how it turns out.

It survived. It cleared the driveway and drove back into the barn under its own power. Now i go back inside where its warm.

So I still have this tractor. I haven't used it much lately, because we haven't gotten any snow this winter, and it was down last summer with hydraulic issues. I've maybe put three hours on it in the last calendar year. In reality I don't need a tractor. So when I got offered a good deal on a second loader tractor I said, "alright I'll come look at it."

It belongs to an old guy in the nursing home. The son needs to settle the estate. I told him I wasn't sure. He said he needed it gone so he could put the house up for sale. So we worked out a deal, I take it home, fix up the problems it has from it sitting too long, and use it a bit while I make up my mind. Then I can either buy it, or help him sell it and we work something out for my time. So I have to choose which one of these tractors I want to keep. I don't want two loader tractors. That would be a bit excessive for a guy with less than three acres.

It is an IH 424. Its a little smaller and lighter than my 350, but the same hp.

The good: It is about ten years newer. It has factory power steering. It has a three point hitch. The loader looks like it will be easier to take on and off than my other one. All stock and unmodified. Nice straight sheet metal, I could paint this one and have it look nice when I get done. It appears to have had a lot easier life than mine has.

The bad: it's a trip bucket instead of hydraulic dump. The loader seems pretty cheap and light duty. One rear tire is in pretty bad shape (my 350 has new rear tires, but the rims on these tractors should be interchangeable, so whichever tractor I keep will get the new tires). It doesn't have the sweet mid 50s art deco styling that the 350 has. I find the mid century modern styling of this tractor quite hideous actually. 

I really wont know much more until I get it running again. We had it running Sunday but it died. It seemed to be the fuel starvation from a clogged line. Old fuel from sitting and all that. While it was running the loader, three point, steering, PTO, and trans all seemed ok.

I made my first purchase for this tractor. Original owners manual and aftermarket service manual I found on fb marketplace. Shipped over from Wisconsin. 

They are pretty nice to have. There were some pedals and handles that I honestly didn't know what they did. As it turns out this tractor has a differential lock. So that's pretty sweet.

I'm having trouble thinking of a more GRM situation than "I don't use this one machine I have, so I bought another one." 

Loving this thread

*searches CL for tractors*

tip said:

Loving this thread

*searches CL for tractors*

I can make you a deal on IH 350....

I committed to buying the 424 today and am going to sell the 350. One thing I did accomplish was swap tires. The 350 had new rims and tires which I am keeping. If you ever feel like working your ass off park two tractors 100 yards apart and swap the rear wheels and tires. Talk about a pain in the ass. 

It got warm (well, like 50) and sunny today, so I did something I wanted to do since I first saw the tractor. Power washer time!

Before

After

Not quite ready for a tractor show, but definitely a lot less gross than it was before. 

But there's more to it than removing the moss and being less gross. I want to change the transmission and hydraulic fluid. That isn't a cheap job. It's one of those jobs where you buy fluid by the bucket. So I want identify and fix any leaks before hand. It's hard to ID the source of the leak when the whole area looks like a giant grease ball.

Facebook marketplace keeps showing me tractors too.  So far I'm resisting and living vicariously through this thread...

I've found myself in need of a tractor so I've been following this thread.

Any hints on how to size one so I don't buy too small?

In reply to The0retical :

What do you want to do with it?

In reply to The0retical:

The late David E. Davis, Jr., said that when choosing a tractor, the best rule is to get a bigger one.  I believe the idea was that you would always find things to do that a smaller tractor couldn't handle.

My love for old tractors has causede to go halfs on a few with old man.... We got 6 between us right now. 

Stealthtercel said:

In reply to The0retical:

The late David E. Davis, Jr., said that when choosing a tractor, the best rule is to get a bigger one.  I believe the idea was that you would always find things to do that a smaller tractor couldn't handle.

Well yes and no. My garage has seven foot high garage doors. One stipulation I have is that the tractor has to fit in the garage, and most row crop tractors (which are a lot more common than the utility tractors in my area) are too tall. One advantage I has was that my dad lives one mile away and has several tractors, some of them are pretty big, so if I buy a tractor that is big enough to do 95% of what I need to do i have access to machinery for the other 5%.

Out of curiosity, how much for the 350

gearheadmb said:

In reply to The0retical :

What do you want to do with it?

Sorry, I don't mean to crap up your thread.

I need one primarily for gravel driveway maintenance. 3pt hitch, front loader, box blade, etc. I'll probably also use it for other stuff like brush and whatnot but that's a pretty distant second place. The problem I keep running into is that everyone seems to assume a flat driveway when sizing. I'm dealing with a situation where there's a mild grade down to the stream (maybe 8% or so) then I have a 20%-25% grade up the other side to get to the house. (50 foot rise over 206 feet.) I don't have a clue if I should be starting with compacts or if I need a mid-size. If mid-size, how mid-size?

ATV and garden tractor implements are probably out. I've spoken with a couple of manufacturers of them, like ABI and DR, who can't guarantee they'll work on that kind of grade. ABI does make one that would work but it is $6k. Add in an ATV and I'm looking at $10k or so for something which I can't move stone around with beyond grading unless I put in some manual labor with a trailer. I don't know how long a transmission would hold out doing that kind of work either.

I've been dragging my feet and considering my options because of all that.

If I'm looking at spending $15 or $18 grand, I'm just going to have it paved for $22k-ish and remove the problem permanently. For up to $10K there's likely a case to be made for a tractor if I could figure out what I'm actually shopping for.

Patrick said:

Out of curiosity, how much for the 350

I was gonna advertise it for $2500, but $2000 would buy it.