M6950DT 4x4 - Your Opinions?

[Mr. Bumps]

Hi folks,
Great to find a group of likeminded people who love orange tractors... I'm pretty new at assessing tractors but I did learn to drive 'em on my grandfather's old Kubota back in the 80s and I'm excited to buy my first one now.

I went to look at a 1986 M6950DT 4x4 being sold by a tidy tree worker/homesteader in northern Maine. He's owned it since 1989 and it's got 4700 miles on it. 2700 of which he put on himself. It's very clean and has original paint. He has some service records, and looks like it's been serviced at least once a year. Mostly been used in the woods skidding and winching logs.

It started right up - cold start. Blew very clean smoke. Oil and Transmission fluid were very clean. Brakes were decent. No loud clunking noises from the engine.

In April it got new clutches (PTO and Gear) a new radiator, new water pump, new tires, new rims. No fill in the tires.

Today after a half hour of running it had a small drip of power steering fluid (?) on the chassis between the front wheels. He said it might be a loose hose or something from when they put the thing back together after the new clutches.

The radiator also boiled over a little bit... it was a short drive, up hill. He said it might be because they haven't really used it much since winter when they put in the new radiator and it maybe had more water in the winter, which was fine for the cold, but too much in the heat.

Those are the only two issues I could find. (Besides the lights being stove in from the woods work.) There is no bucket and I'll need to buy one and install it for work around my place.

He seems to be a conscientious seller who is tidy in his dealings around the place. I trust his word. I am a little nervous though, being a first-time buyer with little experience buying tractors, and with very little spare cash to waste.

He's asking $12,200. What do you think? Should I go for it?

Thanks! Hopefully if I get this tractor I can learn a thing or two and contribute some more to this forum. All the best.

 

[dmanlyr]

Depends a little upon what you are going to use it for. If it just around the property, that would probably be ok, but if you are going to crop with it, would you really trust a 28 year old tractor not to fail when you need it in that short harvest window?

Not to say that a new tractor could not fail as well, but at 28 years old, well it is more likely that you will have small things crop up, all of the rubber parts, hoses, seals, etc unless they have been replaced are, well, 28 years old. All of the hydraulics are also 28 years old if original, and they can get fairly pricy to go thru at a shop level, quite a bit less if you do the work yourself.

Again, it really depends upon what your intended usage is, if it is time critical work, then take a good hard look at how the numbers add up and weigh that against the greater possibility that you will have a failure due to age.

Also - why is he selling it, to get something new because he is tired of fixing the little things that come up, or is it to get a more suitable tractor for his type of usage?

A thought on the new radiator and water pump - well why? Was it overheating or were they leaky? If only leaky that's ok, but if it was run for a while overheating, then it is possible that quite a bit of head gasket life has been taken off the motor.

David

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Mr. Bumps,
I think your digging in too deep. that's a really well used tractor.
It's 4700 hours, not miles.
4700 miles and it would be just getting warm, 4700 hours and it's been run, a lot!
I live in the land of logging and using a tractor for logging is extremely rough on them! especially a farm tractor, I personally wouldn't buy one that was ever used for logging, I've seen what those guys do to them!

The leaking hydraulic steering might be minor, but hydraulic steering parts are expensive!
The over heating or boiling over after a short run would bother me big time, I think there's more of a problem there, could be as simple as over filled (bet not) or as drastic as a cracked head or block, witch could run thousands to fix.
I can run my L3450 hard for hours and only get to 2/3 way up in temp gauge and that's with an old radiator on it.

Just for random around the yard work tractor that's a lot of tractor, most people need a B or maybe an L, a M is a working tractor.

Have you priced a loader for it, they run about $4K or more for an M of that size, that's a good chuck of change.
What happens if you sink that kind of money into a loader and the motor goes south on you? You're just going to have real expensive yard art.

Sorry painted a negative picture, but I think #1 price is too high, #2 I think there is more going on than he says, I don't get a good feeling and I'm on the other side of the US.

 

[Mr. Bumps]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but when we got water out if the radiator the temperature gauge hadn't moved at all. He thought it was simply overfilled back in the winter when they put the new radiator in.

They are selling because the old timer finally got his first cab tractor with a/c and heat... And this is now their fifth Kubota on the farm... They figure four is enough so are letting go of the old girl.

My use: ploughing, discing 16 acres of heavier loam. Usually 2 or 3 acres at a time. Manure spreader, seeder, cultivators, hiller and undercutter. Main crop = garlic. other crops = strawberries and berry bushes. Also will be using for woods work around the house, skidding logs from a 17 acre woods.

Thanks for all of your thoughts... Especially the comment about why hey put the radiator in in the first place and what that means for the gasket. I'm thinking Lon and hard on this one.

Any more thoughts in light of my comments here?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

With now knowing your use for the tractor, you are more suited for an M then smaller models.

If you want to confirm overfilling of the radiator and not more serious problems, take the radiator cap off and run the tractor, if there is bubbles then it's a cracked head or block or more likely a blow head gasket. That right there will sway it one way or the other for me.

 

[ToddC]

I bought a m7950 dtc a few years ago and love it. I use it to do hay and I added a westendorf loader last year to move round bales, manure and snow. I got a great deal on mine but the body was beat up and high hours. Only thing I've had to fix is the AC and bodywork but the tie rods are getting a little loose but I only notice when I go down the roads
I'm not an expert
Please keep us posted