Looking for used 50-70hp, pre-emissions tractor. JD? - TractorByNet

I have been looking for a larger tractor to replace or go with my Kubota L 4wd. The L is 45 hp and is a good machine but it is very light weight. I need something heavier and with substantially more loader capacity. I'm looking for a used pre-emissions tractor with no computer. I'm looking in the 60-70 hp range. My ideal machine is a Kubota M or M. Needs to be 4wd. But these are hard to find and as everyone knows these pre-emissions tractors are EXPENSIVE right now. I looked at a M with hours on it. Beat up. Bent exhaust pipe. One of the front wheels and tires was new which makes me wonder what happened to it. Otherwise it was solid. Drove and functioned well. No obvious leaks etc. $28,500! And searching the web that's consistent with what else is out there. I've made a casual offer of $22,000 but haven't heard back. Can't imagine he'll get anywhere close. But it has been sitting there a while.

So, I need to broaden my horizons. That would primarily mean John Deere or other popular brand with good local dealer support. But I don't know anything about brands other than Kubota. I would prefer a mechanical shuttle shift. Would consider hydraulic shuttle shift. No hydro. What would the JD equivalent of a Kubota M or M be? Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated.

New tractors are generally in short supply and thus used ones have become pricey as well.

Deere's pre-emissions tractors in the 60-70 HP range would be certain series machines up until , and before that, the smaller members of the 2x40/2x50/2x55 series as they introduced MFWD on the 40 series units in this HP range. I will say that MFWD was pretty uncommon until roughly the late s, so it would be pretty uncommon to find a 40/50/55 series unit with it and it wasn't even that common on the first 5x00 units. The units you would want to look for are the and , , , , , , and - E and E as well as M and M. Do note that the E, E, and M are still made and you would need to narrow your search to and older units in order to not turn up -up Tier 4 units if you want a pre-emissions tractor. These tractors depending on year and model series could have an unsynchronized 3-range/3-speed Collar Shift transmission, a 3-range/3-speed synchronized SyncShuttle (also called the TSS or "top shaft synchronized") transmission which does NOT have a shuttle lever, or one of a few different hydraulic reverser (PowrReverser) transmissions with the shuttle lever, most commonly a three-range/four-speed unit. Deere never made a mechanical shuttle transmission for these tractors with a shuttle lever like you would see on a New Holland Workmaster 60 or 70 aka the CaseIH Farmall 60A and 70A. They also never made a hydrostatic transmission for this size of tractor either.

The Deere series are a nice tractor, the same basic design has been made since the early s and the basic 3 cylinder 179 CID/2.9 L engine in nearly all of those has been made since the s. The exception here is the and Tier 2 M/M. They used a five-cylinder skid loader engine and the 5M used/uses a new, different, larger frame than the other tractors in this list. I have run several three and four-cylinder versions in the line over a couple of decades, both cabbed and open station, 2WD and MFWD, and with the TSS as well as 12-speed PowrReverser transmissions. They all worked well, I personally prefer the TSS transmission despite there being no reverser lever, but that is personal preference.

Deere's comparable models to the M and M would have been the - E and E/M.

Regarding loader carriers, the "ALO" type above is called Global and is an ISO spec. CaseIH/New Holland as well as John Deere give it as an option on some loaders. The other carrier CaseIH/New Holland uses is the skid loader QA, which is an option if not the only setup offered on loaders on <75 HP tractors. Deere offers their own hook-and-linch pin JD 500 QA on all of their 500 series loaders, and on some loaders they offer Global and on some new ones, skid loader QA. Kubota appears to only use the skid loader QA on tractors of this size. I personally like the JD QA as it's the easiest and most foolproof of the three mentioned above, and it is not proprietary. Most 500 series Deere loaders made before about or so are going to be Deere QA.

I will also say to not rule out a 2WD utility tractor unless you have actually used a 2WD utility tractor on your property and had issues with it. A utility tractor has a lot more weight than a compact, and particularly with the fluid-filled ag (R1) tires that generally come on them, a 2WD utility tractor will get a lot more traction than compact tractor with MFWD disengaged will get. They work just fine with a loader, you just need to have appropriate ballast, which you are supposed to have on any tractor with a loader. With the exception of the smaller Kubota M series units with their bevel gear MFWD as you see in a compact tractor, the 2WD tractors have a much smaller turning radius than a regular planetary-hub MFWD utility tractor as well, which is why they are popular for haying operations around here.

New tractors are generally in short supply and thus used ones have become pricey as well.

Deere's pre-emissions tractors in the 60-70 HP range would be certain series machines up until , and before that, the smaller members of the 2x40/2x50/2x55 series as they introduced MFWD on the 40 series units in this HP range. I will say that MFWD was pretty uncommon until roughly the late s, so it would be pretty uncommon to find a 40/50/55 series unit with it and it wasn't even that common on the first 5x00 units. The units you would want to look for are the and , , , , , , and - E and E as well as M and M. Do note that the E, E, and M are still made and you would need to narrow your search to and older units in order to not turn up -up Tier 4 units if you want a pre-emissions tractor. These tractors depending on year and model series could have an unsynchronized 3-range/3-speed Collar Shift transmission, a 3-range/3-speed synchronized SyncShuttle (also called the TSS or "top shaft synchronized") transmission which does NOT have a shuttle lever, or one of a few different hydraulic reverser (PowrReverser) transmissions with the shuttle lever, most commonly a three-range/four-speed unit. Deere never made a mechanical shuttle transmission for these tractors with a shuttle lever like you would see on a New Holland Workmaster 60 or 70 aka the CaseIH Farmall 60A and 70A. They also never made a hydrostatic transmission for this size of tractor either.

The Deere series are a nice tractor, the same basic design has been made since the early s and the basic 3 cylinder 179 CID/2.9 L engine in nearly all of those has been made since the s. The exception here is the and Tier 2 M/M. They used a five-cylinder skid loader engine and the 5M used/uses a new, different, larger frame than the other tractors in this list. I have run several three and four-cylinder versions in the line over a couple of decades, both cabbed and open station, 2WD and MFWD, and with the TSS as well as 12-speed PowrReverser transmissions. They all worked well, I personally prefer the TSS transmission despite there being no reverser lever, but that is personal preference.

Deere's comparable models to the M and M would have been the - E and E/M.

Regarding loader carriers, the "ALO" type above is called Global and is an ISO spec. CaseIH/New Holland as well as John Deere give it as an option on some loaders. The other carrier CaseIH/New Holland uses is the skid loader QA, which is an option if not the only setup offered on loaders on <75 HP tractors. Deere offers their own hook-and-linch pin JD 500 QA on all of their 500 series loaders, and on some loaders they offer Global and on some new ones, skid loader QA. Kubota appears to only use the skid loader QA on tractors of this size. I personally like the JD QA as it's the easiest and most foolproof of the three mentioned above, and it is not proprietary. Most 500 series Deere loaders made before about or so are going to be Deere QA.

I will also say to not rule out a 2WD utility tractor unless you have actually used a 2WD utility tractor on your property and had issues with it. A utility tractor has a lot more weight than a compact, and particularly with the fluid-filled ag (R1) tires that generally come on them, a 2WD utility tractor will get a lot more traction than compact tractor with MFWD disengaged will get. They work just fine with a loader, you just need to have appropriate ballast, which you are supposed to have on any tractor with a loader. With the exception of the smaller Kubota M series units with their bevel gear MFWD as you see in a compact tractor, the 2WD tractors have a much smaller turning radius than a regular planetary-hub MFWD utility tractor as well, which is why they are popular for haying operations around here.

Thanks for that real complete synopsis on the larger JD utility tractors & loaders. BTW, wasn't there a high quality loader made a few decades back by the ALO company? Maybe in Canada? I remember something of that.

You changed my mind on on thing, which is I have long been in favor of the SSQA just because it opens up a whole world of rental options. But I am realizing I haven't taken advantage of those rentals myself, and I have several times now mis-mated my SSQA with the few front attachments I have... and then worrried about someday tweaking the SSQA. All that adds up to my beginning to look around just to see if there really are better QAs out there. I'm probably not going to change, but I would like to know.

I hear you on the 2WD. I suspect that a 2wd is going to be the cost-wise sweet spot right now in used pre-emission tractors. Once you get over 70 hp, the 2WD machines have a lot of traction, they are real reliable, and they steer nicely. They just aren't popular against the same machine in 4wd and that might be the one way to save serious money. Now if you have hills, snow, and ice, then best stay with 4wd. But consider it. When I buy used, I worry about the 4wd. It's the one mechanical system difficult to evaluate.
rScotty

Thanks for that real complete synopsis on the larger JD utility tractors & loaders. BTW, wasn't there a high quality loader made a few decades back by the ALO company? Maybe in Canada? I remember something of that.

You changed my mind on on thing, which is I have long been in favor of the SSQA just because it opens up a whole world of rental options. But I am realizing I haven't taken advantage of those rentals myself, and I have several times now mis-mated my SSQA with the few front attachments I have... and then worrried about someday tweaking the SSQA. All that adds up to my beginning to look around just to see if there really are better QAs out there. I'm probably not going to change, but I would like to know.

I hear you on the 2WD. I suspect that a 2wd is going to be the cost-wise sweet spot right now in used pre-emission tractors. Once you get over 70 hp, the 2WD machines have a lot of traction, they are real reliable, and they steer nicely. They just aren't popular against the same machine in 4wd and that might be the one way to save serious money. Now if you have hills, snow, and ice, then best stay with 4wd. But consider it. When I buy used, I worry about the 4wd. It's the one mechanical system difficult to evaluate.
rScotty

It is not too hard to get the skid loader QA at a little bit of an angle and get one of the latches in front of its slot, or have one of the slots get caked with mud or dirt and keep the latch from latching properly. I have never rented a loader attachment but most of the ones I have seen at the local rental yards are very much skid loader attachments such as hydraulic rock hammers, rotary brooms, and brush cutters and they require the much higher hydraulic flow of a skid loader. Unless the rental yards around you are different, if you wanted to be able to use one of those kinds of attachments, you would have to buy one of them anyway in order to get a low-flow version that would work with a utility tractor.

As far as Deere tractors are concerned, the real big difference in tractor size in going up from the 45-75 HP 3 cylinder series isn't going up to the slightly larger 4 cylinder models like the , //, //, and E/E/E etc., it is when you go from the series to the series as there is a very noticeable increase in size and weight. The series units topped out at about 90-125 HP depending on year, and the series units started at about 85-105 HP depending on year. There are a lot of series machines out there, particularly around here as a ~120 HP series tractor is pretty popular size to make and feed round bales and most all of the farming around here is cattle and hay.