Hey guys looking for a little more cheap power for the farm. I found a 1983 4490 Case 4x4 4wd tractor a 4 hr drive from my farm that only has 4200 hours, and has 150 hp on the draw bar. It seems to be the articulating type which is not really common in my area. I have notice a lot of these larger 4wd articulating tractors with low hours for sale out there that seem really cheap. I am kind of wondering why? Has anyone ever have many problems with these older type tractors? Are these things typically basket cases or "lemons"?
The last used tractor I bought was a 2955 which is more commonly thought of as a utility tractor, It had low hours and 1 farmer owned clean looking tractor that ended up being a "lemon" with everything from transmission to engine problems that werent noticable in the first year. Are used tractors that are more heavy duty built safer? Just some thoughts thanks!!!!
Permalink Reply by Larry Bendal on 
Permalink Reply by James Kelly on How old is your 8360 and how man hours does it have on it now? I hear AGCO is putting out some great products.
Permalink Reply by Tony Eickman on we had a 4890 articulating tractor and liked it up to the part when third range went out and then while it was in the shop the rear pumpkin went out. $16000 later we got a $15000 tractor out of the shop and sold it. We didn't need to sell it but it scared us into it. A bit of advice though, grease the spiders everyday-10 hours they are a pain to replace. I dont mean to scare you, we had that tractor for twelve years before we sold it and the only other thing was a push-rod (first or second year we had it).
Permalink Reply by James Kelly on uhuh this is a case 4890? how many hours did you have on it when you sold it? you sold it for 15000?
Permalink Reply by Tony Eickman on 5000 hrs give or take. yes. It was a hell of a tractor for 11 years. It was just after we got it from the shop that we were afraid it would turn into a giant paperweight if it broke down again.
We had a 4890 for a lot of years. Used it for pulling scrapers and thats pretty tough on a farm tractor. I think the biggest difference in 4490 4690 4890 was the engine. the smaller two had a 504 case engine like a 1570 or 2590. those were great engines. start better than any engine of that era in cold weather. the 4890 had a larger scania engine. I dont remember the displacement. But it had the neatest oil filter i have ever seen. it was like a cream seperator of centrifuge. slung the dirt to the outside and you could take it apart and scrape it out with a pocketknife when you changed oil. Very reliable and rugged built tractors. only problem i remember is the nut coming loose on end of the camshaft and cutting off oil supply to the rocker arms.
Permalink Reply by Bronson Allred on We've owned a 1370 Case which has the 504 engine for about 30 years. Those old cases were always good running things. I wouldn't agree with the easy cold starting though. Ours has to be plugged in around 40 degrees. Our 1466 International with the 436 is probably the best cold starter i've seen not even needing ether until below about 20 degrees. I'm not sure if the 90 series transmissions were much different than the 70 series but as Tony pretty much said, they can be very expensive when they break. There were certain upgrades for those transmissions that I've always heard you should make sure have been installed before you buy one, but I'm not sure what they were. They're pretty complex transmissions so a self overhaul usually is out of the question. You would have to talk to the big Case experts to know when the transmissions get close to taking a crap but 4200 sounds like it may be close.
Permalink Reply by James Kelly on Well if it is close, should hear the gears grinding and such I guess. But yes there has to be a recent why these older low hour tractors have cheap price tags on them.
Permalink Reply by Bronson Allred on They will usually slip. Grinding doesn't usually come into play because they are a hydraulic transmission. I know when ours needed overhauled it didn't show any warning signs and all of a sudden 1st powershift started slipping. I think the only reason old 4 wheels drives have cheap price tags is because they're so much more expensive when they break. Especially Cases.
You might put a post on YTmag. Theres usually quite a few experts with all colors on there.
© 2013 Created by Jeff Caldwell.
