Go for the tractor
Here are some pics of a ih 2400a that I found for my father last fall. Mine had a blown c-175 gas, and now has a c-200 gas which is the same as a 2500A gas motor or a 574.
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International Harvester used the same basic tractor platform to make at least the following machines, paver, utility tractor, forklift, tractor loader backhoe, skip loader, and probably something else.
Yours is of the skiploader version, it had a cast bull nose, or front grill, a cast heavy duty front axle designed for constant loader use, and a heavy duty front end loader built to dig and load trucks. As well as a ceramic clutch and / or a hydrostatic transmission.
1/2 a gallon over 2 months is no big thing, especially if he is hooking and unhooking the hydraulic hoses. Everytime you couple and uncouple a little bit of oil is lost, if you can see oil leaving a spot underneath it, or wet spots on hydraulic cylinders, thats a different story and should be fixed.
A tractor of that size will play with 1200 pounds, and should be able to handle a ton on the level. Now if you get on a slope, your load rating goes down cause the load picks up on the back tires and you loose traction, its one of the bad things about 2wd.
As for versitility, in the woods, a tractor flat out puts the smack down on a skid steer, and here are the reasons why.
1.) Try skidding out a top with a skidloader on a narrow logging road, thats say even a 1/4 of a mile long, thats a long way to backup... and how good is your visibility in reverse? Tractor, just chain the log to a drawbar thru the three point, lift it up and go, or you can use reverse with much better visibility.
2.) Ever ran a skidsteer in the the mud on a slight incline, they are almost helpless, go to turn and you loose all traction... Tractor, its no big deal, just mud.
3.) Uneven terain, with a skidsteer, you have no oscelation in your axles, they are all rigid mount, which means unless your on flat terain they are unstable. Tractor, your front axle can pivot to account for that...
4.) Slopes... get much of a slope with a skidsteer and they are too short to go up and down safley, you will have to back up a slope and drive down them to keep them stable. Tractor, it don't matter, though for real steep stuff. keep your bucket in front so you can stop yourself.
5.) Pulling a wagon or a trailer, not even close....
6.) Tire wear, a skidsteer might get 1200 hours if your good to it on a set of rubber, a tractor can get 15 years.
7.) loading a comercial dump truck, with a skidsteer, you need to be almost touching the truck to make it in and your craining your neck to see your bucket. Tractor, usually they lift higher and you set back farther making it easier to see what your doing.
Now for some things to check before you take the 2500 home. Their hydrostatic transmissions were awesome for their timeframe, today they can be a very expensive repair. Have someone that knows what they are doing go over that area well. Also they are not the best transmission to have for heavy pulling like plowing, the transmission likes to get too hot and that is the end for the hydro. They are awesome for shuttle work or pto work like bailing hay because you can adjust ground speed without adjusting rpms, or clutching.
Also see if it has a block heater, if not, you might wanna add one. Those particular diesels can be grumpy below 30.
Other than that, just the standard tractor stuff, they were and are a very good and hany tractor to have around.
But they are not helpless in mud or hills and thats all I was trying to say! I know I have more people that have loader tractors asking me to help them than I ask them to help me. And I'm talking strictly woods and tree/fence row work. I do borrow that 210 for mowing as you can see in that pic.
