As for the tractor, definitely get it, but plan on getting a loader for it also. Look for a Ford 770A or 770B, preferably the B as they go on and come off easier. The 1500, 1510, and 1520 were good little machines. As I recall the 1020 series (1520, 1720, 1920) were made from 86 to 89. Towards the end, they wore a New Holland name plate. Common wear parts are still available from NH dealers. The engines are good to at least 3000 hrs.
There are 3 week points on these tractors. The first is the head. The most common death of these tractors is a cracked head after around 3000 hours. Keep the filter screen on the radiator cleaned off, and your antifreeze topped off, and check your oil frequently. FWIW, my machine has spent its entire life outdoors and it leaks engine and hydraulic oil pretty bad, but it serves my needs very well.
Another week point is the bolts that hold the engine to the frame. The engine block is cast, and the bolts don't like to stay torqued. If they come loose, they will quickly wear the internal threads on the block. I was able to put inserts in mine and then used lock tight to keep them in. I think I used one of the green formulations, but don't recall for sure. Best bet is to keep them tight to begin with.
If it has power steering, the 3rd week point is the hydraulic system where the hydraulic pump connects to the diverter valve for the power steering. If the engine bolts come loose and start to strip, you'll replace the orings in this connection about ever 8 hrs of use (ask me how I know). This is because the pump is mounted to the engine and the valve is mounted to the frame. Relative motion between the two abrades the orings rather quickly. Replacing the orings takes about 30 min, but is a bit of a pain in the rear. Installing inserts/helicoils had quadrupled the life of the orings.
Lastly, while not really a week point, the suction filter on the hydraulic system does like to clog up. In the winter it becomes a real problem. Not a big deal since you can easily get them at NAPA, and they are super easy to change. If/when you add a loader, if it gets to where it runs really slow, change your filter.
Another watch out is the rims. People used to use Calcium Chloride in them for ballast, and it eats the rims which are expensive to replace. If the rims are good, and you want ballast in the tire, load them with washer fluid, or rimgard/beet juice. Rims are pretty expensive which means moving from turf to ag tires, or the other way around can be an expensive upgrade since they don't use the same wheels. I had turf tires and it cost me $1,200 to buy a full set of heavily used Ag tires and wheels, and have them shipped to Indiana from Texas. 2/3 of that price was the shipping.
This may sound like a lot of headaches, but its not. It's just the way it goes with older machinery. Heck, it goes this way with new machinery if you don't take care of it. IMHO, new machinery is a real pain to deal with because of all the EPA regs they've been forced to meet. This comes with electronic fuel injection, and sensors that can fail. These old diesels are all mechanical which makes them a lot more reliable. Over all mechanical diesel is super simple because it has no ignition system, and no electronics of any kind are required to get the machine to run. Just air, atomized fuel, and compression. To shut these machines down, you literally push the throttle in so far that it stops the flow of fuel. If the glow plugs work, your golden. If the glow plugs don't work, a quick shot of either into the intake (above the battery) will get it running even in temps below zero. DON'T USE EITHER AND GLOWPLUGS together. Main thing with any diesel is to not run it out of fuel. On top of being hard on the fuel pump and injectors, purging the air out is a slow and tedious process. Get impatient and you'll burn the starter up. Go too slow, and you'll drain the battery before you get all the air out.
If you're wondering what the machines are worth, take a look on tractorhouse.com. You should be able to get a decent idea from there. Mine is a 4wd model, but the 4wd doesn't work. Previous owner was a young guy who had acquired it with the purchase of a small horse farm. He didn't know how the machine worked and had the 3ph control lever in its "Aux" position, but the machine doesn't have an auxiliary line hooked up so it was deadheading. His young wife wanted it gone so I got it for $2K. One of the few good deals I've found that didn't require more work than it was worth. If mine ever dies on me, I'll have no moral issues coughing up $10K or more for a slightly more modern replacement. That's how useful the machine has become for me. I'm in my late 40s and still in decent shape, but I'm sure that my machine has saved me one or more trips to the ER in the last 5 years, and is no doubt helping me to postpone or avoid additional corrective surgeries that would have otherwise been required in the future.
Sorry, I know this is way off topic of the original post, but can't let this poor fellow pass up on something like this
. .
