info on MF 135 please ??

HAMMERJAMMER · Jul 1, 2004

Hi, folks I've been looking for a used tractor lately. I have considered everything from john deere chinese. I am new to tractors. I finally ran across a MF135 today that looks almost like new. The guy wasn't home when I checked it out. The tires are in great shape. Not even a rip in the seat. Doesn't look like a repaint (but I may be wrong). No oil leaks that I could see anywhere. It has a 4 cylinder gas motor. It also has a bottom pto.

I called the guy after I got home and talked to him about it. He said everything on it works even the lights. Said he just had some seals put in it about a year ago. He said that he thought it was about 37 horse power and thought it was an early 70's model. I forgot to ask if he knew how many hours were on it. No implements go with it.

Now my question is are these good tractors? Does anybody have any idea of the year from the description I gave? I think I can get it at $4500.00. Is that tooo much to pay for this tractor?

DieselnHooters · Jul 2, 2004

The MF 135 diesel was just about the best utility tractor ever built. A friend farmer of mine has one with over 7000 hrs on it, pulling plows ,disks,spayers and the likes, never had major problems with it,didnt need any rebuilding of major parts, only regular maintenance.Also great parts availability, both new from dealers and also from aftermarket. Those Perkins diesel engines are bullet proof, I have no personnal experience with the gas version but they are definitely not worth as much, on most tractor models, the diesel version seem to hold up much better than the gasser. In my area nobody could sell a 30 years old gas tractor for $4500 US unless it was in mint condition or some collector item. Price would be about right for the diesel version , especially those british-made ones with power-steering although some american-made ones also had PS, was built from 1964 to 1974, has 38PTO HP.

Birdhunter1 · Jul 2, 2004

The 135 is a great litte tracotr, I have one that my grandpa bought new in the late 60's, it was my dad's and it's soon to be mine. Great for mowing, plowing w/ 2 or 3 bottoms I can handle an 8' disc, raking hay etc. There are actualy 2 gas engines that were offered in those tracotrs. The continental Z134 (134 cu.in.) engine is close to 37-38 engine hp, it came on standard tractors (not sure what transmission was behind it). The one I have is the deluxe model with a Continental Z-145 (145 cu.in.) engine that has roughly 42 engine hp and 38 +/- pto hp (about the same hp ratings of the 3-cyl 134 cu.in perkins deisel), all deluxe models should have this engine as far as I know. An easy way to tell if it's a deluxe or not is all the deluxes have a 2-range 3-speed trans w/ multipower, in essence giving you 12 forward speeds and 4 reverse speeds. I didn't catch what you said you'd be doing with the tractor but I assume mowing and gardening. In that case you should be able to handle a 6' bushhog through anything. A few operating tips, fill the rear tires, you'll be happy with the added traction and you may want a little weight up front, also only crack your fuel shut off valve about one turn, you'll still get enough fuel flow and you'll save a little in fuel consumption. In regards to maintenance, very low maint. and all access spots are easily accessed and very little to be done. As far as the price of $4500, I'd say that's an awesome price. If it's in as good of shape as you say it is then that should be a great buy. If you look on ebay even ones that are really rough are going the upward end of $3000. Around So. IL, $4500 would be a little shy of average price on a 135, I know of a 235 deisel (same tractor but newer model) for $7500 with a loader and a 5' bushog, good looking tractor but a little dirty. I wouldn't take less than $5000 for mine and its in good+/- shape (soon to be restored to great shape).

sweettractors · Jul 2, 2004

If you can be sure about the integrity of the engine? $4500 will be sorta in line. Be sure to check for "Non-Foulers" on the spark plugs or a recent set of new plugs. These tractors are pretty bad about blowing a oils ring in 1 cyl hole and fouling out the plug. A new plug will make it run like new for a few hours and then the same thing happens again. Power steering and square fenders would be a + --Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment LLC *New Snowco 16 Ft Square Hay Bale Elevators/Electric Motor $825*

yellowsocks93 · Jul 2, 2004

Bird Hunter,

I also have a MF 135 gas deluxe model. I love the thing. It was my grandpa's and we restored it back in 1992. It is fun to drive around and has been a great tractor for my grandpa's farm and ours. He also had a JD M but the Massey is nicer.

HAMMERJAMMER · Jul 3, 2004

I don't know if this is the deluxe model or not. I did see a high/low shifter beside the gear shift. I don't understand about the multipwer though. 12 forward gears? 3 gears with H/L is only 6 the way I figure. How do you get 12? Is there another high/low feature somewhere that I should be able to see?

Oh and this one doesn't have square fenders. Is that an indication of what year it could be?

Oh yeah thats good info on checking the spark plugs too. I'll check them out the next time I look at the tractor.

Thanks for all the help fellas.

Birdhunter1 · Jul 3, 2004

In response to what multipower is: the shifter next to the three gears on the top of the trans. is the range selector, high and low range. The multipower lever is located below the throttle lever on the side of the guage panel/dash area, or right above the range selector and it moves up and down. Up your in high multipower and down your in low multipower. What it does is somehow through te hydraulic system it acts as another range of gearing, ex. you are mowing in third gear, low range high multipower and you encounter thick grass that bogs the tractor a bit. Rather than shift to second gear you would drop to low multipower (no clutch involved, 100% on the move) and it slows you down to the basically same speed as second gear high multipower. Very nice when mowing, plowing, driving on steep hilly roads pulling a load, crossing ditches, etc. For low torque situations like dragging logs and such it doesn't matter which multipower range you are in. The downside to it is that when it wears itself out, such as mine did, its about a $2500 repair the right way or about a $500 repair to just have it taken off. Just a few weeks ago I had it taken off, it was causing other problems and since the tractor is not the sole machine on the farm, I would rather have it functioning correctly than not. plus its mainly used for mowing ditches and such and moving things once in a while so it didn't matter to me if it were on there or not. I haven't yet missed it, though I have reached for it countless times already. This tractor is more of a toy right now, it's getting ready for a complete makeover (paint, a few new sheetmetal items) and then its not going to be used as much as a workhorse, mainly just a show toy and parade runner. My 135 multipower problem is not common to most of them, mine has about 4000 hours on it and most of them were pretty hard hours. Also if you do get this tractor make sure and always use the MF hyd. oil (perma-trans), the hydraulics don't function worth a hoot if you don't.

Poncho · Jul 4, 2004

Hammerjammer.... I have a 67' model with the perkins diesel and paid $3400. From your description... yours sounds in better shap than mine when I bought it. There's a dealership about an hour from me that actually restores the 135s and sells them for around $12m - $13m. Mine had multi-power but was evidently removed at an earlier time in life. The tractor cranks immediatley and has never let me down. I hope to restore it one day as they are nice looking tractors.

tough451 · Jul 5, 2004

If it is in good shape 4500.00 is a very fair price for a 135 gas. We have had one for ever it used to be the primary worker but now it mostly works gardens ,rakes hay,and fence line mowing. The only down fall is ti is hard on gas.

Birdhunter1 · Jul 6, 2004

To tough451: hard on gas. My MF 135 with a Z-145 engine uses aprrox. 2 gal/hr. at the pto rated speed of 1700 rpm (+/-). Gas consumption ain't great but at least we know what hard on gas means now. I don't know what the deisels or the 135's w/ the Z-134 engine consume per hour but it probably isn't much better.