Massey nightmare continues

[Phillip w]

I have an 0lder allis Chalmers 185 (about 75 hp), it has been a pretty good reliable older tractor. I purchased a massey ferguson 1531 four wheel drive with a loader thinking it would be a handy light tractor on the farm. I have been around the farm and tractor all my life.( all different makes and models: John Deere, allis Chalmers, ih,Ford, Kubota, case, ect.) This massey ferguson 1531 Will not hold up on the farm. I told dealer I use the allis for heavier work loads. My father has a John Deere 4100 which is rated smaller than my massey ferguson. He has had his John Deere over 10 years. His John Deere has been very reliable and kicks my massey ferguson's butt. My massey ferguson has about 1500 hours. The four wheel drive has shelled 3 times. The steering cylinder broke. The oil cooler sprung a leak. The three point lift arms have screwed up three different times. The pto shelled and I concerned it may shell again because it won't stay km engaged. The joy stick hand for the loader kept breaking, finally I put a handle on it from an old John Deere 55 combine. That solved that particular issue. As for me a massey ferguson compact tractor is the most unreliable piece of equipment I have ever owned bar none from cars trucks, tractors, machinery, lawn equipment, etc. My opinion is a massey ferguson compact tractor is basically a throw away junk tractor. DON'T BUY A MASSEY FERGUSON COMPACT TRACTOR!!!

My father purchased a John Deere 4100 four wheel tractor with a loader about 10- 12 years ago. It is about 22 hp. He has had really good luck with it. He has scooped manure, dug up water lines, plowed snow and use the loader to break drifts. He has a 5 ft brush hog that he used to mow with. The tractor handled the brush hog very nicely. He also has a belly mower, however he does not like the belly mower and purchased a zero turn mower. My advice mow your 2 acres with a brush hog and use a zero turn for up close around your home. I have a massey ferguson 1531 which is 31 hp. Dad's little John Deere kick my massey ferguson's butt. My massey ferguson compact tractor has had lots of problems and break downs. I told dealer they ought to paint it yellow so everyone knows it's a lemon. Stay with a John Deere and don't purchase a massey ferguson compact tractor.

My 1531 massey ferguson compact tractor has same problem. I think it is an engineering problem. The heat gets trapped under the hood and can't escape. I took side panels off mine and it helps. Most of your older farm tractors did not have side panels. I have had tremendous problems and issues with my massey ferguson compact tractor and will never BUY another massey ferguson tractor again.

My 1531 has similar issues under load, especially brush hogging tall thick grass. Nothing run except the tractor is gutless. I had so many problems and issues that I will never BUY another massey ferguson compact tractor.

1 have a 1531 massey ferguson compact tractor. It is four wheel drive with a loader. It is rated at 31 horsepower. This tractor has 1500 hours and has shelled the four wheel drive 3 times,the pto,and broken the steering cylinder. The three point lift arms have screwed up three different times and the oil cooler sprung a leak. I have an allis Chalmers 185 (about 75 hp) to handle heavier applications. I thought this would a nice handy little tractor around the farm. I have been around the farm and tractors all my life (John Deere, ih, case, Ford, allis Chalmers, Kubota, etc.) My father has a John Deere 4100 rated at about 22 np. His tractor kicks my massey ferguson's butt in both reliability and performance. I have never owned anything (car, truck, tractor, machinery, lawn equipment, etc.) That has been so unreliable and full of issues and breakdown. I will purchase another massey ferguson compact tractor.

 

[Phillip w]

I have a 1531 massey ferguson compact tractor. It has cost me 10000 dollars in maintenance and repair last year alone. The pto was completely rebuilt last year costing 5500 dollars with a 12 month warranty. Last night I was mowing the road side with a 5 foot brush hog and here we go again NO PTO. Conveniently for agco the rebuild last right at 13 months. NEVER NEVER NEVER will I purchase another massey ferguson/agco products.

 

[Snobdds]

Why are you spamming every thread with this? At this point it looks more like an agenda more than anything else.

All 6 of your post are hate threads. No ask of help, just bash.

That isn't the way to a solution...FYI

 

[Phillip w]

I am not a high tech guy. What do you mean "spamming"? I am try to post the problems and issues I am having with my tractor. I am currently working with agco and the dealer. I have no agenda. I hope this post does the right thing when I try to post it.

 

[Goose69]

What Snobdds was saying, I am guessing,
is that if you join a forum, and then only post repeatedly saying you will never buy a certain brand again, is appears as if you are denigrating everyone who owns that brand. And it comes off very Trollish.

. It may not be your intent, but it is how it comes across, when every post you make states that you will never buy something again, and you only complain about your tractor.

.joining an Internet forum, such as this, to just trash a certain brand, rarely produces a positive outcome.

..It would be more productive to phrase your complaints, in the form of questions, i.e.
"Has anyone else had PTO issues with their Massey 1531??

Just the rambling thoughts of a senile old man...

 

[Phillip w]

Just a few thoughts and comparison I guess to be fair. I also own an allis Chalmers 185 ( about 75 hp). I have plowed, disk, baled hay, etc. It is a real work horse, and it be. I will say the my massey ferguson 1531 engine has held up well, but is not power house I'd like (maybe I used the allis). The allis is a standard transmission, I don't think hydrostatic drive had been developed when the allis was made. I will admit that I was Leary of the hydrostatic drive. It has both spoiled me and held really well. My allis also has loader with a 7 ft bucket. Of course the allis will lift more and it should. However, the massey ferguson has and better hydraulic response time ( ie the speed of which the loader raises and lowers). The allis is really slow. The massey ferguson has good dependable hydraulics. Maybe if you had 5 acres and a garden this tractor maybe ok, but I don't feel it can hold up to the riggers the farm.

 

[1stDeuce]

Maybe if you had 5 acres and a garden this tractor maybe ok, but I don't feel it can hold up to the riggers the farm.

That's why it's a compact tractor, and not a utility/farm tractor.

OP: I didn't go looking for your other posts, but it sounds like there is a problem with your tractor specifically, which probably has little to do with the MF badge on the side. My landlord has a MF 1260 that does nothing but mow with a 6' brush hog, and they run over all sorts of bad stuff... They've ripped the deck off the brackets at least once, by the looks of it.

You may also have a problem with your dealer if you're spending $5k to fix a PTO, and getting no feedback as to what went wrong. I'm an engineer, so I always want to know exactly what failed, and what the cause of the failure was... If it was a defect with a specific part, I would not expect failure of the same part twice. If there is a design problem, you should have bee advised so, and after a hopefully helpful discussion with the dealer and rep, replaced it with something else.

If you're just saying "It's broke, fix it!" to the dealer, you're basically saying that you're willing to pay them for whatever failure they can think up... Demand to know what broke, and why. Get the factory rep involved if the dealer seems iffy, or go somewhere else if there is another dealer nearby.

Finally, saying "It broke, don't buy that brand" to us is NOT HELPFUL AT ALL. They ALL break at some point, and for lots of reasons. If the PTO on the 1531 just isn't up to full time use, that's good info to pass along. (And a great reason to buy a different, probably larger tractor...)
If something like the PTO clutch wears out quickly, that's good info too.

Help us with more info, and we'll help you if we can. If you just wanted a shoulder to cry on, or to vent, please post to Facebook instead, as it seems to be full of that lately...

And I am sorry for your bad luck, if that's what it is.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Here are the final sentences from 5 of the OPs other comments on this forum:

"I have never owned anything (car, truck, tractor, machinery, lawn equipment, etc.) That has been so unreliable and full of issues and breakdown. I will purchase another massey ferguson compact tractor."

"I had so many problems and issues that I will never BUY another massey ferguson compact tractor."

"I have had tremendous problems and issues with my massey ferguson compact tractor and will never BUY another massey ferguson tractor again."

"Stay with a John Deere and don't purchase a massey ferguson compact tractor."

"My opinion is a massey ferguson compact tractor is basically a throw away junk tractor. DON'T BUY A MASSEY FERGUSON COMPACT TRACTOR!!!"

As mentioned, these are not very useful, and not likely to get your nay help or advice.

Based on your comments so far, you bought a tractor that is smaller than what you are used to and likely smaller than you need. You might very well have a lemon, or have an incompetent dealer making repairs. The other possibility is you are beating the heck out of your tractor because you are used to a larger machine....or some combination of all of the above....

Regardless of all that. If I were you, at some point, I'd stop throwing good money after bad.

 

[MossRoad]

Combined everything into one thread on the subject. Please try to avoid multiple replies of the same subject across multiple threads. Thanks.

 

[atsah]

Okay we all know you hate Massey Furguson by now, sounds like a lemon tractor to me, if so, someone is going to get one at some point, man manufactured equipment is not without error at some point.

31 engine horse power on a farm has limited use, 50-100hp in a farm/utility tractor would be of more use,

And for goodness sake don't buy another Massey furguson..

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

Just a few thoughts and comparison I guess to be fair. I also own an allis Chalmers 185 ( about 75 hp). I have plowed, disk, baled hay, etc. It is a real work horse, and it be. I will say the my massey ferguson 1531 engine has held up well, but is not power house I'd like (maybe I used the allis). The allis is a standard transmission, I don't think hydrostatic drive had been developed when the allis was made. I will admit that I was Leary of the hydrostatic drive. It has both spoiled me and held really well. My allis also has loader with a 7 ft bucket. Of course the allis will lift more and it should. However, the massey ferguson has and better hydraulic response time ( ie the speed of which the loader raises and lowers). The allis is really slow. The massey ferguson has good dependable hydraulics. Maybe if you had 5 acres and a garden this tractor maybe ok, but I don't feel it can hold up to the riggers the farm.

It is not design for the rigorous work you would expect of a farm tractor.
You bought a compact don't expect it to behave like a real utility farm tractor.
You should have bought either a 2600 serie then, or to match your old Allis a 4600 serie starting at 80hp.
The compacts IMO of any brand are not meant for real farming utilisation.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The compacts IMO of any brand are not meant for real farming utilisation.

I've been saying that for years!

In the past, some here have got mad at me for doing so...

I call my little tractors "tinker toy tractors", you have nailed the reason why!

SR

 

[AxleHub]

Greetings Fellow Readers,

This is one of a few threads that may need to be judged a bit differently than the normal threads in my opinion.

If you notice in the beginning of this thread - as in a few others by the same OP - there seems to be a pattern. If you look at the first couple posts in this thread we are on - you'll notice repeated "repeats" of the same information said over and over and over again. There can be reasons why that might happen.

A. Age causing memory issues.

B. Jack Daniels visiting a little too often.

C. New medications that don't mix so well with other ones.

D. Some type of tragedy or emotional loss tightens the guitar strings a bit too tight for a temporary period.

E. Or maybe some business motivated reason against a specific company - layoff or other. (E is not like A thru D).

If you look at the writing of the persons posts on this thread or a few others - I'm not referring to the Manufacturer's name as the issue for my comments - its any part of the writing being stated and stated and re-stated yet again.

My point is - the writing appears to be an indication (in A. thru D.) - that "a battery is running down" for some reason and its not recharging like it once did when it was newer - I don't think its about a Manufacturer. And if its E., it could be for different motivations - but lets recognize the name was created just a few days ago and not before. There hasn't been any history - not even 3 weeks or longer ago.

"Something" has happened - and we don't know what it is - but in 1500 hours of use - we'd have seen some history years and years ago and there is none even weeks and weeks ago.

AxleHub

 

[MF283]

We'll always hear about the lemons or misuse.

Ronnie

 

[cdaigle430]

I've been saying that for years!

In the past, some here have got mad at me for doing so...

I call my little tractors "tinker toy tractors", you have nailed the reason why!

SR

Anyone whos says this has never worked on a farm. Worked on Tree farms, and potato farms all my life and we always loved our little compact and sub compact tractors-they are indispensable and mules. That being said you use the right tool for the job, your not going to use a subcompact tractor to haul a 60 inch brush hog for 100 acres, that makes no sense.
Same with your not going to use a d11 bulldozer to clear snow in your driveway daily, or a CASE II tractor to dig a 5 foot trench around your house. There is the element of common sense here....I only own 2 acres therefor ,y GC2410 is more than perfect for me even though I can afford a full size tractor. A full size tractor would never do most of the stuff my GC2410 could do.

Your comparisons are a moot point, they are not tinker toys and never will be. They have more horsepower than even the most powerful tractors from 50 or so years ago. No one gets angry about it but you should educate yourself on what a tinker toy actually is....like a radio controlled RC tractor....though some would argue they are not toys either.

 

[cdaigle430]

I have a 1531 massey ferguson compact tractor. It has cost me 10000 dollars in maintenance and repair last year alone. The pto was completely rebuilt last year costing 5500 dollars with a 12 month warranty. Last night I was mowing the road side with a 5 foot brush hog and here we go again NO PTO. Conveniently for agco the rebuild last right at 13 months. NEVER NEVER NEVER will I purchase another massey ferguson/agco products.

My brother has the same tractor, had the PTO rebuilt and cost him 8,000 usd. Was operator error because he forgot to size the new PTO driveshaft for his snowblower and it pushed everything inside. Took several months to repair....but he loves his tractor even today.

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

Anyone whos says this has never worked on a farm. Worked on Tree farms, and potato farms all my life and we always loved our little compact and sub compact tractors-they are indispensable and mules. That being said you use the right tool for the job, your not going to use a subcompact tractor to haul a 60 inch brush hog for 100 acres, that makes no sense.
Same with your not going to use a d11 bulldozer to clear snow in your driveway daily, or a CASE II tractor to dig a 5 foot trench around your house. There is the element of common sense here....I only own 2 acres therefor ,y GC2410 is more than perfect for me even though I can afford a full size tractor. A full size tractor would never do most of the stuff my GC2410 could do.

Your comparisons are a moot point, they are not tinker toys and never will be. They have more horsepower than even the most powerful tractors from 50 or so years ago. No one gets angry about it but you should educate yourself on what a tinker toy actually is....like a radio controlled RC tractor....though some would argue they are not toys either.

You miss the point entirely...
We're only saying that no compact or subcompact of any brand is built and design like a real utility ag tractor.
The frame is bigger, heavier, bigger hydraulic pump, bigger differential...overall heavier and sturdier machine period.
Not taking anything away form the compacts or subcompacts....different tractor for different needs, that's all !

 

[Deere Dude]

If I had that many problems in a 1500 hour period I would tell everyone about it, but I would sell the tractor the next day and move on and cut my losses. It isn't something simple like a run down battery. It sounds like some major stuff going on. I think he runs it like he stole it and got a lemon.

 

[Teachu2]

1500 hours of abuse takes a toll.

 

[Phillip w]

Interesting enough, I own an allis Chalmers 185. It is about 75 hp tractor and has served me well. I purchased the massey ferguson 1531 for lighter work. Mowing working in tight spaces around the barn etc. 31 hp should handle a 5 ft brush, a 4 ft would not clear the wheels on the tractor. My father has a John Deere 4100 about 22 hp and it plays with a 5 ft brush hog. His John Deere has out performed and been way more reliable than my massey. Interesting enough the dealer and agco only warranty the repair for 12 months. The agco representative said I had some hard decisions to make. (Really) Cut my losses and buy a John Deere or Kubota. Nothing hard about that except the money I poured into this massey ferguson compact tractor.