New/Old Deere

[Speed66]

Bought a 1978 John Deere 950 (964 hours on the clock) late last year from a plant nursery that was closing after 80 years, obviously the tractor wasn't there the entire time. Drove it from the nursery to my buddy's place a mile away and into the carport it went. I knew there was several issues to address but felt the 5k purchase price would allow some repairs without falling too far into the red. Just started working on it a couple of weeks ago by removing the upper hydraulic cylinder from the backhoe and had it rebuilt. Before starting or moving the tractor I changed out the engine oil and filter, hydraulic oil (cleaned the screen too) and reinstalled the cylinder on the backhoe but left the lines off. After starting, I purged the lines to the rebuilt cylinder and then re-attached them, backhoe is working without spraying oil everywhere now!

Currently I'm looking for replacement tires, I'm going to stay with the turf tires although I was surprised by the cost of new replacements, especially the rears. The first quote I got was $2,386.00 for just the rears including mounting, talk about making one leg go straight!! That is for the same Firestone R3 turf tire (13.6-28) currently on it, looking for other brands now as I can't see spending that much.

I am looking for some more info on the backhoe attachment, it's marked Kubota and appears close to or same vintage as the tractor but finding parts or service manual hasn't happen yet. Really want to find a picture of the control lever diagram, what was there is unreadable and although each level is working, the resulting movement in the arm or bucket isn't always what was expected. I saw an old posting by user "California" that may have purchased a similar unit about 10 years ago, curious if the controls are the same.

Here's a couple pics of my new Deere...

 

[Thomas]

:welcome: to TBN.
You done good...real good get such a horse for that price. :thumbsup:

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Enjoy the site.

 

[Speed66]

Thanks for the "Howdy"!

I thought it was a nice deal, engine runs like a champ, cooling system clean. It does look a bit rough but most everything is fairly tight and I think it will be a player. I have to say that the tire replacement costs are giving pause but still looking for the right deal.

 

[Speed66]

Thanks and enjoy your Friday, you're ahead of the curve from us...

 

[California]

I see tires, why replace them?

Weather checking or even tread chunking off won't limit what the tractor can do. If it were mine I would run it a while before spending that kind of money.

 

[California]

That's a Deere-labelled Yanmar, no? For some questions, inquiring in the Yanmar (traditional) forum might get you relevant responses from owners of similar tractors.

 

[radios1]

5k for a 40 year old tractor?.. does JD even still sell parts for that?..

 

[TBN Support]

:welcome: Welcome to the forum!

Our attachments and Kubota sections may be good places to learn about that attachment.

 

[Johndeere3720]

:welcome: to the Forum! Those are solid tractors with a great engine, those yanmars will go for a long time with good maintenance to back their reliability. As far as tires go anything the size of those rears will have a hefty price, unless you had a different rear wheel size that was more narrow i think that number will stay somewhat relative in your searches. Hoye Tractor sells some nice wheels that may be an alternative if you want to go with a less expensive, more narrow rear tire. :thumbsup:

 

[radios1]

R3 turf tire (13.6-28) $517 each new. 13.6-28 Alliance Rear Tractor Turf R-3 Tire these are the same size. if you put narrow tires on it, they will slip also dig into wet soil..

 

[bcp]

Maybe an airplane tire:


Super AG Tires


Agriculture Tires


Bruce

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

:welcome: to TBN.
You done good...real good get such a horse for that price. :thumbsup:

You got a good deal, but upon closer look, that poor backhoe bucket looks like an old man with just 1 bottom tooth left....

If you are mechanically inclined, you might want to look into rebuilding your own hydraulic cylinders since you have so many.

 

[California]

You got a good deal, but upon closer look, that poor backhoe bucket looks like an old man with just 1 bottom tooth left....

If you are mechanically inclined, you might want to look into rebuilding your own hydraulic cylinders since you have so many.

I have the same backhoe (photo), made by ARPS in the late 70's then sold as OEM Deere, Kubota, Yanmar, and maybe other brands.

I've replaced a tooth tip (removable, replaceable) after one fell off, and replaced a dribbly seal where the piston enters the boom cylinder. These are extremely easy to work on and parts are generic US stuff available at any hydraulic shop. Don't be afraid to do your own work. The only tip that isn't obvious is get a HF 3 or 4 ft pipe wrench and add a cheater pipe to unscrew the hydraulic cylinder end caps. (I learned this after paying my local hydraulics shop open a loader cylinder for me. After seeing that that I bought the cheap HF version of the same wrench they used). And leave the cylinder and piston attached while wrenching so you have something to resist against!

Here's a recent discussion of that Kubota K650 backhoe model, over in the Yanmar forum where three of us have/had that model.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/yanmar/394403-new-owner-ym165-5.html#post5095429