Hi

John here again. Well I didn't buy either the 8210 or the TW 15 which I had a look at. The Tw was tatty and the 8210 had no rear linkage and was a Q cab. Ive come accross a 8630 Powershift with a 40K box. What are these like. Are they reliable? What should I be on the lookout for when I view/test it?

Kind Regards,

John

same troubles as tw15, except electric side of gearbox can give trouble.

otherwise box is bombproof

I'd go for a nice TW15........

Thanks.

Glasshouse, will I know if the gearbox is ok from the test drive?

if it goes up and down the gears ok, then its fine.

a nh engineer could tell you what state the actual box is in by pushing buttons.

there is always a big jump from 9--10, others should be smooth.

find out what work its been doing, and how many owners.

Still have an 8630, albeit a 30km/h version. Has never been any trouble at all, and up untill this year did all the ploughing with a 5 furrow kv eg reversible with full set of discs and spring loaded. Needs two full sets of weights to stay down, but they are still one of the best tractors to pull for their size.

The only problem i would say is that the powershift gearbox seems to sap more engine power the higher the gear you are in. On the road, even on a moderate hill ours will drop maybe 100-150 revs even with nothing on the back. And with any kind of a load our ford 6600 would probably outpull it on the road. For ploughing and sub-soiling its fine, even baling and the like is grand, but haulage is out of the question, with ours anyway.

It put out 135 hp at the pto last year and the pump has never been touched. Once warm, there is no smoke whatsoever, even under load. I would drive the tractor you are looking at on the road to see if you find if it is as dead as ours.

I just posted a similar question on another forum that i`m semi retiring my TW20 which has been an absoluteley fantastic tractor of 11`500 hrs and do i go with the devil i know with another TW15 superQ or an 8210 turbo .....TW25 is obviously the choice but i need a shorter snout for row crop work..

has to be tw15 with a tweek, or an 8630 with crash box

mind you, my 8630  goes fine with powershift.

its a great tractor if your left arm is in a sling., everything is on the right.

 I take its hell if your right is in a sling then

 I take its hell if your right is in a sling then

i suppose so, have to sit at home, or drive the pickup.

Well Glasshouse,

I test drove the 8630 on Saturday morning. She went up and down through the gears o.k. Throttle was a tad heavy but nothing too bad. She jumped a little between 9th and 10th..... no leaks or unwanted oil visible anywhere. there were a few thing that I was not sure about though.

When the tractor was idling and the pto engaged, there was a slight rattle in the back end - what would cause this? 

Secondly there was a slight problem with the electrics, the a/c, wipers, front lights and the digital dash and the hour meter were all not working, - I suspect that this may be due to a blown fuse etc?  

How do you change the pto from 1000 (narrow spline) to 540 ( wide spline) rpm - the chap that was selling the tractor said that he was only using it for pulling a low loader and dump trailer so he didn't use the pto and I didn't notice a shift leaver. Is it that the pto has to be turned around?

Any info that anyone has on this would greatly appreciated,

Regards

John

the pto needs a different shaft for 1000 rpm. ive got 2 or 3 lying about.

digi dashed are a pain, it might be goosed.

electrics should be easy fixed.

i,m sure they all rattle if the pto is not loaded.

Is it a major job to switch the shaft from 540 to 1000 rpm?

 If its like our 6610 (not that I've had to do it) you park it facing down a steep slope take off a large circlip and it should slide out and then you put the other shaft in then circlip though I'm not sure if you have to be careful about a bit that can drop in to the back axle if you're not careful in which case can mean taking the back axle a part.

 

..Glasshouse..Funny you mention the digidash......I feel a bit of a tit because because a family member asked my opinion of the digi dash in the 7810  ,We've had 3 of them and ive been around hundreds and not one that i know of gave problems but obviously he bought it and it's all screwed up......displays going up and down/Speed and rpm displaying random figures and sometimes blank.....I've had this with other colours but not fords...Any pointers to what it can be...?????

Had brand new 7610,7710 and 7810 that all chattered a bit unloaded on the pto..???

Never seen an 8630 with a crash box here in canada...That would be perfect..!!

there was a dual power 8630 in the paper last week for £11,000 on 3700 hrs

Glasshouse,

The one that I'm looking is showing 8000 hrs and I can buy it for less that £8000.I think that the hours are out as the dash is not working, Do you know if it is difficult to switch the pto shaft to 540? is there a possability of parts falling into the back end like a previous post said?

barndoor:

Do you know if it is difficult to switch the pto shaft to 540? is there a possability of parts falling into the back end like a previous post said?

 

Just park on a slope, remove the circlip and tug the shaft out, have the other shaft to hand to replace as you will still probably get a dribble of oil out the backend if your not on a very steep slope.

 New digital dashboards are available but im not sure on the cost, a common problem with the dash is the connection on the back of the fuel pump that sends the information on rpm if this is playing up it will give random readings possibly as high as 5 or 6 thousand rpm!!!

A friend of mine asked me if I was sure if the gearbox was o.k. so I took the tractor for a spin last night. When at very low revs there seemed to be a rattle in the box. when the revs were increases, this went away. Is it anything to be concerned about?

probably ok,

changing the shaft is no prob, ive never had trouble

you lads must be nuts 8630 power shift dont touch it its that old that if by chance the power shift is ok which i dout after this time then the rest off it will have had it note if the power shift has any problems then the bits are very very very expensive did a price for reverse pack last year on one 2 grand and that was quote with no problems 1 man band did it and got caught out had to strip it twice , note seen a few so called 8630 duel powers that have tw back ends so beware theres a lot off scrap about 8 grand tractor can turn into a 14 grand easy i would say that a good buy would be 8360 if you can find a one with 8000 hours ok these will walk over a tw for power and ease off drive

...??????.....Whats wrong with a TW back end.I'd sureley pay the repair bill on one as opposed to a powershift..If ever i'd seen one go wrong.??..Engines are the same so i fail to see the power advantage......Are you saying powershifts are no good???...I've seen $ 14'000 go in the back end of a JD 4450 and similar in a magnum...Powershifts........Have you priced a gearbox for an 8360..?????

8630, s are not perfect, but i have had 32gearbox failures on tm 150, 165. about 4 grand each 

32 failures 4 grand a piece thats 128 .000 grand holy poo the 165 is a power command full power shift apart from being very jumpy these are normally bullit proof 150 range command 9 out off 10 times the syncro go in these these are only 1700 for the two so if some one charged 4000 then you been done but going back to the 8630 these are full power shifts and the bits are very expensive and all manner off packs gearbox ecu fail ,dash is least off there problems main problem with tm s and 60 series will be some one over fueling and then over heating rear axle the engines will run 180 easy but the cooling package wont