hi all, im looking to buy a tractor for local work ie hedgecutting and other types of work etc, just wanted ppls thoughts on what tractor is ideal and reliable on a budget of around 6 to 7k ,something thats cheap on parts is a start!

Hi, there, 6-7k is quite a low budget 10k would get you something fairly good. Anyway you could buy a ford 7840 or a case 5140 for that money but they will be high houred tractors. If you are good with the spanners your be fine.

Nay, aim high & look out for a JD6400, one of the last as is always the case with anything, It should be handy money & yea might have a few hours on.

Approach it logically. How much power do you need to run the implement, how it is mounted, what terrain will you be running on (do you need 4 wheel drive and more power to operate on steep slopes, etc) and how far will you be travelling (lots of road miles). Look at the fuel consumption under operating and travelling conditions) It's not just parts costs, it's availability and how quick they are to change.

I'd agree the Ford 40 series or JD 6000 are good machines, but for your budget I might suggest going just a little older, and find something in very good order with low hours. My choice would be a JD 3050/3350, but a Ford 10 series or Case 956/1056 are simple, reliable machines, and you could get a lot of MF for your money.

on that budget you would get a decent case 956 for your money which would do the job of hedgecutting nicely, you may get a ford 7740/7840 for that if your lucky but the chances are it would be rough as hell and would be unreliable. you could also get a massey 30 series for that money im not so sure on masseys though i think the ones with electrics were alot of trouble? the manual ones were ok though i think 3070/80 are 90/100 hp so would be good for the job.

 

I would probably go for a JD2850 or 3050, but for simplicity if you could get a very genuine MF 698T OR MF 699 you would be chuffed. Nice cabs, bombproof mechnically and cheap to fix if they go wrong.  I had a 699 and with the extra wheelbase they are great on the road and the engines a classic. ' If ' you could find an ex arable one in decent nick, snap it up