6080 vs 185

I am looking at purchasing an older AC with cab. Looking at 185 or 6080. Some of the older 185 tractors are going for half of the 6080, but the 6080 sure looks nice. Wondering about pros/cons of both. I know the 185's don't have air cond. I am looking at a 6080 in Wisconsin for $11,500 with 5,300 hours or 1970 185 with 4,000 for $6,500. Thoughts?

The usual questions: Hours, paint, broken glass, tires %.

Personally, I do enjoy the factory cab on the 6080 and the modern features of the tractor also score bonus points:  Intercooled turbo, differential lock, hydraulic brakes.  Serviceability is far easier with only having to remove the left side sheet.  One the 185, it will take you 1 hour just to remove all the bolts that hold the hood on.  If you keep that little 4 cylinder wound up you'd be surprised how much power it can give.  Mine dyno'd at over 100 hp in the summer.  However, the only thing it doesn't have is the power director, but the fully synchronized transmission works pretty slick though.

ACnut, you did not mention 4wd on the 6080 so I am assuming that the one you're looking at is 2wd?  If so, then you may want to consider a good 7000, 7010, or 7020.  For about the same money as you quoted the 6080, any of those 7xxx series would be comparably priced.  They all have the same 301 engine as the 185, but with turbo on the 7000/7010 or intercooled on the 7020.  So, they could offer you more hp, hydraulics, & good cab features with air conditioning.  A 7010 with 4750 hours brought $7200 just last month at a farm auction in Alexis, IL.  It had good paint, nice clean cab, 18.4x38s, & started good, did not use oil, & had decent rubber.  It did need its air conditioning serviced/repaired.  Just a thought? 

monitordoc, I am just curious as to where you are located in S.E MN.  I am from the same region, not interested in the 180 as I allready have one, but just curious on your location.

Depends on the size of your pocket book and the condition of the tractors. I don't know much about a 6080 except they are nice tractors. I do have a 185 (open station) that I have used for plowing, discing, planting, mowing, square baling, round baling, harvesting  and it is very versitile: very happy with it ---  If all you are planning to do with it is cutting / baling and snowblowing, in my opinion, for the price difference the 185 would be hard to beat --- assuming they are about the same condition.

We have 3 6080's now. They are a very handy tractor. We have loader's on 2 of them and the one with FWA has never been stuck. We don't use the snow blower very much, but the low gear transmission is perfect for this. It just crawls along blowing any depth snow. With 2wd you would probably need chains to move snow. rrhead(SD)







Edited by rrhead(SD) - 31 Mar 2011 at 10:19am

I curently use a 1972' 185 open station and a 1985 6080 fwa with cab.  The 185 is used for cutting hay, planting corn, and limited discing.  The 6080 runs the chopper, pulls the manure spreader and used to pull a 21' field cultivator and 5 shank disc chisel.  The last two duties have been taken over by a recently purchased larger tarctor.  Because the 6080 is fwa it is kind of comparing apples to oranges but I can give you my educated guesses on how your match-up would compare.  Based on the amount of sound insulation I have seen on aftermarket cabs like year-round or hiniker I would guess the 185 cab to be less comfortable than the 6080 for long term use.  The 185 has the wet power director for controlling snow blowing speed, but being hydraulically actuated unlike the D seiries I find it a bit harder to fine tune the speed control for long stretches.  As was mentioned the 3-range tranny in the 6080 gives plenty of speed options, although being a ceramic button clutch (I think) the foot clutch on the 6080 is not meant to be slipped for large amounts of time.   For cuttting hay on level ground I would say both tractors would be equal, unless the 185 has a manually shifted PTO which utilizes the foot clutch and thus requires stopping forward motion to engage.  Our 185 has the hydraulic PTO shifter which lets one engage the pto at any time.  I have never used our tractors for the same job but I would think fuel economy would be a bit better in the 6080.  The one major thing of course to look out for on a 185 would be that the transmission is tight.  The major major thing to look out for on a 6080 is if, depending on the serial number, the engine has the retrofit external engine thrust bearing or that is after the serial number break and has the updated internal thrust bearing.  If it has the external bearing check whether it needs replacing or not.  Hope that helps some.  Mike

Looks like you answered your own question.

I have a OEM waterpump kit on the shelf for a 6060-6080. I'd sure like to find a new home for.

7000 open station sold at auction near here last Saturday for $3950.  They didn't say what the hours were. 

Both my kids (3&5) ride with me in the 6080 and are very comfortable; the ultimate babysitter though is the 8030 have had both of them take naps while baling!!! they don't know how good they've got it.....I grew up on the fender of a d-17!!!

I am afraid if I don't get one with front wheel assist, I will be sorry. I think that would boost the price a bit.