7040; I don't need it, but I want it

Hi all. I found a pretty decent 1976 7040 that I've been eyeing up. The guy is the second owner, had it since 1990. The hour meter quit a long time ago and he guesses it has about 8000 hours on it. It is a power director transmission. Tires are fair, about half tread left. The good; it has been their auger tractor for the last 15 years and pulled a 24 foot grain drill on occasion. It has always been shedded, the paint and sheet metal is nice, it has a full rack of weights on the front, and the cab interior is in excellent condition and all the glass is good. It seems to run well and shift good, PTO works as it should. You can tell by the drawbar that it has not done a lot of hard fieldwork. Also has 4 brand new batteries.

likewise you will get better advice on the how much needs fixed but as far as size... everyone always says, build a bigger shed, you always need more storage. so maybe too much power is better than not enough?

None of the bads you mentioned are deal breakers in my opinion.  I do not know the true number of hours on most of my tractors.  If the injector pump is still working, don't worry about it for now.  It's a 40 something year old tractor, there are always going to be some tiny little issues.  Take care of a few at a time and eventually you will have it perfect.

Why would you worry about the injection pump not having been done already? Like mentioned above, if it runs good, and doesn't leak, keep running it. The DM does not have the failure prone flex ring that the DB/DC has. Honestly, many times the pumps are "rebuilt" by less than qualified people, and really add no value to the tractor since many times they need rebuilt again by a true professional. I know I much rather work on an original pump than one that was "recently rebuilt" lol!

A friend told me the first thing he checks is if when you grab a fan blade, can you move it back and forth? If there is play, replace the water pump before you need to replace the water pump and radiator.

Personally, I think $6500 is a touch high, but not out of line.  Minor manifold cracks are normal unfortunately, the hydro levers if "free wheeling, are typically broken ball studs, but even if a cable can be fixed for under $200 ish with a new cable, depending on where you get them.  PD trans last forever, especially if it has been mainly a PTO tractor.  The PD probably should be resealed if it is still original, but slippage will tell you that, and not a terrible job with the right tools.  You are correct the lower HP levels weren't enough to cause any mechanical issues. 

You need a new maxim:

"Oh what the heck, go for it anyway!"

Orange Blood wrote: Personally, I think $6500 is a touch high, but not out of line.  Minor manifold cracks are normal unfortunately, the hydro levers if "free wheeling, are typically broken ball studs, but even if a cable can be fixed for under $200 ish with a new cable, depending on where you get them.  PD trans last forever, especially if it has been mainly a PTO tractor.  The PD probably should be resealed if it is still original, but slippage will tell you that, and not a terrible job with the right tools.  You are correct the lower HP levels weren't enough to cause any mechanical issues.

Thanks for the breakdown. Are they hard to get at?

Well I bought the old girl for $6000. She runs good but needs lots of tinkering. All of the electrical in the cab ceiling comes and goes as it pleases. The one remote cable needs to be fixed. Air don't work. Did I mention she runs nice?

Good job.  Now show us some pictures!