Off Color Tractor Shopping
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=206047
Printed Date: 01 Apr 2025 at 3:35pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Off Color Tractor Shopping
Posted By: Tbone95
Subject: Off Color Tractor Shopping
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 6:24pm
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So I am on the lookout for a “sizable” tractor. Looking at about every color of the rainbow I really don’t care as long as it works and doesn’t bankrupt me. What gives with Case IH MX series tractors? They are bigger than what I need, but I see many that are….dare I say …..pretty cheap. Like a 20 year old 240hp tractor for similar money as a 35 plus year old 180hp Case IH. (Boxcar Magnum?). Too good to be true? Good deal? Or common problems? Hours comparable too, 9,10,12000 hour range for my bank account. |
Replies:
Posted By: jvin248
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 7:29pm
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. AI says those models can have PTO system and diesel injector pump problems. Historically Case focuses on value so the lower prices are expected. .
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Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 7:59pm
Good to know about the issues. But as for value I’m comparing Case to Case. The one. MX240 did say it started hard and they thought it was a pump problem. Idk. |
jvin248 wrote:Posted By: WF owner
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 6:16am
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A couple years ago, I was meeting a neighbor's Case IH tractor (I believe it is a MX240) towing a liquid manure spreader. My niece's husband was driving it. All of a sudden it started heading at me head-on. I wasn't happy, thinking that is no toy to be playing chicken with. As I veered over onto the shoulder to miss him, I saw the look of terror on his face. He drove right to the shoulder of the road and stopped just before going into the ditch. I stopped and he jumped out and apologized and said he had lost everything. It wouldn't move, the hydraulics wouldn't work and he couldn't steer or stop it. They ended up unhooking the spreader right in the road and towed it off the road, The dealer came and picked it up and winched it on their lowboy. It took a couple months to be fixed. He later told me the cost of repairs was $48,000!!!
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Posted By: Gary Burnett
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 6:28am
Wow that even beats the $30,000+ plus repair bill on a John Deere a fellow told me about the other day.
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Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 8:29am
Did quite a bit of reading yesterday and while of course there are people who have had one since new and zero issues, I read enough about the CAPS system to be scared away from at least the first generation of MX series. The “better” ones are probably out of budget. |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 9:12am
| FWIW~Some shared experiences over on AgTalk. Maybe poke around over there to gain more info? https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=776354&DisplayType=flat&setCookie=1" rel="nofollow - https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=776354&DisplayType=flat&setCookie=1 |
Posted By: Acguywill
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 9:41am
| What are you going to use the tractor for? If just for pulling and no pto work an old 4wd would probably be the cheapest hp out there. Park it when something major goes wrong and get another. When the hours get up there major repairs can be expected no matter what brand or age and everything is expensive to get repaired. Not to mention the fact that some parts for older tractors are getting hard to find or just plain no longer available. Case IH is at least as bad as anyone else in that regard. If you are looking for something that won't bankrupt you I would say go older preferably pre electronic. I have a cousin who was a service tech at a case dealership and about 20 years ago they sold a new tractor that ended up needing more on warranty repairs than the tractor cost brand new. He is now the service manager at a Claas dealership and its the same there. The point is that any tractor can be a money pit and you just have to deal with it as best you can. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 12:02pm
I did. Part of how I formed my opinion. Not all milk and honey on red power either. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 12:08pm
I’ve often thought of a 4wd. Have come close to buying one a couple times. For now I need something more versatile still, tillage but also corn chopping, hay mowing, baling , manure hauling. Things you “could” do with a 4 WD if you really had to, but..,ya know? Agree about pre-electronic as well!!! Oh yeah!!! But, gotta find a gem out there that will last forever and make me a dollar 😎. I’ve got a line on a couple to go see. One is a Case IH 7130 and the reading on those is a little more comforting. Thank you! |
Posted By: joe
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2025 at 12:14pm
| They're good tractors. They're, in many ways, the same tractor as an old Magnum. The MX240, MX255, MX270 and MX285 have CAPS injector pumps. They use mechanical injectors, but the pump is less than reliable. I think I've heard it's around 4K to replace, and you're good for a good while longer. The cab sits close to the transmission, and stuff can get caught in there and rust lines out. The remotes had some trouble, I've never seen trouble from them really, but I think, from my understanding, is because most have been updated. Engine is still and 8.3, transmission is still a Magnum transmission, jsut with electric shift. Transmission shift quality depends on the alternator, so if you get rough shifting that just won't stop being rough (can't calibrate it out), the alternator may well be the problem. Really, they're as good as anything of that era, but the CAPS pump is a weak point. I'm not aware of much in the way of PTO issues. They have a roll pin on the shiftable ones to enable shifting, but it's nothing like those awful little pins in the Maxxums. I've seen one give issues, but if I recall, we were in there for PTO trouble that ended up being the alternator, and I found a bent spirol pin. Don't hammer the shafts in, and the problem doesn't exist. They do have a rather expensive shaft retainer setup on shiftable PTO's that is basically a truck front wheel bearing type deal. There is a serial break at JJC105000. I think there's a number of electrical differences. I'd recommend maybe staying away from tractors prior to S/N JJC105000 |