1215 ford compact hours

6000 hours is quite high. I don't have and have never seen anything scientific like this, but I would equate it to around 300,000 to 350,000 miles on a passenger car or gasoline pickup.

That implies, to me, a couple ways to look at it. If you're going to use it very rarely (say an hour or two a month), if it's lasted 6000 hours the likelihood of it going bad in the next 100 hours (or 4 to 5 years of operation) seems minimal to me. You should be able to get it for much cheaper than you otherwise would, because of the high hours, yet it will still serve for light, occassional usage.

The other viewpoint is that at 6000 hours the thing is on borrowed time no matter what, and is a ticking bomb. Even if you got it cheaper, this view goes, it likely won't be less than what you would put into a rebuild, so you could have taken the money you'll spend on the rebuild and just bought a lower-time unit.

I guess your use and the cost will determine whether it makes sense or not. If you need it to fire up once a month and grade the driveway or lift a load of firewood from one end of the property to the other, and then it will sit for another month, it probably makes sense. If it's a machine you've got a lot in mind for, and it's supposed to save or make you money because of all the work you'll get done, it seems like a risky purchase to me.

i'm actually looking at it as an alternative to a box store mower it has the mid mount mower and is mfwd and has a hst transmission. I have a hill right behind my house and think the box store hydro won't take it for very long. It looks to me like the ford was used for commercial mowing. What do you think it would cost to rebuild the motor? ballpark is fine. Thanks for getting back to me it helps alot. There aren't many compacts to choose from in my area that being a 500mile radius.
Thanks
F Freeze

I'm literally making up numbers. I've never even seen a 1215, let alone rebuilt one. The little bit of looking I've done for other machines of similar size/horsepower goes something like this:

Rings $125 to $150. (It seems like around $40 to $50 bucks a cylinder or so)

Pistons: $75 to $100 apiece.

Cylinder sleeves, if needed: $75 to $100 per cylinder, if used and necessary. Boring/honing a non-sleeved block is probably comparable.

Bearings/bushings per rod: $40 to $50.

Main bearings: $20 to $30 each.

Gasket set: $100 to $150. Head gasket is around $40 to $50 bucks alone. Some/all the rest can be made with silicone, I expect.

Valves: $10 apiece.

To do everything, at the cheap end, if it were a Yanmar, in parts you would be in the engine roughly $750 or so in only parts, to do sleeves, valves, pistons, all bearings, etc.
http://sheaftractor.net/
As an investment it's not that bad, because the machine should be good for another several thousand hours or 30 years of use. When you break it down to cost per hour, though, say you use the thing for 750 hours (actually a lot more than it seems) you're in the thing a dollar per hour in parts amortization. If you paid $3000 for the machine, you're paying another $4 per hour for the machine in that time too. All told, less than $10 per hour for 750 hours of use, including tire wear, maintenance and so forth seems really good, plus, at the end of the time, you'll get much of that back.

You should check out parts availability for that machine. I'd suggest calling these guys as a start and see what they have; then you'll also have real numbers, not something made up by a guy looking at Yanmar parts prices! Let us know what you find out, too, so that we know and future people can figure out what they're up against.

Don't forget that the entire tractor has 6000 hours on it- the engine isn't the only thing that wears out. If you are going to mow with it, you are looking at putting time on it, not an hour or two a month. Unless it is about free, I would consider other options.

Hodge makes a terrific point, and somehow I deleted (and didn't notice that it was missing) my concluding paragraph where I said about what he did. He's right on point, in my view.

If you're planning to replace a riding mower that will get used once a week or more to mow, you're asking for trouble getting a high time tractor. You may be fine. But having to do wheel bearings, steering box, hoping the gears are good, and so forth really puts an even bigger dent into the pocket book.

For what you're looking at you ought to be able to get into a light commercial/heavy home owner ZTR mower with a good engine that will mow the hill and everything else, as well as being more efficient than the 1215. Tractors do nothing best, but everything adequately. They're non-specialist machines. They don't mow like a ZTR, don't move fill like a skid steer, can't dig with a hoe like an excavator. But you can do any of those things and more, with one machine. However, if your job is fairly specialized (like mowing) it makes more sense to go with a more focused machine optimized to the task at hand. For what the 1215 will likely cost you to acquire, service, repair, and maintain, a new/high quality used ZTR will do the job quicker, more easily and be reliable to boot, in my opinion.

fdfreeze... I know this is an old posting... however, re-look at that hour meter.
I speak from experience, and was pleasantly blessed by my "oversight" or stupidity... whichever your POV.

You see the Ford 1210 hour meter is only 3 digits and a tenth hour... SO, if you are looking at 6000 hours it (very well could be) 600 hours, point zero.

I say I speak from experience since I looked at a tractor and got a fairly good deal on it; thinking it had 5738 hours running time. When I got it home and was cleaning it up, and "making it mine"... I'm sitting in the seat and looking at the hour meter.... I said **** YEAH!!! It's only 573.8 hours!!! I felt so much better. I hope you bought the Ford...they are a great little tractor.
Jersey Joe