[Harbin]

I've been spending most of my time here in the GT forums but hope to soon be moving on up to the bigger boys. My inquiry here is probably going to be a bit long winded, let me know if I'm heading down the wrong path.

We moved a few months ago into a house we just finished on 6 acres (hopefully more in the spring if we are able to buy the next lot, then it will be about 10 acres). The driveway and lawn needs have so far have been easily taken care of by the GT, but I think for our plans a "real" tractor is more in order. We plan to start with a 1-2 acre garden and once we are set up want to expand. My problem with the GT is the biggest tiller I can find is a 30" and it would be pretty limited with a plow. One of the neighbors is pushing us towards a Kubota like his, but I can't spend 25K on a 30hp CUT and after using his would say for the money I'm not impressed. I found a Ford 5000 with FEL for about 5K that I think would more than fit the bill. The price of the 30" tiller is so close to the cost for a new 48 or" pto driven model it seems silly to even look at the little one- let alone the durability difference. My questions may seem silly, but so far the only opinion I've heard is my neighbors. We also have a trail/road through the woods I'd like to maintain with this, my GT was useless with the neighbor's landscape rake.

Is the lack of 4WD a concern? The 5000 is 2wd.

Are the FELs affected by this at all?

Primary use would be tilling, plowing, FEL, disc, dirt road maintenance, etc.

As soon as I brought this up to the neighbor he jumped all over it saying it wouldn't hold a candle to his machine, any thoughts on that?

Any limitations compared to something new like his? (pretty sure it's an L3200)

For my needs, does this seem overkill or the right size?

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

The Ford 5000 is a great machine. It is twice the HP of your neighbor's Kubota, and the 5000 has "real hp". The 2wd is not a concern unless you are doing a lot of work on hills or if the land is very swampy, and then 4wd would just let you get farther in before you got stuck.

I have a 1973 Ford 4000, which is the little brother to the 5000 that you're looking at, and It will definitely out-pull and out-lift my brother-in-law's 30hp Kubota. And my 4000 only has 52hp compared to the 67 or so hp of the 5000.

The only thing that you might not like with the 5000 is that is if the road/trail you mentioned through the woods is narrow, as the 5000 is a large tractor compared to the newer CUT's like the Kubota, so maneuverability in the woods is not going to be as easy, but if the road/trail is wide enough, or if you don't mind widening it, I would say that you should go with the 5000.

 

[Harbin]

Thanks for the quick reply! The trail through the woods is big enough that my F150 goes through without even scratching the paint, plenty of room on either side so that shouldn't be much of an issue. That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for, I really appreciate it.

A few other questions/concerns:

In the spirit of keeping my options open, I also found a 4000 but it didn't have an FEL- is that a big deal to add on? Tough to find one that will fit?

Anything special I need to look for when shopping for implements for a tractor like this or are they pretty universal? Just watch the 3pt category sizing?

sorry if this is too basic, I'm reading through posts to learn as much as possible.

 

[Evo26pm]

I don't know if this will help you but here in ky there is a lot of hillsides and every tractor i run is 2wd and I have no problems with them at all. We have a david brown 70hp that we use with the round baler and we bale on hillsides all the time. Can be kinda fun at times but we get it done lol. We use it for about almost anything really whether its plowing, baling, or whatever. I always say if its to wet or swampy out there's no need to have the tractor out anyways. What you have I would say your ford would be the best bet. If anything I would buy a 70hp tractor and tease your neighbor about having a baby tractor lmao.

 

[SandDawg]

If you want a FEL, I suggest getting a tractor with power steering, unless you want arms like popeye!

Think you will be much happier with the Ford 5000, the Kubotas are nice machines but not worth their inflated price! just my opinion.:fing32:


FORD 5000 data:

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/2/6/266-ford-5000.html

FORD 4000 data:

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/003/7/7/3771-ford-4000.html

The Ford 5000 was a blue and white tractor in production from 1964 by the Ford Motor Company. It was a mid-range tractor, suitable for European farms. The North American version was slightly different and was named the Ford Major.[1] The tractor is one of the most outstanding tractors ever built.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_5000

Here's a link that will give you an idea of Ford 5000 saling prices around the country:

http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/list.aspx?manu=FORD&mdltxt=5000

Good luck in your search for a tractor!

:trink39:

 

[HåkanTh]

5000 has got a sturdier front axle arrangement than 4000, in that respect 5000 is more suitable for a FEL.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

If there was a 5000 available close by with a FEL already on it 6 years ago, I probably would have bought that instead of my 4000, which did not have a FEL when I bought it. It took me 2 years of hunting to find a FEL that would fit. It took me another 3 years to refurbish the loader and get it mounted to the tractor in my "spare time". It's a Freeman brand loader, and even though the seller claimed that it came off of a 3 cylinder 4000, it came with some questionable mounting brackets for mounting the frame to the rear axle of the tractor, as the frame arms weren't long enough to reach the rear axle, and the brackets were only 1/8" stock and had obviously cracked and been repaired numerous times, and so I had a local welding shop fabricate up some new brackets out of thicker 3/8" stock. The chrome rods on the cylinders were all rusted and pitted, and the hydraulic lines were shot too, and it didn't have a control valve. The loader only cost me $200.00 because it was in such bad shape, and another $400.00 to $500.00 or so at surpluscenter.com for new cylinders, lines and a joystick controller and it's a great worker now. Not "good as new" because of some plate welds on the frame and arms, but I think the plates welded on in the places where it cracked in the past actually makes it stronger than when new.

 

[Harbin]

Thanks everyone, I left a voicemail for the seller, hopefully he calls back and I can get a little more info from him. I think this is a much better way to go than looking at something like the neighbor's. I'm sure it's a nice machine, just doesn't seem like it's for me. I think I'll have a wider range of options as well when it comes to picking out a tiller and plows. I'm really looking forward to getting going with something this spring!

 

[Alleyyooper]

In the very late 1970's I bought a Ford 5000 with the 4 sp trans and high low range for 4250.00. I sold that Ford 5000 for 5000.00 and had people calling about it a week after it was gone.
I just bought a ford 5000 gas that had sat for about 18 years and needed work. I paid nearly as much for it as I did the first back in the 1970's. They hold their value. I never did find any thing the 5000 couldn't get done. With a fel you may want to make a weight to hang on eht 3pt if you are going to carry heavy loads in it like buckets of wet sand, easy to drive a rod thru a half 55 gallon barrel and fill it with rocks and pour wet soupy concrete over it and add a 3d link to hold it from rocking around.
Both I owned had a traction pedal that locked the rear up for traction with both wheels. It will make your neighbour sick with envey once he sees the kind of work you can do with very little effort. I've been pulling clumps of Russian Olive out roots and all along with some thorn apple treed. I have a 3/8in chain with links so streached out will hardly fold from doing that.

I think the 5000 came standard with power steering.

 

[Harbin]

As far as power to size, does anyone think I'd have trouble running a 6' tiller? I found a factory spec of 68" wide, figuring a 72" would cover both tire tracks. I don't expect it to create a new garden in the first pass, just want to make sure I'm not pushing it too far.

I did get a call back, he said it does have power steering and runs good but could use some TLC. FEL and 3 pt work good, says one line has a small hydraulic leak.

As a general implement question, is there a complete idiots guild to implements or a cheat sheet to sizing plows and such to tractor HP?

Thanks again everyone, the feedback has been great and is the exact type of info I was hoping for.

 

[SandDawg]

Just looked at a couple of 6ft tillers, states that they need 30-50 HP. The 5000 has 69HP at engine, advertised at 53HP at PTO (tested at 67HP). I'd say that the 5000 can run a 6ft tiller without much problem.

Use a turn plow to turn under weeds & grass. Wait a few weeks for the grass to get smothered then use tiller to prepare your garden beds. Will take a few passes, I usually go from end to end the first till, then side to side on the next if you can. Then I prepare row beds for planting.

I'll have a lot of fun when I get to make my garden at the new house! I'll be breaking ground on a new garden that is covered in Centipede grass and it is very hard to kill! It forms a mat of grass and can choke out plants. Eventually I want about a 1/2 acre garden. I'll probably end up doing what I did at my old house, the whole 1/2 acre yard was a garden, front & back yards were packed! Everything I grew was edible! Now I have 3 1/2 acres to grow! :fing32:

:trink39:

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

One other thing to look for. The earliest 5000's had a funky power steering setup with the steering cylinder hidden under the nose of the tractor, and those are hard to get parts for. The later ones either had the cylinder running along side the steering shaft on the left side of the tractor or all the hydraulics except the pump internal to the steering column with no external cylinder at all. Either of those shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Harbin]

One other thing to look for. The earliest 5000's had a funky power steering setup with the steering cylinder hidden under the nose of the tractor, and those are hard to get parts for. The later ones either had the cylinder running along side the steering shaft on the left side of the tractor or all the hydraulics except the pump internal to the steering column with no external cylinder at all. Either of those shouldn't be a problem.

That's really good to know! Any idea on when the cut-off year would be? I'm definitely into buying older equipment that I can repair, just gotta make sure I can keep it going with parts that are available.

 

[Harbin]

Just looked at a couple of 6ft tillers, states that they need 30-50 HP. The 5000 has 69HP at engine, advertised at 53HP at PTO (tested at 67HP). I'd say that the 5000 can run a 6ft tiller without much problem.

Use a turn plow to turn under weeds & grass. Wait a few weeks for the grass to get smothered then use tiller to prepare your garden beds. Will take a few passes, I usually go from end to end the first till, then side to side on the next if you can. Then I prepare row beds for planting.

I'll have a lot of fun when I get to make my garden at the new house! I'll be breaking ground on a new garden that is covered in Centipede grass and it is very hard to kill! It forms a mat of grass and can choke out plants. Eventually I want about a 1/2 acre garden. I'll probably end up doing what I did at my old house, the whole 1/2 acre yard was a garden, front & back yards were packed! Everything I grew was edible! Now I have 3 1/2 acres to grow! :fing32:

:trink39:

Thanks, that's what I was looking for! I've heard everything from 5hp/ft to 10hp/ft of tiller but wasn't sure if that is totally wrong or even ok to go by for older equipment. Sounds like your new garden will be like what we are hoping to do. I'm really excited for spring so we can get going on it!

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

That's really good to know! Any idea on when the cut-off year would be? I'm definitely into buying older equipment that I can repair, just gotta make sure I can keep it going with parts that are available.

Looking at the parts book, it looks like the early power steering with the hard to find parts was made from 1/65 through 8/70. I was incorrect about there being one with the cylinder on the left side. For the 5000 they went straight from the one with the cylinder under the nose to the one with all of the hydraulics inside the steering column with no external cylinder, and the switchover was sometime in August of 1970.

 

[Alleyyooper]

My dad ran a 6 ft tiller with a Massey Ferguson 65 Diesel thru sod and red clay.
Put the thing in low range 1st gear and drop the tiller and let it work at its speed.