Case 311B tractor

20 years ago

Hello

I posted a couple of months ago regarding tractors and got a lot of good suggestions.

We finally closed on our new property, 19 acres, at the end of a 3/4 mile dirt drive, up on a knoll, surrounded largely by state forest. The person we purchased the property from is offering me a 1958 Case 311B tractor for sale. With it he is including a three point hitch mounted auger, and a hydraulic sicle bar. The sicle bar is belly mount, with automatic raising and lowering of the bar as well as automatic raising and lowering of the entire unit to adjust for height of cut.

He states that he purchased the machine from someone who kept it garaged it's entire life for $4500 six years ago. since then it has been kept outside, has rusted quite a bit and seen fairly tough use. He has added a heavy duty front end and a heavy duty loader. He states that he replace the clutch a couple years ago and went thru the engine at that time. It starts right up and runs strong. The power steering pump is shot thus it is a real bear to steer. He thinks he has a Subaru pump that will work for the steering and that a case pump is $500 and fairly easilly obtained. The brakes are strong and it seems like a very sound machine all things considered.

He is asking $5000 for the tractor, auger, and sicle bar; he gave me a brush hog, 4 feet, a couple weeks ago so I will have this too. This seems a tad bit high to me given its appearance and the fact that the power steering is out. I have seen ads online for completely restored, pristine 311b's for $3750, but they were in the midwest so its hard to know.

What do you think? What research should i conduct, questions should i ask, things should I look for?

I will be brush hogging my three acre field, maintaining my road with sand/gravel from my pit, digging fence posts, and who knows what else.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

paxton

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Comments (4)

Pipersville_Carol
20 years ago
Sounds high to me, especially with the power steering out and the rust. How are the tires?

We had a 1951 Ford 8N redbelly, and although owning a vintage tractor was kinda cool my husband was very happy to trade it in for a 1980s Kubota with a loader. Old tractors can be mechanically touchy, and getting parts can be a pain.

Have you looked on tractorbynet.com?
more_to_grow
Original Author
20 years ago
No I haven't checked out that site, I will in a moment. Tires are new, only one year old. One problem I notice, in addition to the power steering out, is that the heavy duty loader he has on it seems to really change the geometry of the machine and the rear tires spin *very* easilly, half a 55 gallon drum of cement on the 3 pt hitch helps, but if using an implement on the hitch you cannot have the counter weight and the tires spin easilly.

Much to research and think about and with winter approaching not a lot of time to do it.

Thanks for your response.

paxton
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haffie
20 years ago
Small farmer DH, (MA), says that sounds about $1,000 too high to him, and that John Deere has some very good financing...HOWEVER, old tractors are hard to come by, if that is what you might be wanting...good luck.
donray
20 years ago
I have also been looking for a smaller tractor of 30 to 40 hp with a front end loader and found this site. You can search all of US. or you can define your search for just your state. It will give you a good idea of what that tractor compares to with others just like it or very similiar to it.Use the link below and check em out. Lots of tractors out there. I will also add that I have been machining and repairing farm equipment for years, and one thing I have always hated was tractors with too large of loaders mounted on them and bolts breaking off inside the tractor frame.They are a real pain to get out and we see the same ones coming back time and time again. Make sure the loader is mounted properly to begin with so as not to have to deal with the hassle and down time.

Here is a link that might be useful: tractors