Looking at buying a used tractor. Right now plans for it are pretty well limited to shredding running a boomless sprayer but may delve into square hay in the future.

Found a few that look to be in decent shape im probably going to look at soon a Ford 4000, Ford 5000 and a Ford 3910. Anyone got anything good or bad to say about them? I believe my grandpa had a 5000 or 6000 growing up it was good for him. The 4000-5000 are mid 60's-70's built ill have to look at serial#'s to figure out what exactly and the 3910 is a 90's model tractor. They are all diesel.

A square baler takes some power to run-be sure you buy enough motor.

The 5000 is rated at 69 HP/60 pto, the 4000 is 55 HP cant find an independant rating for pto. The 3910 is 50 engine HP and 38 PTO and is definitly on the smaller end. Lord knows im not a farmer, but from a little looking i have done while definitly on the smaller end they would be capable of doing the job and note im not looking to do custom bailing as a side gig, just bale maybe part of my 23 acres and maybe my brothers 10 or so.

I am biased toward the 5000-4000 because size/power, but they are older for sure. All have mid 3000 hours on them and appear to be in similar shape.

They are good tractors and very easy to work on, parts are all over the place and a few forums dedicated to fixing them and their implements.

Look at tractordata.com for your Ford tractor. It will give you all the information for those models.

Yesterdaystractor.com also has a good list of parts dealers for those tractors and a Ford discussion forum where you can ask questions about your tractor and it’s capabilities.

I'm a big believer in Fords older tractors, especially the 70's & 80's.

These are all from a time when HP was rated at the PTO, they will do as much work as any newer tractors rated by engine HP stating 15 - 30 hp more.


3600
1975 - 1981 = 48 hp

4600
1976 - 1984 = 63 hp

5600
1975 - 1981 = 69hp
1982 - 1984 = 74 hp

6600
1975 - 1981 = 75 hp
1976 - 1984 = 79 hp

7600
1975 - 1981 = 96hp

8600
1972 -1976 = 123 hp

In my opinion & experience by the mid 90's quality control, reliability & longevity started to go down hill.
Not saying they weren't good machines, but definitely not as good as earlier models which were excellent if you want a no frills strong reliable tractor.

I am a big fan of Ford tractors. I have a 5610 and a 6610. Plenty of power. I run a Vemeer round baler, although i only do a few hundred acres a year. They are simple to work on. Just do some research on the specific model you end up with as far as maintenance goes.

I love the old Ford tractors. They're my favorite out of all the tractors out there. I have a Ford 3000 and had a Ford 4000. All I can say is that you need to avoid the Select-O-Speed transmission or whatever it was called. Just make sure that the tractor you get has just a regular transmission. The 4000's transmission gave us nothing, but trouble and was the reason why we had to unfortunately sell it.

What is the selecto speed transmission? Is it an early hydro? or what? never heard of it.

Thanks to all for feedback and keep it coming.

SOS was a 10 & 2 single lever (center of dash under steering wheel)old school hydraulically shifted power shift, didn't have a normal clutch pedal, used an ' inching pedal ' to control low speed stuff like hooking to an implement.
If you see one you'll immediately recognize it.

I wouldn't say stay completely away from them, usually folks selling one with a problem trans will sell dirt cheap.
Rebuilt by someone that knows exactly what they are doing they are great, just difficult to work on if you do have problems.
Just know if you do end up with one and you have problems,,, expensive & lots of down time.
Only folks I know of that still works on them & is excellent at it are in PA.

Last SOS I owned I picked up for $1500, had it rebuilt, used it for 2 years sold it for $5800.

yep, the older Fords will run forever and parts are available for just about anything. I had an even older 641 and 941 that were true workhorses and easy to work on when needed. We ran those for years until I started needing something a bit bigger with a FEL when I moved to my Kubota. I also bought an old Ford 4000 that needed some electrical work for cheap, about $20 in parts, some wire and connectors had it up and going for a nice profit. Hard to go wrong with those old Ford diesels. Should be able to get 4500-5000 hours easily before rebuild and usually only rings then.

Any input on adding a loader to one?

Many thanks, im looking for simple and not different lol, the 4000 has the SOS trans and is off my list

OP, any slope on your land (that you'll be baling)?
Going 'uphill' with a baler when you're right at the limit can really stress the motor.

The place is really pretty flat any elevation change is very gradual and not much of a change at all.

My uncle bought a new 4000 with that tranny, never had any problems.