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Dave: I farmed with some of these tractors, but in my day they were still relartively new, thus many of the problems we now see croping up hadn't yet happened in my day. Reading this forum for the past 5 years, I would have to say 06 and 56 have been by far the best tractors. I think there are a number of factors for this. Number one in my mind, most 06 and 56 series tractors were paid for by the time the mid 80s down turn in the ag economy. They were owned largley by farmers in much better shape financially to with stand the down turn, thus these tractors received much better service. I firmly believe that is number one. From a power train point of view all that changed significantly were the engines. The shifting linkages were adequate for a tractor doing field work with drawbar and 3 point. The ones to go first were loader or other jobs that required a lot of shifting. There have been good repair and rebuild kits for these and are money well spent for a work tractor. On the other end of the scale you have 66 and 86 series tractors, many still not paid for when the downturn hit. Many of these tractor worked far beyond their service intervales. Even the guys that survived with these had to cut corners. That is not to say there are not good 66 and 86 series around in good condition. Heck there is a 1086 in the photo adds right now (MI) less than 400 hours since new, that would be a gem to get your hands on. Best rule of thumb buying these tractors be vigilant, anyone of engine, TA, transmission or hydraulics, will make buying a shift linkage seem like peanuts.
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