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E Nelson 09-27-2012 19:59:33 75.207.27.34 Report to Moderator	just want to know if anybody can tell me about this older tractor thinking about buying it would like to know any bad or weak points shows 3300 hrs and the brakes don"t seem to work very good motor starts right up and runs good,drives pretty good and center pin looks good. thanks [Reply]   [No Email]
The tractor vet 09-28-2012 06:22:27 75.24.0.62 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   Yep the old no brake thing They ran a signal huge disc on the drive shaft with two calipers and a master cylinder Could be that it is out of fluid . I owned a 1805 Massey once that the only thing wrong with the tractor was dead batterys a junk alt. and NO BRAKE and all it took to fix the brake was fluid and bleed , now as to where the fluid went i have no idea as after i filled and bleed while i owned it i never had a problem with them and the guy that bought it off me never said anything about it . Now as to the 903 Cummins from what little experience i have had with them and this was in semi's back years ago is that ya could never get two of them to run the same . Case in point here we had three of them two were in 4200 I H conventional's and one was in a 4070 cab over all of them had the same 13 speed trans. they all had the same rear end s and gears they all had the same tires they all pulled the same type of trailer and no matter how you tuned them or how ya played with the pump they would NOT pull the same the one 4200 was a dog the other ran ok but the 4070 would flat out and run . [Reply]  [No Email]
boomer1 09-28-2012 04:55:23 199.120.66.146 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   They used to call the 903 cummins a 90nothing!! [Reply]  [No Email]
Dick2 09-28-2012 04:02:13 174.19.205.113 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   My nephew has my brother's old 800 Versatile; it's still running great. Nephew likes it's performance better than the JD that he had; he was surprised that the engine recovers much better than the JD after it pulls down. Turbo'd Cummins engine uses a lot less fuel than the JD did too. [Reply]  [No Email]
5020s rock 09-28-2012 01:05:36 24.14.134.90 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   i have almost bought one a few times. they are SIMPLE AND TOUGH, not all fancified with items that cause downtime. the last one i saw, the brakes didnt work either? [Reply]  [No Email]
Albert Goerzen 09-27-2012 22:07:49 23.29.198.99 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   Series I Versatile. Simple rugged and reliable. 903 Cummins V8 engine needs to be worked hard enough to keep them warm otherwise they "slobber" out the exhaust, unburnt fuel and oil. I doubt the hours are correct for a 39 year old tractor. The tachs lasted 3-4000 hours typically, this tractor should have 10-15000 hours on it by now. Parts and pieces for these tractors are reasonably priced and available. The cab is not quiet and the air conditioner is not great either, depends what your plans are for it. It will run a long time on a gallon of diesel. [Reply]  [No Email]
hardscrabble 09-27-2012 20:30:32 69.57.91.137 Report to Moderator	Re: 1973 900 versatile in reply to E Nelson, 09-27-2012 19:59:33   Well built machine. But keep an eye on the V-8 engine, which may very well be the weakest link! [Reply]  [No Email]