BUYING IH 966 NEED INPUT ON THIS TRACTOR

LOOKING AT BUYING A 966 FOR A SECOND TRACTOR, ANY INPUT ON THESE TRACTORS WOULD BE HELPFUL

That was our loader tractor growing up. We had a year-round cab on it which turned into a crock pot in the summer. It was a fantastic tractor. For a very short while we had trouble with the starter but that is the only time I every remember it giving any issues. My uncle has that farm now - the 966 is still there working. It has never been in the shop for any reason. Good stout simple tractors. I'd like to have one at some point.

That engine needs to be worked hard frequently or it will slobber. Don't baby it around and you will have a great tractor for many years.

I had the bigger brother, a 1066. You need to look out for the TA in any that you buy and the 1066 was noted for cavitation problems. Probably the same with the 966, same engine I believe but not turbocharged.

My 966 is still the big dog ,here on my farm. Pulls 5 bottom plough ,combine , and forage harvester. Good old tractor , that will still get the job done. My 966 is a 1976 model with the black stripe . We have never had any major issues with this tractor. Bruce

Some of the late 9's with the black stripe had the 436 ( same as 986 ) in them .
We put additive in the radiator every fall in every diesel we own , never had problems with cavition .

A 966 is one of the best late IH tractors out there.A strong 100 horse.Great tractor.You need to own it.......

When they first came out, they had a problem seating rings. The guy I worked for traded in a good 806. He got it in time for cultivating and harvesting. It didn't work hard enough and must have glazed the cylinders. The next spring the new one used more oil than the old one had. They took it into the shop and ran it 24 hours on the dyno at maximum hp and temperature. I don't think it used a drop after that.

I like my old 9 gets the job done only had it a few years now but does what i want! I keep fixing up little things this year i did the front end alot of work quit a few dollars to rebuild the front end but im happy with it! Worth the money!

Yes same family of engines

Dads 966 had a D-414 - the non-turbo version of the DT-414 in the 1066.

The Melrose engines were actually very good - IMHO better than John Deer's, Ford's, etc.

Great tractor - plenty of torque rise and tough as nails. We used it a lot (plow, disk, harvester) and it was a reliable problem free tractor.

Lot of farmers turned up the injection pump especially on the 1066 - some got a 30hp+ increase. Engine easily took the additional HP but transmission problems began when you really cranked up the HP.

Regarding the cavitation issue - all of the Melrose engines had the cavitation issue to some degree. For that matter it's hard to find a wet sleeve Diesel engine from any manufacturer at that time that didn't have this issue.

The fix was to keep the DCA-4 additive at the correct level. A coolant water filter was a popular add for additional protection to prevent cavitation.

I heard a couple of theories about the filter - one that micro air bubbles form around the dirt particles that end up drilling holes in the sleeves - second was that the speed of the circulating coolant creating turbulence that made it more favorable for bubbles to form and that the filter reduced the speed of the circulating coolant just enough to make it less favorable for bubbles to form.

No matter which theory you believe the combination of additive and filter worked to eliminate the problem.

I haven't really kept up on Navistar (IH's truck division) but they used the Melrose engines (DT-466 version was popular) long after IH sold the farm division to Tenneco. If you cant get a filter from CashIH you could get one from Navistar and adapt it.

Again great tractor and Good luck