belarus model 562 4wd;how bad?

i can buy a belarus 562 4wd at scrap price with low
hours. It is watercooled,who actually made this? Any
parts availability? Is this tractor model still
built? It would be a low use backup loader tractor.

The factory is in Minsk, Belarus, basically Russian. That particular model has a better reputation than most Belarus tractors, it was probably built in the early 90's and they had a few more features by then. There is from low to zero resale on Belarus tractors depending on what part of the country you are in, but, the ones I know of in use have all been pretty tough machines. As a back up tractor at scrap price I don' t see how you could go very wrong, if it's running and motivating on its own. You can order parts from several different sites, my Wifes cousin has three Belarus tractors of various sizes and he gets what he needs to keep them going off the internet.

at scrap price with a loader how can you go wrong?

if its an MTZ which I am not convinced it is you can get parts.

http://www.mtzequipment.com/tractor-service-manuals

ask your questions here.

http://www.mtztractortalk.com/mtz-tractors-old-models/

It's not priced too cheap, from what I remember when the Case dealers around here started carrying them for 4 year period that I believe they would like to forget they ever tried.

I recall 1 person liking his Belarus, everyone else wondering why they ever got involved with one.... Think the mechanics were ready to walk out. I believe most inventory was sold out at auction with the disclaimer not to ever bring them back.....

At scrap price and if its working today, worth taking a gamble if you know what you are getting into. If having it as a backup tractor makes life easier good, if you must have this tractor to get planting or hay done I'd look elsewhere.

Paul

Yep, I always thhought the central-planned econmoies [cant' type that word] , the disastrous East German ecomoniy, the total collapse of the Soviets, proved how incompetent the Russians were.

Some were bad but others were pretty good tractors I know of one that the farmer has had for quite a long time uses it to handle hay.Be hard to go wrong at the price you're giving and the loader,tires etc
are worth something by themselves if you junk it.

that is a minsk model good tough unit more of them built and sold every year than case ih and john deere put together parts good mtz based in hawkbury ont is north American dist

try this link
belarus part info

At scrap price and running I would buy it but not for a penny more. Some like them, I had a 825 4wd that I scrapped out with only 1600 hrs.

Hi a 562 will probably be very late 70's or early 80's it's the model before the 572 we had in the U.k. I'm not getting into the good or bad conversation fight on here with guys. we were dealers up until 2000. you could have either in a used or brand new tractor is my comment. A 562 will have the old style power assist type steering to. it works if the turrets aren't seized with rust but it's not like modern full hyd power steering.

As its got a loader check out the front axle and drive line real good. if abused some of the shafts and gears can be worn/ damaged. pick up the front end and check the wheels for slop in the bearings. things can get expensive real quick if that axle and steering tubes are worn, or it leaked the oil out the drive system hubs or bevels, some guys never re filled them and they didn't like it .Also check the front axle mounting casting under the radiator, that is not a real strong casting. I have seen a few break off or found some cracked and replaced them before the front end fell off!!!!!
most have never had the hyd filter cleaned or replaced either, not many guys know where the filter is once the manuals lost.
parts are around all over the internet from Belarus guys. there are not many jobber parts for them like there is with any other brands and some can be a crazy price for what it is.

Finding guys that understand some of it to fix it can be a problem in certain parts of the world. Just because It's a "Simple" Belarus doesn't mean any monkey with a pack of wrenches can fix it.
I see the messes professional, dealer trained anything else mechanics make on them here in my shop regularly.
if it looks right it may be ok, if it's sat years every oil seal on it will probably leak if it didn't before it was parked!!!!. if it's beat to death and not been maintained at all run forest run!

some days a new handle on a pitch fork might be more use than a beat to death un loved Belarus. If you got more questions just ask I'll help if i can. there are loads of things a guy could say to look for on them.
Regards Robert

Scrap is down lately... be careful or you won't have an out..

Rod

Nothing wrong with a Belarus.
I have 2 of them, an '78 model 800 with by now over 15000 hrs on it,it has never let me down much and although it is getting tired it still starts and runs good .
And i have a '93 model 925 with approx 1300 hrs, i got it in 2011 and that one also has been a good tractor so far.
I put a loader on it and use it mainly for feeding.
I paid 5 grand for the 800 in 86 and 4 thou for the 93

My late Dad bought a 562 new in 1989. Its still on the farm as he kept it after he retired in 1998. After retirement, he used it for snow blowing, plowing his garden and sweet corn patch and bush hogging the property. Its got a bit over 2000hrs on it now. I have used it the past 3 summers for just the bush hog. I don't live near enough so the renter does the snow for my Mom.

Last summer I noted the head gasket was going out again. Spits out along the edge of the head. Don't think there is water/oil mixing but need to check. The gasket went out once before when it was being used for actual farming in the mid 90s. I don't think he had the head or block checked for flatness on the repair and pretty sure the head bolts never got re-torqued at 100hrs in per the manual. That is about the only sort of serious problem its ever had, although Dad was easy on equipment. The starter had to be replaced when rain water ran inside and wrecked some of the windings.

These things are sort of crude, with slow revving engines. I think redline is about 12-1300 rpm. At least on Dad's, the shifter setup is pretty weird with a twist knob rather than moving the shifter left/right. Once you get used to it, its OK though. Most of the rest of the controls are pretty normal.

The steering is slower than molasses in January and the turn radius is large. But, the FWA worked pretty well and I remember having to un-hitch a tandem disc and bail out of a muck hole I was stuck in as it was digging 4 holes. Had to go get a chain to retrieve that disc.

These have a "lifetime" oil filter that needs to be washed out on oil changes. Summer before last I managed to bust off the elbow on the exhaust when mowing under some trees and hit a branch. My bad. I had no problem ordering a replacement from a internet place. I think it was called "parts for belarus" or some-such.

(quoted from post at 07:48:01 03/10/15) i can buy a belarus 562 4wd at scrap price with low
hours. It is watercooled,who actually made this? Any
parts availability? Is this tractor model still
built? It would be a low use backup loader tractor.

Click to expand...

Hi
As a guy that has sold probably 50 new and
used Belarus tractors through a family
dealership, and since not being a dealer,
still fix a lot, for local farmers when The
dealers round here quit. I will say you have
been very lucky with yours. There are guys that
haven't been so lucky by a long shot.

I got one comes here now is a 2000 or so year
model 5490 with 7000 hrs and one owner. The
last time it was here I flat out told the guy.
I don't want it back again. Phone 1 800 SOMEONE
ELSE or the fire department, next time it
quits!.
There have been a good few catch fire round
here, or been exported to Peru or Egypt, that
were total junk and guys wanted out with a good
payment. I sent one and my buddy sent a few
more for export, and jockeys are still picking
them up for a few thousand, and getting 4-$5000
for the right ones if there lucky, when they
get a container full.
Regards Robert

We would have been overjoyed if ours had burned.... It was a 520A. Leaked everywhere. No electrics because they all failed and were not worth fixing.. Steering sucked. Uncomfortable, miserable, unmanuverable pig that couldn't be shifted easily. It's redeeming feature was that it good torque (but unsteady power) and was easy on fuel. Ours went down the road 15+ years ago to a jockey who broke it up for $1500.
I don't know of anyone around here who had more than 5k hours on any of the eastern European tractors without a LOT of major trouble; particularly engines.
I just looked at the MTZ tractors at the farm show last week and the first thought was that they'd applied a heavy coat of red lipstick to the same old pig. Much nicer cabs and ergonomics, some with P/S transmissions... but the 60 hp model equivalent to our old 520A still had the same recognizable features under all the paint as the 520 had..

Rod

I’ve had a 825 Belarus for many years as a beater/loader/auger/bush hogging/ hay raking type tractor. Bought it used for 1/3 of what similar used JD/CIH with 3 times the hrs and I’m satisfied for what I got invested and what it does. No its not as nice for a field tractor as my other tractors but still not bad. I swing open the doors and wear my ear protection muffs so I can stil listen to the radio or podcasts just fine.

[b:f6da74fc1e]So First off if you bleed green (JD or FENDT) or RED - walk away and buy a something else.

If you’re not handy with a wrench and can’t do much service on your equipment –buy something else a different color and a lot newer!.[/b:f6da74fc1e]

I don’t know much about that particular model other than it’s a 4 cyl. Water cooled engine something like mine. Tractor Data says they were sold from 1981 to 1993 so there will be some changes depending how new it is with the cab I imagine. http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/4/3/1436-belarus-562.html
Like any older used tractor check the tires as if it needs rear tires that is going to be $1500-2000 bucks right there and that’s the cheapo tires from China. I think those Belarus front 11.2-20 tires are 500 bucks a piece too.

Parts – NON- ISSUE there are dealers still around but with online shopping and several US based websites that sell Belarus parts and sites direct from Europe it’s really not an issue. Parts are reasonable too.

As for dependability reliability I can’t say its any better or worse then my other tractors of that age as if a machine is worked it needs up keep or else in time it falls apart. They are easy to work on very simple technology. Wiring is a little different being built in Europe but still there really isn’t much for wiring on them anyway.

So if you can actually get that tractor with loader on for scrap price you’re doing well. Check the rad for oil making sure it wasn’t over heated or something and blew the head gasket. Other than that its like any other tractor. Problem is with these things is a lot of the guys who bought them new were real cheap and didn't spend a nickel on them. I confess I'm pretty hard on mine but I do fix things and service it is like everything else on the farm.

(quoted from post at 22:57:48 03/10/15) Hi

I got one comes here now is a 2000 or so year
model 5490 with 7000 hrs and one owner. The
last time it was here I flat out told the guy.
I don't want it back again. Phone 1 800 SOMEONE
ELSE or the fire department, next time it
quits!.
Regards Robert

Click to expand...

Are you turning away the tractor or the customer :wink:

Friend owns a local heavy duty repair shop and he works on a alot of older tractors and some drive him nuts. People run a tractor into the ground, bring it in with 30 years of dirt and sh*t on. Then freak out and b*tch when he tells them what its gong to cost to get going again.

I just looked at the MTZ tractors at the farm show last week and the first thought was that they'd applied a heavy coat of red lipstick to the same old pig. Much nicer cabs and ergonomics, some with P/S transmissions... but the 60 hp model equivalent to our old 520A still had the same recognizable features under all the paint as the 520 had..

Rod

Click to expand...

I started looking at them at the show as well, the sales guy said "This is the all new MTZ tractor", I said oh Belarus is back! I didn't get in the larger one, but the one with loader looked similar to an 825.

I couldn't stomach the $70000 price tag....

(quoted from post at 11:44:43 03/13/15)

I started looking at them at the show as well, the sales guy said "This is the all new MTZ tractor", I said oh Belarus is back! I didn't get in the larger one, but the one with loader looked similar to an 825.

I couldn't stomach the $70000 price tag....

Click to expand...

There they had a 100hp and a 150hp model. Yeah so what list of 70Kfor a 100hp tractor with a loader. The weak Cdn. dollar is going to hurt them and all companies bringing stuff in. But yeah I think you can get lower end cheap 6XXX deere MFD with a loader on for pretty cheap like 10-15K more ?? I'm not afraid of the qualty of the MTZ like others but resale will be poor if you want some thing else in a few years. Years back there was a bigger gap between the Belarus and the mainline models in $$. I think you can get those cheap McCormicks for not a much more either. Though I've heard mixed reviews on them too with transmission issues.

Resale is just that. $70k new turns into $25k in two years. Local concern is more parts and service, no long term Belarus dealers, but lots of tractors were sold on price point. I remember a 60 HP fwa cab loader was same price as 2wd rops loader "main brand" years ago.

I actually liked some aspects of Belarus, I spent a lot of time on the 800 class machines, certainly had some issues, but were used heavily.

The worst ergonomic nightmare was the remote/3pt lever being basically in the windshield.

The 70k one I didn't even think to look at the remotes, triple stick 16/4 trans instead of 18/4 twisty shift with foot pedal.