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International 656 good and bad

C

Case IH farmer7

New User
Hi all. Im new to this forum. Anyway im new to cattle farming and found a second tractor I thought might work well to run a 9ft sickle mower or a rake. Its an international 656 6cyl gas job. Only located a few miles from home. Owner hasnt had it running in maybe 4 or 5 years. How much of a pain would this tractor be to get going? Would it burn gas like crazy cutting hay? Anything of concern i should be aware of? Thanks very much to everyone
 
Here is NE tractor test results from 50 years ago.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2375&context=tractormuseumlit
 
Depends why it hasn't ran in that long. Might just need the carb gone through, fresh gas and a battery. Might be something major. Gear shift or hydro? That's a nice sized hay tractor in my opinion. The fuel bill shouldn't be too bad running a mower and rake.
 
case ih put your question on the ih forum here, they will have really good insite and info and will be able to answer any questions you have. john
 
Bought a 656 gasser for 2500 a couple of years ago. I really like it.
Doesn't burn gas too bad for most of the stuff I do even pulling a 12 foot disc.
I don't care for the shifter much prefer the later model 4 HLR with TA over the 5 speed and TA of the 656 but over all it's a decent tractor.
 
If the engine has compression it will run. You might need to do some ignition and carb work after having sat for so long, but it will run. How well remains to be seen.

We had one up and running in less than 2 hours, but of course that exposed a whole host of other problems. Main clutch was shot. TA clutch was shot. PTO didn't work. Wouldn't steer to the left. Radiator was falling apart. 3pt wouldn't respond properly. Lots of problems...
 
For haying operations it won't be too bad on fuel. When you hook one of them to a plow it will burn through fuel at an embarrassing rate. The shifter gets pretty sloppy after a while and you also have the TA - but for hay you probably won't use it anyway.
 
Have 2 656's here. Both are diesel and one is gear drive and one is a hydro. Use them for haying mostly. Good size tractors and will do what I ask of them. Also have a 666 which is a gas. Pretty much the same as the 656 but a series newer. This one has a loader on it. Also use it for haying. Have run a 9' mower, tedder, rake, square baler and round baler with it. Runs all of them fine. The reason I bought it was it starts very easy in the winter to either plow snow or get round bales. I don't think gas consumption is that bad on it for what it will do.
 
The good and bad depends a lot on the hours on the tractor and how it has been used. I used a gas 656 for many years with no major problems. With good maintenance the tractor should be fine for several thousand hours. Any tractor will eventually need an overhaul.
 
Had a 656 gear drive tractor for 10 years and replaced it with an 86 Hydro. The 656 was pretty tired when I parted with it, and I wanted a better front end loader and better tractor on a snowblower. I have that now. The 656 gasoline powered tractor was not a fuel hog. It was dependable and started decent even in below zero temperatures, if needed. I did put a block heater on the tractor shortly after purchase. I think as far as light and medium duty, it would be a good machine. To use it for heavy duty work like fall tillage, the tractor wasn't designed for that sort of work, but that is my opinion. A short while back, somebody had asked about the 656 versus a 706. For heavy duty work, the 706 would be my choice. For haying and yard/chore type work, I think the 656 is a very good choice.
 
A 656 would be great for what you have in mind. The question I'd have is what it might take to get it running and or useable.
 
Thanks for the insite everyone. The owner
bought it to drag his driveway. Just a city
person at a local cottage. Guess the carb
must have got gummed up from sitting. Asked
if I could check it out. Its a hudro.
Shifter on side is kind of sloppy. Hooked a
battery up and it cranked over with lots of
compression. Pretty sure i can buy it for a
couple hundred bucks since he doesnt know
anything about tractors and its been
sitting so long. Will post my progress if i
make the deal and bring it home
 
I'll second the idea of asking this question on the IH/Farmall discussion board as well. There are some incredibly knowledgeable folks that frequent that board and often check in on this one as well.
 
I had a 656 International utility diesel hydro for a couple of years Decent enough a tractor, and we had a loader on it. But it
was NOT a field tractor- in the summer heat, it would literally cook you to death. The rowcrop versions got the operator out of
the engine heat, but the utility version, sat right behind thee engine and hydro unit, and they blew all that nice hot air right
back on you.....
 
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