I have a old JD 401 it is from 1970 +- a year and you can still walk into a JD dealer and get any parts for it ! personally i like to stay with American made iron for the most part !

 

That is why I prefer JD, Ford, IH, Case, Massey Ferguson....

 

Thats a good thing, you need lots of parts for those green ones..

 

LOL Yeah never was a JD fan myself. We still have some JD stuff, but still not a fan after having to work on it.

If it ain't red, keep it in the shed.

And the real reason JD's are green is so they can hide in the woods while the others get the real work done

All joking aside though, parts availability is a nice thing. Don't forget to check how far away your nearest parts are. I have to drive nearly 1 hour to get to the nearest Ford parts house, about 30 mn to the Case IH parts house and 20 min to the JD parts house (thankfully it's the closest, I visit that one the most!). But it would suck to get a great deal on a tractor and find out your nearest parts are 2 hours away or something. We used to have a CaseIH place 10 minutes away but they didn't do enough volume sales so they lost their dealership parts contract.

 

Im not a huge fan of those 790's (i work for john deere as a mechanic) and the ones we have come in for service are very very light im not sure of the exact weight but with a little 5 foot brush hog on the back that thing will tip the front wheels off the ground when you let out on the clutch.... wouldn't be using it for much around our farm.... we have a 01-03 im not exactly sure but early 2000's 4400 4WD that can do some work.... has a nice loader on the front and a 72in belly mower we've used it clearing tree's we cut down, can move bales with it, push snow, brush hog, run post hole auger ect.... you could probably find one a those decently priced i think we gave 21,000 for it new and that was about 9-11 years ago. the tractor i use on the boss's farm..... 6430 premium is one of the best all purpose tractors ive had the pleasure of operating it will do just about anything from cut hay with the disc mower to push over decent size tree's with the bucket to pick up and stack huge tree's with the grapple bucket but i imagine that is way outta your price range.... he also has a 5303 we use to stack hay in the bale pen ( gets to tight in there to maneuver the 6430) thats getting a little higher into the horsepower range than our 4400 so it is a bit more capable and can do the job easier.... its heavier so its more stable putting a bale on the front and the back for feeding and can dig deeper.... if i were buying a utility tractor i would go in the 5303 range.... the 4400 gets the job done but the 5303 gets the job done easier.

 

x2 on the availibility of parts, it dosent matter what color it is, it will break down and you will need to buy parts for it, so whatever you buy, try to find something very common, theres nothing worse than walking into a dealership and watching the counter guy scratch his head trying to find your model.

 

Well I have come down to 2:

The 2010 JD in Odessa Washington, and the 4600SU from the same dealer, the Ford tractor is more expensive but it looks to be newer and has 7 more HP than the Deere, has all the same specs otherwise, 540 pto, 8 spd, yadda yadda....

 

out of the 2 I would go with the ford but both are good !

 

Ditto on the ford I don't know much about the JD so no help there the last time I looked you could still get parts for the 8&9Ns and they date back to the late 40s. You can find basic specs for the ford here if that is of any use to you :
TractorData.com Ford 4600 tractor information
You need to look at the individual tractor to determine if it is in good enough condition to be worth the money Fords do have a good reputation locally. Like 1994F2507.3L said local parts availability isn't the most important thing but it should be high on the list. What ever you finally get good luck I'm pulling for ya .
PS New Holland bought Ford Tractors some time in the late 80s The name didn't change until the late 90s .

 

I know the Deere I am looking at has Glowplugs and starts well. There is a Ford 9n with a 8n diesel engine in it here in missoula for 2250. I dont know if its worth it or not but I am gonna look anyway.

 

Is this worth 3500 bucks guys? I just came across this:

Ford 8N tractor recent rebuild with 60" finish mower, attachments

 

Nice looking tractor might be a little light for what your wanting to do when I mentioned 8&9ns I was saying that parts should be available for whatever Ford you might find.

 

Is this a good deal on a 9N?

1939/40 9N Ford Tractor handymans special

EDIT: I just called him, he is a Nam vet and said 800 bucks cause the oil pump wont push enough pressure to get a reading, but there is oil getting to the top end, he took a line off with it running to see....

 

With both having around 25 HP I would think the 8N would have trouble pulling that 60'' finish mower in very tall grass
Nice little tractors to restore and have around for light duty stuff, but I don't think I would want to depend on one to do a lot of heavy work.

 

an 8n 0r 9n will be very much on the small side for what you want to do.