Case 885 xl.

[7610 super q]

I notice a few on here rave about these tractors. I hated mine. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough, mainly because of the stubborn gear change.
Was I unlucky with mine ?, was it a one off ?

Thinking about it, cab was a pleasant enough place to spend time in. Engine sounded sweet. Hydraulics & PTO worked fine. Infact, other than leaks, and that bloody gear change.........

 

[Roy_H]

I notice a few on here rave about these tractors. I hated mine. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough, mainly because of the stubborn gear change.
Was I unlucky with mine ?, was it a one off ? Thinking about it, cab was a pleasant enough place to spend time in. Engine sounded sweet. Hydraulics & PTO worked fine. Infact, other than leaks, and that bloody gear change.........

It certainly wasn't a one off! My neighbour loved IH tractors for many years, then his XL tractors gave him that much grief he went Ford. "Oil leaks" well all IH tractors leak, at least the ones we had did.

 

[Boohoo]

I've never been a fan of the 85 or 95 series, mostly because of the gear change. Overheating always seemed to be an issue if you tried to do anything that put a load on the engine. The design was out of date long before production ended.

 

[SuperTwo]

Bit of a lottery with the gear change I find. Mine is perfect but a neighbours 995xl is horrid...
Very popular machines around here still plenty of them aworking hard.

 

[John 1594]

did IH ever make a decent tractor? Going back, B series engines, they were all b*stards to start in cold weather unless the heater plugs were changed at every service....worldwide series...LH gear linkage, hydro gearboxes...cabs what rotted before your eyes.....torque amplifier....when it worked, it sort of did, when it didnt, you locked it up with a set of aftermarket gears as it was easiest way of sorting it

56 series....change on the move splitter...anyone???

 

[Red Fred]

I always liked our 895, in spite of the fact it got hotter as it got older. It served us very well, it was on 8000 hours when I inherited it on taking over the farm in 2000, and it served for more years until I could replace it. I still have it here now.
(I also still have two of the "B's" a 434 and 250 which have also served us well since we were kids

 

[spin cycle]

not the best perhaps but good, cheap, servicable tractors

 

[SuperTwo]

Can we keep this thread on topic with opinions based on actual user experiance rather than posting abosolute non-sense

 

[John 1594]

Can we keep this thread on topic with opinions based on actual user experiance rather than posting abosolute non-sense

a bit like the lottery you mean.....1 in a million?

ive had plenty of IHs through the yard over the last 18 years, none of them have stayed more than a few weeks, or months at a push

 

[Dave W]

56 series

 

[Red Fred]

Farmall M

 

[John 1594]

Farmall M

American, petrol parrafin, then yes. Grandfather owned the very american built model last one imported into the country, BEB 753 iirc

 

[Red Fred]

Great grandad had one of the first, I believe it was a 1917 Titan (he was a tight'un anyway! )

 

[SuperTwo]

a bit like the lottery you mean.....1 in a million?

ive had plenty of IHs through the yard over the last 18 years, none of them have stayed more than a few weeks, or months at a push

I've had a 584 that had quite a nice gear change too, I must be very lucky.....
But seriously though it's not fair to say that every IH ever built was crap...

 

[John 1594]

Great grandad had one of the first, I believe it was a 1917 Titan (he was a tight'un anyway! )

He always rated the "merican M " over the english one, even though that was petrol parrafin as well....had a 3 wheeled "H" at the same time, Allis "M" crawler, and the country crawler based on the E27N, the Allis was always the better machine he says, he traded both those for a county Z type, based on the new major, then after a while, that was traded for a brand new county P55, based on the super major, it arrived via March railway station, in yellow, with headlights on top of the bullet hole grille and full width fenders. Made a lot of money ploughing black fen land that was infested with twitch and had been unfarmed for decades, he bought a brand new ransomes solotrac to run behind it, think he used to charge a £1/20s an acre, few more shillings on top if you wanted it subsoiling behind the furrow

 

[John 1594]

I've had a 584 that had quite a nice gear change too, I must be very lucky.....
But seriously though it's not fair to say that every IH ever built was crap...

had a 484 here for a while,,,,only thing what come close to it with regards the gearbox layout was my mates rubik cube 4610!!!!

 

[Red Fred]

I've had a 584 that had quite a nice gear change too, I must be very lucky.....
But seriously though it's not fair to say that every IH ever built was crap...

I have a 574/674 hybrid with a non TA back end which is so worn that it just drops in and out of gear effortlessly. When I got it working, not having driven a 2wd 674 style model for 20 years, I was amazed at how smooth and slick it felt to drive compared to other 1971ish models we've had. That doesn't always make them reliable though!

 

[Richard Devon]

got a G plate 885XL/4 here with 12,000hrs on the clock, I will agree that the gear shift is not the sort of thing you'd want to have for shuttle/loader work type thing but the rest of it is sound.

Like a lot of things, they get abused and people then turn around and moan that they are crap.

 

[multi power]

Well going on my experience (not that much to be fair) I would sooner have a brown or a Ford
That said Xl cab is nice and the 956 I drove pulled well
I do remember a neighbour trying a 956 for a few days but he sent it back and went back to the 590 again

 

[Jontym]

Had one 25 years ago, and after a Zetor 6718 what was not to like!