MF 3120 vs 3125

[SuperTwo]

Can anyone tell me what the differences between the two are?

 

[Two Tone]

Both very good.
3120 was so powerful that it could bust itself.
3125 strengthened the bits that the 3120 broke!

 

[Farma Parma]

more rear lift iam sure on a 3125 & chassis slightly longer with a taller bonnet wasnt it?
Dunno how a 3120 was so powerful it broke itself its just the earlier version of the 6180
only diff was Wet clutch & Much better Cab on the 6100 series.
There was twice as many 3095's as ever 3120's i think.
But both diff tractors it was more than just a Turbo the difference in them
Pal of mine had an early 3125 speedshift & you went canny with it or the speedshift unit gave trouble
it was later replaced with a dynashift 3135 which was a much improved model

 

[SuperTwo]

So the 3125 is just slightly heavier built then? Would there be much of a size difference between the two?

 

[Two Tone]

more rear lift iam sure on a 3125 & chassis slightly longer with a taller bonnet wasnt it?
Dunno how a 3120 was so powerful it broke itself its just the earlier version of the 6180
only diff was Wet clutch & Much better Cab on the 6100 series.
There was twice as many 3095's as ever 3120's i think.
But both diff tractors it was more than just a Turbo the difference in them
Pal of mine had an early 3125 speedshift & you went canny with it or the speedshift unit gave trouble
it was later replaced with a dynashift 3135 which was a much improved model

My brothers wanted a 3120 and were advised by the mechanic at their local MF dealer not to buy one because they had so much engine power they bust themselves. o they went for the 3125, which has been an excellent tractor and they still have it.

About the same time as they bought the 3125, I bought a 6180 and this was the most unreliable tractor I have ever had!
Gearbox gears were made of chocolate!
Hence when Varity took MF over, they sorted out the hardening process and rebadged the tractor as a 6280.

 

[Farma Parma]

My brothers wanted a 3120 and were advised by the mechanic at their local MF dealer not to buy one because they had so much engine power they bust themselves. o they went for the 3125, which has been an excellent tractor and they still have it.

About the same time as they bought the 3125, I bought a 6180 and this was the most unreliable tractor I have ever had!
Gearbox gears were made of chocolate!
Hence when Varity took MF over, they sorted out the hardening process and rebadged the tractor as a 6280.

I must have had the monday built 6180 coz it was a good one.

But i know all about there gremlins & why the 6200 series fixed alot of them issues right enough.

 

[masseybreaker]

main difference was bigger front axle from the 3600 series

 

[Henarar]

I went to see a 3125 once and it was gutless, ended up buying a 3115 which was a hell of a tractor, didn't the 3120 replace both of them ?

 

[SuperTwo]

main difference was bigger front axle from the 3600 series

Are both axles prone to stripping the splines if not greased?

 

[Rookie]

Bought a new 3120 back in1995. Was a brilliant tractor, lots of power for its size.
Only problem we had was dyna shift needed clutch packs replacing and rear brakes doing due to alot of road work.
The cab eventually got quite a bit of rust due to road salt so traded in for one of the first 6480 dyna 6's t2.
Reason we didn't go for a 3125 was it weighed a fair bit more and was physically bigger for about the same hp.

 

[motrac3a]

3125 was a bigger lump, 3120 more of a pocket rocket. Personally I preferred the 3120.

 

[Lowland1]

I had a 3125 which was like a lower horse power 3655 and i had a 3120 which was like a higher horse power 3095. The 3120 and 3095’s were much better tractors.

 

[Cowabunga]

My brothers wanted a 3120 and were advised by the mechanic at their local MF dealer not to buy one because they had so much engine power they bust themselves. o they went for the 3125, which has been an excellent tractor and they still have it.

About the same time as they bought the 3125, I bought a 6180 and this was the most unreliable tractor I have ever had!
Gearbox gears were made of chocolate!
Hence when Varity took MF over, they sorted out the hardening process and rebadged the tractor as a 6280.

3120 are excellent tractors and have more torque and torque rise than the 3215. In MF-speak the 3120 had the newer generation Dyna-torque engine, along with the 3095 and the 3075, but no other 3000 series tractor. These were what was later generally called 'constant-power' type engines.
The 3125 was slightly heavier built but usually not as well regarded as the 3120 around these parts.

Around the time the 6100 series were introduced GIMA/MF introduced a new gear and shaft gas induction hardening process where the gears were hung vertically in a fully enclosed gassing vessel where a high current was flowed through the components to heat them up like an electric fire element. Unfortunately the process was not even throughout the vessels and some outlyer parts were hardly hardened at all. Hence they were as soft as chocolate and insufficient quality controls and testing at the time did not pick up on this for a ridiculously long time in production. These were randomly fitted to transmissions, so some would have been fine but others would have one or many unhardened gears and shafts. This plus tragic pre-selector shuttle and brake issues absolutely trashed MF's reputation for making reliable larger tractors for many years and only after the 6200 and 8200 tractors were proven to be excellent in service did they begin to regain a bit of their reputation. A reputation as thoroughly lost as with a combination of the early 500 series and 6/8100 series is never easy to regain and it took a series of generally excellent following models, proven over several years, to build it back to where it is today, which is the best its ever been. 20 years of making mostly excellent models have seen to that. There have been occasional blips along the way of course but certainly no worse or more often than any other brand's and better than the average by far in my opinion.

 

[SuperTwo]

What do I need to look out for when buying one of these and what's the best procedure for testing the transmission? Are there any delays in particular powershifts to be aware of?
What about the autotronic/datatronic is there anything I can check on this? Thanks in advance

 

[daveydiesel1]

What do I need to look out for when buying one of these and what's the best procedure for testing the transmission? Are there any delays in particular powershifts to be aware of?
What about the autotronic/datatronic is there anything I can check on this? Thanks in advance

Just check all electrical functions work. Same checks as other used tractors,oils,brakes test hydralic pressure. Puh is prone to wear but the right man with a lathe can sort it for not too much money also if hitch is badly worn get it sorted asap as theres a big guiding bar on top of hitch and if the hitch goes to the side as its being raised it can catch on the guides and can result in shearin of the things that lift the arms whatever their called as thier cast and are expensive. Also check front axle pivot bushings for wear as they can wear the shaft comin from the diff and its not a cheap fix. But all in all there a pretty good tractor