allis 180 tractor?

Nick last 1 I saw sell brought $2800.00. Yes they are a good tractor. the 185's bring a lot more than that.   

They are a very good utilitarian tractor. Dad had one (farm op's still has it), and I acquired one a few years ago. Dad pulled a 4 bottom plow with his, but I believe it would have done more, as we also pulled the same plow with the D17. We have #180 trip bucket loaders on our's. Nice addition, while I do agree that a hydraulic bucket would be better. As for price, I'd say in the $5,000 - $6,500 range. Dave

Yeah, for $3k you should be ok. Check out the trany. They can have a 3rd/4th gear issue.

You're "pretty sure it's a diesel"? If that's as much as you don't know about a potential purchase, how could you expect any advice to pertain to the particular tractor?

I see that you are in Ontario. Friend's 180 sold at auction in September for $6200.  His son who is my neighbour just bought a one owner 185 for $4700.  You should golden at $3000 unless it has issues.

Transmission problems are caused by wreckless operators grinding gears a lot.  Tends to happen a lot on loader tractors when you are shifting from forward to reverse back and forth.  Either way, you have to check that out for sure.  Even if the owner says it only jumped out of  gear "a couple of times", that is a major red flag for me.

Nick I am with you there. I would love a nice diesel that size. What I can tell you is that a spare tractor is priceless with these old machines because they will have problems it is just the nature of using machines this old. That said a 180 which has been taken care of will hold up longer then a modern tractor if you ask me. Look at my neighbors with the modern blue and green tractors and the repair bills they run into and to be honest I can completely rebuild an old tractor for less money. And I hire a mechanic to do most of the work.   Not to say that they are cheap to fix I have just bought all the parts to rebuild the motor on my d17 plus sent the head and block to the machine shop. I think I will have about 3000 in the motor alone and I had to go through the power direct clutch pack and the torque tube. The bearing in the torque tube where because someone else took it apart and messed up putting it back together on my d17.   This is a tractor I grew up with and know the history of. My point is expect to spend some money on repairs of any old tractor but know they are simpler mechanical machines that can be fixed and will last for years to come once they are repaired.
I just wish I had a diesel to save on the fuel. My two gas tractors are expensive to run.
Best of luck getting started with farming. This is my 4th year back on the family farm trying to get a grass feed beef business going and I think that the hay might pay the repair bills this season.   It is really hard to make a living farming you have to find a speciality market or be a gambler going big. Personally I don't like big I feel the animals need more care them they got when we where bigger.
Best of luck and remember there will be a old tractor out there when you have the funds to buy it. Be careful about where you spend your limited funds. That is the game I am playing right now.

Dan73.. Yes it is hard to juggle the money, You never know what is going to break down so you need to keep some emergency funds. I bought a allis 2500 25 foot disc back in september.. It needs some blades and a few other things I paid $3000. 

Very nice machines, easy to work on, real easy on fuel and the 301 diesel can handle a little injection pump adjustment to get more power,, I kno of a few with 15000 hours on them , they been primary tractors in tillage and hay, but were properly maintainened and not abused still going strong;the transmissions are kind of the weak/ slow point , but when bailing hay or wanting to change gears you can swap them easy without clutching it if its not in a bind without grinding a bit ,  putting 34 inch rear tires on them does help some with traction issues , depends what your doing but I luv those ole One Eightys , that's the tractor that got me hooked on Allis !

Edited by DougG - 20 Nov 2016 at 12:48pm