666---good tractor? Opinions please

Looking at buying a 666 Diesel. Has a narrow front on it and 3 point. dual remotes and single pto. good tractor? Whats the value? Tin very nice and orignal paint thats faded but there. Rear tires are down to needing rubber.

Is the 312 a good engine?? Tach stated about 8500 hours i think.

What does it take to swap an IH wide front under it? Just unbolt and swap or do you have to replace the front bolster??

Thanks guys.

IH 666 is a reasonably good upgrade of the 656. Both good for small farm and haying. Rear tires $1500, front axle $600-800, 8500 hours may be getting close to an overhaul? Front end will unbolt and wide bolt back. Make sure you get bolts with wide front; all you will have for the narrow front will be steering arm bolts.

Price and amount of blow-by would be major factors for me.

666 was a great tractor. 8500 hours is a LOT of hours. I would check it over pretty good before buying it.

It should have a TA so be sure to check out the condition of both the high and low range (unless it is not direct drive in which case I would walk away but that is just me). There are procedures on here in the archives on how to do that or just get in touch with Tractorvet. Otherwise ditto what the other guys said. I spent many hours on a 656 and it would be my favorite of all time and I spent time on many red including MF, blue, green, and orange tractors.

I have a wide front under a 706 parts tractor if you are interested. $650

I don't know, I've heard that they are The Devil the work on, at least that's what I heard one of my patients saying last week in group therapy...

I agree .. I would sure shy away from that 666.

Had a 686 with the d312 an early one that had the same engine as the 666

Great engine and great tractor it's almost the last of the farmall M which is its great grandfather. Rear wheels from an m will fit on the rear axles. This tractor has had some significant modifications from the m - much stronger - and all the kinks were worked out long ago

The 312 is in the melrose family of engines wet sleeved just like its the popular big brother 414/436/466 used in a lot of ih tractors and trucks

Make sure you have the coolant additive in it as it has the same cavitation issue as the others

Rebuild is about 2500 in parts and you basically get a new engine. A little higher than the rest as it wasn't widely used but still a great engine

Rock solid. Great hydraulics, independent PTO, power steering, torque amplifier (now called power shift) and good ergonomics. Better then some of the newer tractors . It was however consider a dated model I guess 40 years on the same design gets old but it did have many many positive improvements over time

Only issue is the wet sleeve cavatation issue but if its had the additive all its life your ok. Absent the cavitation issue its still being broken in lot of hours to go

After 30 years I no longer had a Need for it and traded it in

Good luck