Happy Memorial Day, and a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to all those past and present who have served our great nation. On this day, let us not forget the sacrifices of those who shed their blood and gave their lives to keep our flag flying high. Your sacrifice and love for your country will never be forgotten and we are forever blessed and grateful!
Thanks to the holiday weekend, I had some time to do a review video of my "new-to-me" (almost a year ago) load-lifter, back saver, and chore tractor - a 1984 Ford 340A industrial skip loader.
I purchased this tractor in July 2022 for doing the heavy lifting for some of my shop projects and moving things around the yard - especially my John Deere 60 project carcass. My shop building is an old converted tobacco barn and storage shed. The old concrete floor is not flat but rather broken and jagged, which makes it very difficult to roll an engine hoist/cherry picker or a pallet jack across it if I need to lift or move a heavy part. The stone parking area outside the shop building is very unlevel and a forklift would likely spin out or get stuck trying to move across the stone with any kind of weight hanging from it. The 7-foot bay doors (and lack of interior space) make it difficult to maneuver a skid steer inside the building (with enough weight and hydraulics to handle a 6000-lb tractor carcass), plus a skid steer of that size range would be very costly, so my next best option was an old heavy-duty low-profile loader tractor with enough weight and hydraulics to move the heavy 60 carcass in and out. Having grown up with a team of Ford 445 industrial tractors/skip loaders with 4x4, and having used them for farm work, landscaping work, and everything in between (which we probably should have used a skid steer instead), I was already sold on their durability and reliability - plus they are plentiful in my area and fairly cheap to purchase. I ended up finding this one in the next county over from me, about an hour from home. A small-time horse farmer had bought it from Ritchie Bros. auction 15 years earlier and had used it to move light material and mow around his horse pastures. I looked the machine over, negotiated with him, and hauled it home.
The 340A (newer replacement for the models 335/340) is the industrial/commercial version of the 3600/4600 ag tractors - basically a 3600 engine (175-ci 3-cylinder diesel) and 4600 transmission (6+4 manual-reversing) and rear axle on a much heavier chassis, with a model 745 heavy-duty loader running off of a front engine-driven hydraulic pump. It also has a 3-point hitch with draft control, and a live 540 RPM PTO. These industrial tractors/skip loaders were marketed toward contractors and landscapers back in the 70's and 80's before skid steers and compact tractors had become the norm for commercial use. Many of them were offered with a loader and a backhoe, but the "skip loader" specifically is a tractor-loader with NO backhoe. Skip loaders were often used for commercial land clearing, grading, tilling, and loading trucks - a more modern example would be a New Holland U80C, Case 570N, or John Deere 210L, but in this day and age I think most landscapers or construction fleets are using skid steers to do the same work. These older Ford industrials are still commonly found on farms and ranches and many of them are still being run hard.
Despite the high hours on the tractor (original meter quit at 6000 and who knows how many hours have been put on it since then), I have not had to do much work to it since I picked it up - it has needed a few maintenance items (battery, filters, fluids, grease), and I also removed the ROPS to allow enough clearance to fit under the garage bay doors. I had a local Amish fabrication shop make some 1-1/2" steel spacer plates to reattach the loader frame and fenders to the rear axles after I had removed the ROPS. I believe the original engine may have been replaced with a blue engine from an ag tractor. The machine definitely shows some signs of wear, as the steering components are worn and several hinge pins on the loader need replaced. The hand and foot throttle controls are also sloppy. But the tractor always starts up instantly, no matter how long it's been sitting, or how cold it is outside. I've never had to plug it in or use any kind of starting aid - the old 3-cylinder engine is ALWAYS ready to go to work. I've lifted plenty of heavy loads with it and the loader (despite its cracked and re-welded frame) doesn't break a sweat.
This tractor is definitely rough around the edges, but it works good enough for what I need and has saved me a lot of headaches with the 60 project so far. It should last many years while I get the 60 and 4000 projects done here, and with any luck hopefully I'll be able to bring it along with me when I settle down on a larger piece of property somewhere. I think everyone should own an old Ford tractor for doing their chores - these tractors will outlast us.