"This is a good tractor for me. The only thing is that the hydraulic couplings leak, but a $35 kit fixed that. "

"Been a great tractor over the years, under powered motor is partially responsible for it,s toughness!"

"This has been a great trouble free tractor. The hardest chore for it is mowing with a 10 foot pull mower on a very hilly farm. Although I'd love to have more horsepower I would be afraid to trade this tractor off."

"This model built from 1976-1982, 3 cyl-diesel, 50 hp, approx. 4500 lb., mine is 2WD,with front end loader, manual gearbox 4 spd. with high-low range. I love my JD: just the right size, heavy enough to move dirt yet not clumsy or awkward. Handles 6 ft. box blade & brush-hog easily. Engine starts well even in cold weather, loader & 3 pt work great, with good visibility. Uses considerably less fuel than gas model. Also stronger than gas model. "

"Overall it has been a good tractor. The only thing that I had trouble with early on was the hydraulic oil overheating. I added a transmission oil cooler and that solved the problem. I have had the hydraulic lift rebuilt once and one of the cylinder sleeves got a hole in it and was replaced. This is the only problems that I have had in 31 years of use. It now has 3762 hours on the odometer."

"Take it in the woods and bush hog 30 acres with it. It's a tough old tractor. Would love to have a 4 wheel drive one."

"We bought this tractor new in 1976. It has been a very good tractor all around. The engine and injector pump was rebuilt at around 7000 hours. 1 clutch and the brakes relined once. I wish I could buy a new one just like it today. Only thing I would do different would be to get the hi-lo shift. We did change rear tires from 14.9x28 to 16.9x28. It wanted to spin from one end of the field to the other with the smaller tires."

"The fuel return line from the injection pump to the fuel tank slipped off before at the tank fuel neck a few years ago. Fuel sprayed and got sucked into the air filter and engine. I was bush-hogging at the time and the engine began to knock (ping). Not knowing what had happened, I stopped (throttle to off) and when I put the transmission into neutral, the engine "ran away"! It stopped by itself after a burst of high RPM and I towed the tractor to the barn. Re-connecting the fuel return line at the tank solved the problem and the tractor worked normally for years until recently, when my son-in-law bush-hogged with it. He paid no attention to the pinging and kept going until the the engine started to make loud banging noises internally and quit. He told me what happened and I immediately suspected the fuel return line having disconnected. We checked and sure enough it had. I tried to start the engine again and it did without a problem and I could hear the loud banging myself. I suspected a damaged piston and "thrown" connecting rod. The tractor was taken to our local John Deere dealer. There the cylinder head was pulled off and a bent push rod was discovered. Everything else was serviceable, even the cam shaft with only some end parts having to be replaced. The engine was "buttoned up" again and has been running perfectly, same as always. It starts right up on the first try, with the throttle set around 1,000 RPM. The lesson learned was that if a tractor engine starts to "knock", push the throttle to low power right away and try to stop the engine that way. Hit the brakes if you have to to stop the tractor from continuing to move. DO NOT push down on the clutch! This only disengages the engine and allows it to run away. It gets fuel from some source other than the fuel injection pump. The cost of the repair, including towing, was less than $1,750 Otherwise, it's an amazing little 50 HP three cylinder Diesel engine. The tractor was built in Mannheim, Germany, that may have something to do with it. :-)"

"Great utility tractor for haying, loader work (feed round bales and do everything else) 4wd has been invaluable when I go into the woods to haul logs. with the addition of a home made canopy and a loader made in a local welding shop, I have used this with satisfaction almost every day since I bought it many years ago. I raise beef and sell beef and hay"

"I got this tractor with a 145 loader on it 10 years ago, mainly to grade my 1/4 mile long, uphill driveway. I added a Woods 7 ft. rear blade and it has worked well for the driveway, as well as site work for a pole barn, building a second 1/4 mile driveway on a new property, and various other lifting & moving chores. I also used it as the hydraulic source for an old (and huge) log splitter. I only gave it 3 stars for features because I really would like 4WD with a Hydrostatic transmission, but that's just not what I bought (I didn't pay a 4WD HST price either)."