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Ludington/Manistee MI area | Will be looking at a couple articulated tractors later this week. One has a 903 the other has a 855. What is better? I remember hearing a little bit of dislike on 903 how bad are they? The tractor with the 903 sounds like it might be in better shape and the current owner seems to be one to maintain equipment. The tractor that I end up with should only be getting 100- 150 hrs a year. |
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Minot ND | The thing is that cummins quit making the 903 long before the 855, parts are a lot harder to find and new is twice as expensive, i was going to put a 903 in a 5020, the cummins shop here throughs 903 in the iron box and replaces them with 855. |
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North End I-15 | 903 s were good engines. but the 855 s were better .
Seen lots of 903 s eat the cams . |
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| Got one, and a V8 Cummins sure sounds sweet, however have several 855, and as others have said, parts are a lot easier to find and pay for. Have to think that when a V8 goes, it's going to have to replaced with an 855. I would guess that that the V8 would be discounted. |
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| Good engines. But hard to find parts. The Bradly fighting tank has a 903 cummins. |
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Ohio | The 903 will be worth a lot less money , it is what it is. Buy the 903 at a discount and when it does go , swap over to 855. Keep clean antifreeze and clean oil in that 903 and treat it with a little respect, you probably will be amazed at how long it will last. When you go to sell tho, that discount will be even worse to you if the 903 is still in place.
Edited by OHKen 1/10/2012 08:39
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South central IL | My Brother works for Cummins. The 903 is considered obsolete. They don't make parts for them anymore. Water pumps and stuff like that are impossible to find. Like said the 855 is a much better engine. If you can buy it cheap remember that repairs will be expensive. |
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north central nebraska | i had a stieger with a 903 and really liked it . no trouble whatsoever. in the field you could be at an idle let the disk down and it would pull it. try that with an 8630, 40 , or 50 deere. |
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Sunburst Montana | Better yet try that with any 855. Our Versy 950 pulled like a locomotive and would out lug our Versy 976. |
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| dairy farmer - 1/1.------- Water pumps-------- impossible to find--------- repairs will be expensive.
True ....but could be found a couple years ago.... but they can be rebuilt ----reasonably. Hard to find the shop to do it but it can be done. |
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just a tish NE of central ND | I would skip the 903. There are fewer 903's and seem like those are the ones that were broke down around here alot. It seemed like in a truck they ran long time, in a tractor they didnt. Commonly known in my area for some reason as the ....... NINE -O- nothing engine......meaning you HAD a 903 and soon you have nothing left to show for it........(lots of versatiles here that had them and were prone to less life than the 855's in my opinion.).just my opinion though.... |
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| Just did an inframe OH on mine last spring.
With the kit from FP diesel, and the machine work to the heads, all new valves, (32 of them) It came to about 4000$
Ended up using wrist pin bushings from a 855, and had them turned down to fit. (not included in kit)
My machinist had no 'problems' working on the ol girl.
I picked up a salvage 'parts' 903 from a burned tractor for $800. Might come in handy in future.
I needed a couple of small parts to finish this project. I had no problem getting parts from Cummins. They are pricey. Very.
I had 2 suspect looking rod bolts. Those were almost $100 buck each, (with nut and lock plate)
I too expect to put about 200 hours or less on this Massey 4880 per year, and if I can get 3000-5000 hours on this rebuild, I'll be retired or dead.
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| My dad farmed with a Versy that had an 855 from 1979 until he quit farming in 1999 Neighbors had a 903 that they purchased in the late 70's also. We wouldn't have traded for that 903 for anything. Neighbors got rid of it too after a few years, just a pain. |
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Finley, ND | ^Not trying to call you out or anything, but I had a 4880 Massey that was on 7800 hours that I sold last spring...nothing but overhead ran. Yes, it was a neighbors, he bought it new, and I bought it from him, but that ol' 903 was as sweet sounding engine and made good power. I was always told to warm it up for an extra 5-10 minutes every morning and let it cool off good when done for the night.
I didn't sell the tractor because I was afraid of the engine, the transmission developed a little extra grind that I didn't like. Got more than I paid out of it.
I'd always been told a 903 in a tractor was a pretty good engine, the 903 in an OTR truck was where the nine-oh-nothin' name came from...but I may be wrong.
So...for the right price, I'd have another 903. Preferably in a Massey, that partial powershift tranny was pretty nice. |
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North west MN | I think the Nine O Nothing came from the parts Dept. Cummings new didn't want to keep the engine and update it so stopped making parts for them. So when you went to the parts store the parts man said Nine O Nothing! There are some after markets parts available now. I have ran the 903's for years and they are good engines Had one in a 950 versatile and the radiator sprung a leak so rented a 976 versatile for a week while fixing and to tell you the truth the 950 with the 903 had more power than the 976 and could not wait to get the 950 back |
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Finley, ND | Yeah, my 4880 had more power than my 936 does too, I had the pump set at 360 on my 936 and they're comparable. Don't know if PO had fiddled with the pump on the 4880, but that was a nice old tractor. If it had had a PTO on it, it would've had the tranny rebuilt and would be a perfect grain cart tractor for not much $$. |
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| My brother had a VT 903 Cummins (320hp) in a 1974 Pete cabover. Lot of power in the day when gross wt was 73280. Neighbors had a Massey 4840 with a 903 & got along good with it. Was a good engine for the era it was born. 6 cylinders took over now. |
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Chillicothe, Missouri | we have a 903 in our 900 Versi, it has been really good, we serviced it, and checked all the over-head when we got it, Has been Great! turns 320 horsepower even non-turbo for the Ag field.
Trucks with varrying load caused them some problems, and not being lots in use today, makes their parts expensive! but ours is still working great and is very dependable!
Edited by detroitdiesel 1/10/2012 15:53
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Southeast North Dakota | I've had a lot of 903's on my farm, probably 7 of them over the years, and if taken care of they have big power and run cheaper than any of the 855's. I know this from experience, a 950 I had burned 14 gallons per hour at 350 HP and my 945 is set around the same HP and it'll take 16-17 gallons per hour under the same load. Also, the 903 will out-start an 855 also. I run mostly 855's now but I will NEVER discount a good-running 903. If you're going to pull against one you better make sure whatever you're running is in good shape because the 903 will be right on your heels! Don't be afraid to buy it IF it's been taken care of. JMHO. |
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Brazilton KS | @ like 600 hp |
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Brazilton KS | With the engine still in service in Bradleys, there's no way I'm buying that parts are not available. |
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Brazilton KS | I've heard that one the other way around...that they were good engines in tractors but were less successful in trucks, mostly because of fuel economy and idling issues. |
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Eastern VA. No such thing as too many Magnums. | We had one in a Massey 4840. It was very good. It ran at pretty fast RPMs I thought, and it also didn't have as much low end torque as an inline 6. But it never gave trouble. My uncle still owns it, I guess it must have about 7500 hrs now?? I wouldn't buy one at this point, but it was fine for the time we had it. |
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Sunburst Montana | Might be some truth to that. I can't think of one single semi around here with the 903. Plenty of Versy 900/935/950s still going though. |
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| his one looks like it has decent tires
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=6161801...
I'll try and call you this morning |
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903 cummins vs 855 cummins
