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| Hi I have been looking at some of the old international tractors and came across a 1486 with 3500 hours. Just wanted to know if they were good reliable tractors or not so much.
Thanks |
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| torque amplifier was the weakest part of the unit |
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west central illinois | I grew up on one and the one thing that sticks out the most was the shifting linkages were troublesome.
You could lock it in between gears sometimes if you weren't careful.
There were updates but didnt seem to help much.
Edited by emtbd1979 9/19/2013 17:53
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Gods Country (That we took from the Indians) WC IA | Ambroze - 9/19/2013 16:31
Hi I have been looking at some of the old international tractors and came across a 1486 with 3500 hours. Just wanted to let you know they were not reliable tractors.
Thanks
Fixed that for ya......
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north central NE | Cheap horsepower, parts are readily available, sounds like low hours, especially if it's got a mechanical tach. But I'd stay away from the late model red stripe ones with the closed center hydraulics, the pump is not available new, only rebuilt. |
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Tuscola, IL | They are pretty reliable old tractors. The thing they have really going for them is they are extremely simple. With the right tools, you could basically build one from the ground up. The torque is the weak link. More so in the higher horsepower tractors (14/15). You can change the clutch out in little more than a few hours. Replacing the torque is a little more involved but not a terrible job. The engine is very simple. The PTO is a little light for the tractor if doing heavy PTO work but they are just as simple as the rest of the tractor. The cab is small, and somewhat loud, but it's not the worst thing I've ever sat in. You'll want to keep the T/A and clutch adjusted to prolong the life. Radial tires and excess weight are hard on them as the rear end isn't overly stout. All in all, if not abused, it would make a decent tractor and most of them are priced right. |
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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | They have good engines in them. That is about the extent of the good. Well, that and they are cheap, but like most cheap things, there is a reason. Of course, now that I've said how good the engines are I have one that is knocking and smoking...
The bad, they ride rough in worked fields. The transmission controls are on the wrong side, and right in the way when your climbing in and out. Hydraulics are not much. TA is out or about to go out. Rear ends are weak. 3 pt is weak and sways. No powershift even available. Just four gears and two ranges that grind in every slot. The doors open backwards, but that has never really bothered me.
Now before anyone gets upset for insulting their favorite red tractor, I own a couple. I've had several in the past. We use them to pull small balers with, mostly due to the cheap part mentioned above. They are also fuel efficient compared to a Deere of that vintage. We don't work them, just have to grind them into one gear and idle around a hay field, maybe 100-200 hours a year or so. Work fine for that but I wouldn't want to have to farm much with one. |
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| Buy a 4440 (note my handle) (second note you will buy the 4440 with what you spend on the 1486 TA) |
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Manila, Ar | A friend of mine says its the worst tractor he ever owned...........:( |
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Wallis, TX | Buddy had one, put almost 10K on it. One engine, it had the injection pump start overfueling. Hired hand on tractor just kept finding a higher gear to pull the disk. 2-3 TA's/clutchs in it, not a bad job if you have or make a stand to split the tractor into three pieces. Trans once, park pawl dropped down and hired hand put it in low, dumped the clutch breaking a tooth on a gear. Controls/cab/seat/ride were great if you came from a 2 cylinder JD like I did. Not so stellar if you compare to a new $300K tractor. With all that, I'd still take a 4640 over a 1486, and yes it would take a 4640 to keep up with one. |
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| I would have to agree with your friend. The 66 & 86 series tractors were some of the worst made. I owned two 1066s, a 1086, & a 1486, all bought new or low houred. Repairs on those tractors about forced me to quit farming. There will never be another one on this farm as long as I'm alive. |
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Crawfordsville, Arkansas | earp - 9/19/2013 18:33
A friend of mine says its the worst tractor he ever owned...........:(
No, the 1586 was the worst!
3500 hours is because it was broke down or no one wanted to drive the rough riding pile. Probably a combo of both. |
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Walnut Grove MN USA | Lots of mechanics can tear them down and rebuild without cracking open a service manual because, well, they have done a lot of them. |
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KY | mike in sw mn - 9/19/2013 20:45
Lots of mechanics can tear them down and rebuild without cracking open a service manual because, well, they have done a lot of them.
And that same thing holds true for 4440's!!! Lol I love how every time someone asks about an 86 series that it just turns into a bashing thread. They are good tractors and if a person doesn't like them then they can buy something else. |
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Jonesville/White Creek, IN | I've got two 1486s and one 986. They are decent tractors. They are no comparison to anything newer than they are, but they are better than about anything before them too. (Note I said about)
A lot of them did not receive the care in the 80's that they should have so you find a lot of them in below avg shape.
If its priced right and you aren't afraid of turning a wrench, they make a good tractor for a small farmer.
I've got less than the price of one 4440 in all three of mine total, and I can get a lot more done (with help) in my limited farming time...
Just my two cents - they are most definitely not NAT approved.
Edited by Red Lightning 9/19/2013 21:09
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Woodstock,New Brunswick.Canada | I am always amazed that anybody could call these tractors GOOD in any form of the word.I had a 1566 for a short time that cost me more money than my other 4 tractors combined and would raise my blood pressure every time I had to run that POS.I would not wish those tractors on my worst enemy. |
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west central Iowa | I've been running a 1486 since it was new. Don't know how many hours (digital tach), but I imagine it is well over 10,000 if not 15000. It is still main tillage, silage chopping, baling, and grain hauling tractor. It has been overhauled once, ta once, and 2 clutches. Total cost of repairs in 33 years probably less than $10000. If you do a little maintemnace on the shift linkage and cab mounts and have a little sense they are not that hard to shift, better yet if you eliminate the torque. I would rather get in and out thru the backwards door(s) than crawl in a soundguard cab and at least I can see when I get in an 86 cab. My neighbor that had a 4240 had to get rid of it because afford the repair bills. |
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Crawfordsville, Arkansas | EquipmentUser - 9/19/2013 19:56
mike in sw mn - 9/19/2013 20:45
Lots of mechanics can tear them down and rebuild without cracking open a service manual because, well, they have done a lot of them.
They are good tractors and if a person doesn't like them then they can buy something else.
We did. Everyone else here did also. 86 series IH's sold more green tractors and reds been playing catch up here ever since.
66 series had and still has a good following. 88 series were good too. Shoulda skipped right over the 86 though. |
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candor ny | I agree have a 986 and 1086 and put about 500 hrs each on both this year. They are cheap and easy to fix shifting does suck doors aren't that bad. Have yet to put a ta in one. Done motors in both. Cheap hp. Controls are all spread out but I guess you get used to it. |
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RINGWOOD, IL | I also have a 986 and 1486 have had great service from both and I do also think the cabs are much better than jds soundguard cabs, just a note a clean 1486 just sold by me for over $20000. |
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Saronville NE | Personally there never was such a thing as a good 86 series. You needed 3 hands to run the controls, the doors are a$$ backwards and a PIA to get in and out of. Only good thing, is they had a good roadgear to em, and would pull like no other, but comfort and ease of operation they are far from it, personally I think that is the only reason they had to go out of business, if would had a good cab and a better layed out cab and maybe a PS, they would still be in business. |
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SE Minnesota | We've always been green, (except dad had a 1466 back in the '80s that he still cusses in his sleep) but neighbor I've helped out since I was a little kid has several '86 series tractors and an 806. They have been pretty darn reliable for him, (especially that 806) although he bought them new or close to it and has excellent maintenance schedules. I think that no matter what brand you have, if someone can produce service records or prior work receipts, it is always a plus. |
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Texas/New Mexico Stateline | I guess I have lower standards than most, but we have had very, very good service from our 1086. Yeah the stupid engineer that designed those doors should have been made to climb in and out of the cab 500 times a day for a couple weeks. Especially when it is windy so the wind will slam it into your back when you are about halfway in.
I think this one has had a clutch and TA once, but it has been so long ago I'm not sure when my granddad did it. Starts WITHOUT ether when it is 10 degrees outside. I am not kidding, We don't even have the ether injector hooked up. No block heater. Try that with a JD from that era. Burns about 1/4 less fuel doing the same job too.
A little hard to shift, but you get the hang of it if you are patient. It helps to have the range in N when you are changing 1-2-3-4, then put the range back in high or low or R.
I had a sleeve cavitate last year, and decided to go ahead and spend the money and put an in-frame kit in it. Took about 3 days, working 4-5hrs a day. Didn't even take the radiator out. Just pulled the head with the injectors in. So far so good 50 hrs later. Never used oil before, using a little now, but hoping it will slow as it breaks in.
It had been overhauled once before when it got a leak in the rubber hose on the air cleaner. Dusted it, and granddad had to do a 100% out of frame overhaul, new cam, ground crank, valve guides, so that stuff has been changed once, and I knew it was ok.
This tractor is just too reliable and efficient to scrap it. It has just a hair under 10k hrs.
No they ain't perfect, but this one has really earned it's keep on this farm.
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Michigan - Saginaw County | 1086 our first working tractor. Ya, every bad point mentioned exists.
But it plows, it rips, it discs, it starts every time all the time.
It takes our new 4640 to keep up with it.
For the money I have in it, no othrt tractor can touch it. |
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RINGWOOD, IL | And you 4440 will be half the tractor power wise.
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NNW Nebraska | My main feed / loader tractor is a 1086. I do have the door so that it can swing around to my loader arm, but it is WAY easier to climb into and several steps less than climbing into my jd4650.
I sure can not complain about problems with my 1086 and don,t have any idea how many hours it has on it, but I am sure it passed 10k hours years ago. Clutch may be not the best if you got some clown running it that thinks you need full throttle doing loader work and slip it like a torque converter in a 4wd loader, however I get several years out of a clutch and that includes loading out 600 to 800 ton of silage a year as well as handling maybe 2000 big bales and hauling dirt. I did replace the front spindles with some off of a 1370 case because of all the loader work I do with it, I did have front spindle trouble, but Jd had weaker front spindles.
There is fairly simple fix to the slop in the shift linkage as things get worn. Did have trouble with the spring on the detentes in the top of the transmission breaking and replaced that spring with one with smaller wire & about twice as many coils about the same diameter. Have never replaced another spring and it makes shifting easier.
I am a big guy and I find the sound guard cab very small and harder to enter / exit after spending years in the 1086. No room to put hardly even a water jug in the sound guard.
I think that if IH would have put in a synchronized transmission or possibly a power shift back in the 66 series days, they would have outsold JD. That said, I have neighbors that have spent more on their JD repairs than I have spent buying my 1086 and all the parts I have put in it and that includes a engine overhaul.
I have heard that the 14s had a lot of rear end trouble if you were pulling the guts out of them, but I have a 1466 that I bought used and used for a few years as my main tillage tractor. I knew it needed a overhaul, but never got it done and developed a knock. Still in the process of installing a different engine. I never put a ta or rear end in it. I did replace the clutch once.
I pull the same equipment now with my 4650 and don't know as I am going much faster.
The best part of the 1086 for loader tractor work is how well they start in cold weather. and no, I don't mind the shifting doing loader work with mine. It may not be as great as a shiny new tractor would be for loader work, but what I have in mine wouldn't make a down payment on a new shiny paint model! Having the shifter on one side and the hydraulics on the other side is a plus for loader work. |
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International 1486 good/bad/ugly???
