160 versatile bi directional

[herk]

Hello I have a chance to buy a 160 versatile , I would like it for feeding cattle and moving round bales . What will the loader lift safely ?? I thought that I heard that they had weak axels ?? Are the engines any good I believe the 160 ran a Waukesha the 150 ran a Perkins. thanks Bryan

 

[wore out]

(quoted from post at 17:03:20 07/25/22) Hello I have a chance to buy a 160 versatile , I would like it for feeding cattle and moving round bales . What will the loader lift safely ?? I thought that I heard that they had weak axels ?? Are the engines any good I believe the 160 ran a Waukesha the 150 ran a Perkins. thanks Bryan

I'm a Versatile fan, and have owned a number of them over the years, but never a 160.

That being said, the newest 160 is 39 years old, and 10 years ago my son was working at a NH dealership and parts availability was iffy already then for the older bidirectionals.

One issue they had was if you were mowing, raking, baling, etc. on the inslope of a road (as an example) with the tractor operating at an angle the gear oil in the outboard axle gearboxes could transfer through the differential area to the low side starving the high side for lube.

At that time, already, some of final drive/axle parts were no longer available and the dealership was getting parts, IIRC, from a salvage yard in Brandon, MB.

As to the loader, I think they were pretty good and sturdy.

Tractordata has info on the loader.

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/3/3/1333-versatile-160-attachments.html