I am going to look at an International 560 tonight. Just curious what these things run for price? This tractor will actually be cheaper then my Super M was so I am a bit leary.

He said that it has a new head gasket last year. He did it himself and he said he looked down the cylinders when he had the head off and could not see any scoring. It has a DUAL loader on it (he wasn't sure of the model #). It has 3 point setup, 2 remote hydraulics, TA, and a rebuilt fuel pump at the end of last year.

He said that it smokes a little when you first start it otherwise it runs good. It has a slight oil seepage he said. He said the tractor really was never used. Been in the family for 18 years and all it ever got used for was to clean out pens and push snow. He said that the TA works, but they really never used it.

What would you expect to pay for something like this? He wants 3400 which I think is a little cheap so I am afraid of what else is wrong. Is there anything else I should be looking at on this model? I will test the TA and the PTO this evening as well as clutch. Is there any known weak points on the 560's?

Found out why so low on the price. That tractor has seen better days! The Dual loader was nice. First one I have seen in a long time that still had the original tank holding oil! The bucket, however, left something to be desired.

Tractor started, but with a VERY long hold on the glow plugs. (Ambient temps around 54 degrees)

It puffed some black on startup, but it also had some white puffs in there as well. She idled a little rough for a few minutes, but then smoothed out and purred. Tractor hydraulics ran the 3 point and the 2 remote hydraulics. Then there was another 3 controls for the loader (1 not being used) and that was all ran off a pump on the PTO. This I dislike because I use the PTO and would hate to turn off my implement and loose my loader.

Crawled on and cracked the throttle. Decent response. Put it in gear and got rolling. Cracked throttle again. Okay response, but notice now that it seems almost like it is missing from time to time. Afraid to open it wide open because it seems like the higher it revs, the worse it runs!

I hit high gear and am going about 10 MPH. Hmmmmmm........TA works? I grab the lever and pull. Lever pulls, NO change in speed whatsoever. TA does NOT work! Clutch pedal also had to be released almost all the way out to engage the clutch. The brakes grab on the right side and won't release until you let the tractor roll back a bit. I'm thinking the shoes are shot or else it has a crap load of gear lube in there.

Front tires are bald and weather checked. Rear tires are about 15% tread left and weather checked pretty good as well. I'm thinking that the 560 can stay at his place for $3400.

Those were good tractors and can take abuse. I wouldnt mind having one myself. Sounds like its in bad shape. I see alot of them in the $4-5k range but they are a decent tractor. Sounds like this one is in bad shape. If I was you I would toss him a offer unless you dont need a project. I wouldnt go over $2k on it. Get his phone # wait a month or 2 and call him and offer him something like 1800.

:D It's like you read my mind!

I don't NEED a tractor right at the moment. I do have my Super M which works great for the sickle mower and raking and even works well with the small idiot cube maker.

For the rounds we have my brother-in-law's 856 which does a very nice job on that baler.

It was rough. I figure that it will need valve work. While the head was off, he said the sleeves looked good. I believe him because the oil wasn't fresh (Didn't look like he JUST changed oil to cover something up) and I couldn't find signs of diesel or water in there. So I figure a good valve job, maybe injectors, and it should be good to roll again. The TA would be nice to have back, but I have heard that they are a nightmare to work on. Dad did one on an old 400 and said they had a hell of a time getting it back together.

I guess we'll see. :)

560 were good tractors but powertrain was the weak part in them IH recalled them back to the factory for Some Rear End/Trans updates. With that diesel powerplant i would tell ya to make sure glowplugs are hot. Also make sure you have a good water heater and plenty of battery power to heat the plugs and to crank her over. I have a 656D same engine just with M&W Turbo its cold blooded machine even had to glow plug it in 110 degree days. I would say if the TA/clutch are good to excellent its a good deal as far as loaders go if you have 2 valves on the tractor then plumb loader to those and forget about PTO pump. On my Tractors loaders were never a problem since we had the cultivator HYD outlets up front under fuel tank which we plumbed loader to

I never knew they had powertrain trouble, some friends have 2 of them and they cranked up the injection pumps and pull disks that are way to big for it and put them in the tractor pull and usualy win.

Ive never worked on a TA but heard its hard to get them working again and not cheap.

NOT CHEAP is right! Holy crap! Dad talked to a local IH dealer here. The last one they did was 5 years ago and back then it cost the guy $3200 to have them fix it! He said that you need to split the tractor in 3 areas to get at the TA on the 560. Doesn't sound like fun.

I think that I will leave this one to some other person with more ambition then I. :)

It seems like all Farmall/IH are cold blooded. My super M starts REALLY well even when cold, but you will do nothing with it until it has had a chance to warm up around 150*. My brother-in-law's 856 starts fine to (added ether for the really cold starts) but there again, you have a pretty long warm up period before it will do what you want it to. And then we have the 400 that doesn't want to start, and when you do get it started, wait on the warm up. (This might be because it is missing a cylinder though! :eek:)

NOT CHEAP is right! Holy crap! Dad talked to a local IH dealer here. The last one they did was 5 years ago and back then it cost the guy $3200 to have them fix it! He said that you need to split the tractor in 3 areas to get at the TA on the 560. Doesn't sound like fun.

I think that I will leave this one to some other person with more ambition then I. :)

It seems like all Farmall/IH are cold blooded. My super M starts REALLY well even when cold, but you will do nothing with it until it has had a chance to warm up around 150*. My brother-in-law's 856 starts fine to (added ether for the really cold starts) but there again, you have a pretty long warm up period before it will do what you want it to. And then we have the 400 that doesn't want to start, and when you do get it started, wait on the warm up. (This might be because it is missing a cylinder though! :eek:)

A 560 is a bigger tractor so it would probably really be fun. If its a narrow front now your into something. My IH 484 I split it last time in 15min. After the rebuild I found a nice oil leak so I had to split it. All I do it put wood blocks ontop of front axle so it doesnt pivot. Then hook up my engine crane to the back unbolt it and roll the front half away. My 484 is somewhat cold blooded. Its weaker when cold but not bad. My dads jd 5500 is the tractor for cold weather. I started it in like -17 with no block heater. Ran the plugs for about 30 sec cranked it, no start, another 30 sec, no start. cranked it again and put throttle to the floor and it let out a big black cloud and I was on my way. :D

reports of final drive failure begin to come in from the field, many occurring in the first 50 to100 hours of operation. The combined transmission/differential case and hydraulic fluid reservoir may have contributed to some of the final drive failures. Hydraulic fluid loss was common from hose couplings and cylinders, increasing the potential for reduced lubrication in the already under-designed final drive, unless the operator was diligent in maintaining the proper fluid level. As failure reports grew from a trickle to a flood, Harvester worked feverishly to find a solution. It wasn’t until January of 1959 that the first modification was announced to the field, but it proved ineffective in halting the failures. More field modifications followed in March and April but they too failed to solve the problem.


Finally, in June of 1959, Harvester announced a wholesale parts change that constituted almost a complete revision of the rear axle and differential unit. A $19 million field modification campaign was launched to incorporate the changes. The number of tractors needing modification overwhelmed IH dealerships, requiring separate regional “tent cities” to be set up. The combination of the original problem and the publicity of the rework campaign resulted in the defection of a large number of farmers to John Deere. 1958 turned out to be the year that Deere passed International Harvester in farm equipment sales. A quick look at 560 production numbers tells the story. Over 22,000 560s were built in 1959, but less than 6,000 in 1960. Although 560 production averaged around 10,000 for each year from 1961-1963, John Deere introduced their “New Generation” tractors in 1960, a new line including 6 cylinder models that attracted many buyers who might have purchased IH tractors with an untainted reputation.

Interesting, so '59 was the first year of the 560?

That is very interesting reading. Thanks for the info! So this final drive failure was only on the 560's or was it on all of the Harvester models?

I just want to know for my brother-in-law with the 856. We are usually very diligant on maintenance, but a heads up will make that even more diligant.

We don't use our tractors too hard. They live an easy life of baling hay. But we grease and check all fluids daily. (Grease depending on use. If we only used it for a few hours, grease is not applied but fluids are still checked.)

The other farm I help out on, we have the same maintenance schedule. The dealership still can't believe that our Versatile still has the original bushings on the pivot point. They told us that they had a huge issue with those original bushings and there is now an updated bushing that goes in there. Over 5,000 hours and our originals are still going. But we grease usually every 10 hours.

560 and some 460s had problems mainly cause of the HP upgrades since the trans was still basically same as your Ms trans. Then they came with the 06 then 56 series which is where the rest of the tractor caught up trans/rear end frame wise. Ih spent a lot of time and $$ to get away from the 560 mess. Believe it or not they even experimented with a GM Hydramatic Trans thats how bad they needed to get away from the 560 Still i would not shy away from them since most had problems fixed. IH did put some kind of Badge on rebuilt tractors i have never actually seen one that still had the badge left on it . no worry on that 856 used to farm with them still have a 856 with over 18,000 hours on it.

Thanks for all the info! I have learned a lot here! I do like the Farmall/IH. They are some tough tractors. And pulling fools! My SuperM just digs in and goes. But the wheel weights and fluid in the tires helps a lot with that!

Thanks again! I will keep an eye out for one of those badges as well.

Thanks again! I will keep an eye out for one of those badges as well.

I havent seen the friends of mine who have 2 560s in a while. Next time I stop over I'll ask about them. They have a 460 too, they would never admit any IH tractor ever had any problems though.:rolleyes:

Ya gotta break some eggs to make a kick@$$ omlet. :D

560's were and are good little tractors. Once the axles were upgraded, they could do a ton of work. The earlier post was correct in that the 460/560 had the same rear as the Super M, and it just wasn't up to the task of holding onto the diesel (should be a 282 - good motor). As far as the glowplugs, yes, they do take a very long time to heat up. My cousin's has often threatened that he will replace the push button glow plug switch with a toggel to save wear and tear on his thumb. Seems like he has to push it in forever. I believe the torque amp itself is $1500 or more, so with the labor to install the price you were quoted sounds about right.
The asking price for that tractor is a bit high, although around here the price for 560's has been going up the last 5-6 years due to tractor pulling. The last two times the Red Power Roundup was held in Bloomsburg, 560's did very well, and I think that has had a definite effect on the prices.

The 560 had the same rear as a super M? Thats just stupid, that 560 is way more tractor then a M, no wonder they had this happen.

As for a torque amplifier, I can get rebuilt ones all day long for $522. My catolog shows the same one for super MTA, 400, 450, 560.

I would check out Batescorp on TAs too also try caseih dealer sometimes they have them cheap too. Any true IH Buff will tell you that was the biggest nail in the coffen for the fall of IH was the 560 tractors costed so much to rebuild that they should have just came with a whole new model for what they spent to make the 560s right

Batescorp seem to be expensive as hell. But they have almost anything.

IH used that same rear end up through the 686 and after they came out with the updates for the 560 (I think it was mostly a bearing change) they really never had any more problems with them. We had a 560 diesel for a couple years and it was a good tractor but the original owners' son wanted to buy it so we sold it to him and bought a 656. It seemed like the 656s weren't much more money and they are alot nicer to run.

My father in law has a 560 diesel he wants to sell me, It is the wide front and in decent shape, problem is is blows oil out the exaust, he said a wide brim hat keeps the oil off your face.!!! he had a coolent leak into the oil a few years ago, A diesel shop pulled the head trued it up and reistalled it ,the coolent leak went away . But has blown oil out the exaust eversince,The oil actually runs off the tin on the side . Any Ideas, or input would be great. Thanks, Scott , in Minnesota