Buying a Massey-Ferguson 135 Diesel Tractor
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in House, Outdoors
We just bought a Massey-Ferguson 135 diesel tractor.
Love them or hate them, we’ve now got one; a little 1972 Massey-Fergusun 135 tractor is sitting in our yard.
Night has almost fallen and it’s dark outside, but Cameron is still puttering around outside–battling the mosquitoes at dusk–tinkering with our tractor.
The tractor context
Buying a tractor has been a long time coming. Mostly because of the snow.
When we were budgeting for our journey east, we didn’t think a tractor was a necessity. Sure, it’d be fun to have one, but we figured a little hand-pushed snowblower would do just fine.
We don’t like to splurge on non-necessities. But over these past winters we realized that either we needed a tractor or we needed to hire someone to clear the snow from our long driveway. Quite honestly, some days Cameron spent three hours clearing the driveway with our push-blower just so we could get out. Early on we knew a tractor was in our future.
And so the research began. What type of tractor should we buy? What would suit our purposes? How much should we spend? Cue one year of research on tractors, tractors, tractors…
The importance of research and not settling
Without research we would never have been able to do any of this. Cameron feels passionately about research and planning. Sure, luck plays a part in our successes, but we’ve spent countless hours planning, working, sacrificing and researching to get where we are today.
Cameron and I were recently discussing life dreams through the lens of sacrifice. We are living the dream, but we’ve worked really hard to get here. Every step we’ve taken has been calculated–especially when it comes to finances.
We take big decisions seriously, and we are apt to wait even when we really want to plunge. (But we do plunge eventually!)
And so it was with the tractor.
Back to the tractor story
After hours of research, Cameron deduced that a top tractor contender was a diesel Massey-Ferguson.
“It fits our budget, and it’s got a great reputation,” he said. “Parts are easy to find and cheap to buy. Perkins AD3 152 diesel. ‘Nuff said.”
And so Cameron decided that the Massey-Ferguson 135 was a top choice on the list of tractor contenders.
Over the past few months we looked at a number of other tractors, but none of them felt quite right.
Finally, one morning, we found out about a Massey-Ferguson 135 for sale here on Prince Edward Island. Within minutes we were racing out the door. (You’ve got to be quick when you’re buying used, you know.)
We hopped in the car and drove for three hours to arrive at the seller’s house.
Here’s Cameron investigating what I can now call our tractor at the seller’s house.
The tractor passed Cameron’s detailed inspection, during which he got down on the ground, asked pointed questions, and drove the tractor back and forth and around in circles. The horse looked on as if to say, “Make up your mind already, silly Human.”
Finally, a deal was struck and the tractor was ours!
The first day at home with a tractor in our possession was a little nutty.
Cameron picked up silly things in the bucket and moved them around the yard.
I drove the tractor around and around the house.
We got bitten by a lot of mosquitoes, but we didn’t care.
I hope the Massey-Ferguson 135 serves us well. We’re putting our faith in it (him? her?), and I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.
Here’s to holding out for what you want!
Vicki
Jun 4th, 2009
Congratulations! Who would have thought that you would be the proud parents of a massey-ferguson 135!! Grandpa V. would be very proud of you Cam! Can’t wait to try it out.
mom Marjorie
Jun 4th, 2009
Hi Cam and Laura-Jane Yes, as Vicki says, Congratulations!! Love your story and photos – and the horsey in the photo too!! How many hours did it take to drive the 1972 tractor from where you bought it (three hours by fast car = ? hours by tractor?!) That must have been an experience in itself!!
I look forward to your future tractor stories, and hope they are “success stories”!
Julie K.
Jun 4th, 2009
Congratulations! My husband was determined to get a tractor when we moved to our acreage and got a secondhand one from the 1950s! We won’t be able to take that when we move to PEI so thanks to all your and Camerons’ research we will know what to buy when we get there! I did feel bad for Cameron this winter when I saw how long your driveway is!
We get to PEI on the 21st for our 9 day vacation and hope to meet the both of you as we will eventually be neighbours!
Toni
Jun 4th, 2009
Congratulations!! This year should, hopefully, be much easier :-)
Freda
Jun 4th, 2009
Oh, what fun the two of you will have. Will have to keep eyes open for small wagon, garden attachment for turning over for your future large garden.
You will have great fun with your new toy!!
The house and yard looks fantastic.
You must give your tractor a name, one will come to you as you drive it.
Natalie
Jun 5th, 2009
Wow, that’s a beauty!! Hubby and I are lusting after tractors these days. But do consider getting a roll bar. I know you live in flatland, but tractors roll everywhere. You can retrofit these things with roll bars and I don’t think it’s terribly costly. Sure, some of the older farmers call you sissies, but most of the farmers around here, old or not, do have roll bars. Even our zero-turn mower has a roll bar.
Thus ends my safety lecture. Enjoy the new baby!
Vicki
Jun 5th, 2009
Good point Natalie. I have to agree with you, of course as a Mom you never stop worrying. Cam & Laura-Jane I must say your house looks great!
Natalie
Jun 5th, 2009
Oh and Laura-Jane, I told Gordon (hubby) to check out this post and he loved the tractor, then had this to say:
” I think Cameron is handier than me with things mechanical. And frankly with everything else.”
We’re both in awe of what gets done around your farm!!!
And yes, the house looks fantastic.
John Quimby
Jun 5th, 2009
Hey L J!
That’s fantastic! Great job!
You’ll find a million ways to use it too.
I’m so pleased for you and Cam.
I noticed you looked pretty happy in that photo on a tractor last year.
I think it foretold your destiny!
My family (Susan and the boys) will be home in a week!
shonna
Jun 5th, 2009
everything you say is true, true, true! as much as we feel the need to fill any void in our life, material or otherwise-ASAP, it is best to relax, and study the options first and make an educated decision. being patient is the way we get the better stuff in life…..jumping to the first thing that comes our way is a way to recieve a lot of headaches!
my grampie in nova scotia still uses his massey ferguson that he got in the 60’s. that thing is still rockin. perhaps you’ll still be rockin this tractor of yours 40yrs from now also!!!! congrats!
LJ
Jun 6th, 2009
Very Cool new toy! I’m almost jealous.
mom Marjorie
Jun 6th, 2009
bravo again, Cam and Laura-Jane! and it looks like a great help-mate for so many things!
thanks Natalie for pointing out the necessity for a ROLL BAR – I agree so heartily – especially to be ready for when the snow drifts come!!
How about the name Tootsie the Tractor!! (short for Tootsie no-Roll )
love, mom
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jun 6th, 2009
Darnit, I just wrote a long comment here about various random musings, and my computer ate it. I think I mashed on the enter button at an inappropriate moment.
Too bad, because what I was writing was quite deep, too, if I do say so myself.
I guess I was just saying that I’m a very busy girl these days. We are doing lots on the farm (when I say we I mostly mean Cameron, but you knew that, right?), and I am very busy with work. I work from home and it’s our own business, so it’s GREAT, but at the same time there are only so many hours in the day!
I was also saying that I love this Whimfield thing. Hmm. It’s not a thing, it’s a place. It’s a place where we get to talk about our favourite things. It’s a place where it’s safe to dream and muse.
I love to dream and muse. It’s the way to make things happen. I must make time for more of it.
I’m not really saying anything at all, here, am I??? That’s OK. It feels good to let my brain flow out through my fingers. When I write an official post here I try to stay focused and not let myself digress too much. But this, what I’m doing right this second, just letting words spill into this little box, feels so good. It’s my release. When I’m feeling sad or mad or confused or worried I just let it flow through my fingers. I’m not particularly any of these negative feelings right now. Right now I am wrapped in the warmth that is Whimfield to me.
Thanks for sharing it with me.
Michelle
Jun 6th, 2009
All I have to say about your lovely tractor is that I’m (we’re) so totally envious. My husband would be over the moon with a little tractor that could dig ditches and such. Maybe one day… a roto-tiller first, though. For our garden.
Speaking of gardens…. how’s yours coming along. Time for planting. :D
Naomi
Jun 7th, 2009
I love it!!!
Ali
Jun 7th, 2009
Hello Laura,
What started out as a single post on Ih8mud forum on the merits of a Webasto heater for you has now turned into a two hour blog reading for me! I’m suppose to be packing up the cruiser for a road trip and here I sit and read your entries. But, I had to stop at June ‘08 and fast forward to the current entry – seems you guys are doing well in your house.
This has been a great read and I’m happy to see that today’s twenty somethings don’t mind “sucking it up” and “going for it”. I’m very proud of you and Cam and wish you the best in your love palace!
I visited PEI couple of years ago while working at Moncton and thought that the island was a very unique place to live. It looks like you may have even used my company’s products during your reno – at least I hope so!
Anyway, I raise my glass to you both for a glorious and a harmonious future together.
Cheers.
Joe Smith
Jun 7th, 2009
You need a tractor! Especially a red and yellow one. We (Jesper, Gert (The wood troll) and myself used one this winter for hauling wood. The boys had bought several hundred thousand cubic metres of wood – trimmings from an oak forest – for firewood, and since I was staying at the farm on Klapskovvej I volunteered to assist.
The tractor had a budket on the back and we loaded this up with metre length lumps of oak which Gert then hauled off to the trailer attached to the car… It was cold and it had been snowing but they had to clear the wood by March so…
Anyway, while waiting for Gert to get back I was standing back to a tree imagining what it would be like to be a tree and waiting for them to get back for the next load when I had my transcendental experience. Yopu know that thing where you look up at the trees above your head and suddenly you are seeing the spaces between the gbrancjes and not the branches… like looking down/upm a well…
Yeah, yeah… Anyway, a tractor is a good idea.
I fancy cashing in some air miles sometime and visiting PEI… combne it with a visit to Mon’real maybe…
Anyroadup be friendly to the tractor…
and good luck, or as I am wont to say, don’t trade luck for skill!
Kim
Jun 7th, 2009
My husband will be green with envy when I show him your post. Are you getting a snow-blower, as well, or will you use the shovel to dig yourselves out?
Luckily our neighbors keep their tractor at our place on the condition hubby clears their driveway all weekend – I know I mentioned this before. Sweet deal until we can get our own.
But, it isn’t supposed to snow next winter here in PEI. Didn’t you hear?
:)
Kim
Jun 7th, 2009
Oops, it isn’t a shovel – it’s a derned bucket!
christy
Jun 7th, 2009
oh my gosh i’m so happy you got a tractor!! i remember when i started reading about your massive snowdrifts and thinking “that is why God made tractors; these people NEED ONE!”. so all i can say is FINALLLYYY!!! the tractor will help you “work like a fox and not like an ox” as nick would say.
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
warren
Jun 8th, 2009
They say a man never forgets his first tractor…I am sure it will serve you well…and provide lots of manly fun!
Paul
Jun 10th, 2009
I just finished reading your blog from start to finish. This is the first and only blog I’ve ever read. My wife found it on the PEIinfo blog, (which she reads daily) and showed it to me and I was hooked instantly.
My mother & I are from Quebec and my farther is from Abram Village, PEI, we immigrated to the US when I was 6 months old. I have been coming back to Canada all my life, visiting relatives on both sides or just vacationing. But, PEI is where my heart is at. To me, it is simply a magical place. Just wonderful people and a landscape like no other. I am just so happy for you two. Your story is right up there with Anne’s.
I thought we were coming to PEI this year to have a well and septic installed on our dirt, (we bought a modest lot in Union Corner a few years back) but now it looks like we won’t even get to see our dirt this year because I just got laid-off. It’s just a bump in our road, we will get around it, and as your dream is being realized, in time so will ours.
You mentioned something about the Cheese Lady Gouda, her stuff is great! Also, The PEI Preserve Company is about 5-10 miles away, their stuff is out of this world, and don’t leave there without having an ice cream. Cavendish and all stuff Anne is a tourist trap, but still needs to be done once. Same with The Bottle House in our neck of the island, just on a smaller scale. When we are on PEI we travel all over Prince and a lot of Queens by Harley, it’s the best riding I ever had, and I’ve done a lot.
In closing, we would like to wish you two the best of luck, it seems like you’re over the hump, and will be able to start enjoying the fruits of your labor soon. Thanks for sharing your story.
Paul & Sue
Vicki
Jun 11th, 2009
Remember Don? He lent you the cow truck to move your stuff to Victoria. I guess we can laugh about that move now eh? He always asks about you guys so I told him about your tractor purchase. He said tell them that their research paid off!! Good deal on the tractor. Any chance you might be in the market for a cow truck?
Mark
Jun 28th, 2009
Hi guys long time no speaka!
I guess I have been somewhat of a closet fan for a while and as you can very well imagine it would take something like the purchase of a tractor to bring me out! I’m glad to see you are doing well and can’t stop thinking about the amazing time Alison and I spent out there last summer.
Back to the tractor….a fine selection Cam! Growing up my family had both Massey 135 and 35s (older model) with the 3 cyl Perkins. What a great tractor; its simple and has the versatility of a small garden tractor with enough power to do some real damage. Life will be so much easier now, but I would recommend a blade on it for the snow. I don’t know how many times we had to pull ours out of drifts as loader seems like it likes to have a mind of its own in the snow:-). I remember ours never really liked the cold, frigid Victoria winters so you might have some fun (I guess nothing a little ether wouldn’t solve).
m
brenna
Jul 4th, 2009
can’t wait to drive it!
manon
Aug 3rd, 2011
hello
we are looking at a house on a dirtroad in riverdale so the road is not plauwed in the winter do you think we an do that
sorry fore my englich iam from holland
this is going to be oure 4 winter so we know
but a dirt road can you help us thanks manon
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Aug 5th, 2011
Hi Manon,
My first piece of advice is to not live on an unplowed dirt road in winter :) But I am sure some people do it, although I am very very glad that are not in that situation because we have enough problems getting out of our own driveway!
I would definitely talk to the neighbours around the house. Are there any others living in that area who will be living there in winter? Try to knock on their doors and ask.
My recommendation would be to not buy the house unless you hear otherwise from neighbours :(