Belarus 7000, are they really that bad?

Hi,never had anything to do with them,but they can't be all bad?






Cheers Bruce.

considering the floor height of the cab is 6ft ..id say he was in at least 8ft of water

Maybe he was fishing
Colin

Gday Norcoast,

With out re-alliterating the re-alliterated, I think its fair to say that should the occasion arise that you need spares, the chances of finding them for a (seemingly) faulty transmission or unique Russian 8 cylinder power plant that failed through harvest would be like trying to find spares for a NORD crawler that's stuck in the Dam trying to dig a hole before the rains...They may have been obtainable 'back in the day' but like most things all the good ones are now used up.
I guess it all boils down to if the tractor was put together Wed' morning or late Fri' arvo.
That's my opinion for what its worth
Regards SAR-350

should the occasion arise that you need spares, the chances of finding them for a (seemingly) faulty transmission or unique Russian 8 cylinder power plant

Based on my experience with Lada Nivas, I'd say chances would be quite good.
www.partsforbelarus.com/
Russians designed their gear to be maintained and repaired by the peasants, rather than taken in to the nearest workshop, which could be two days travel away.

Thanks for all the input from everyone, especially that Kondinin group report. Its amazing that a tractor with such a low reliabilty rating that 76% would buy one again.
The Belarus crossing the deep river in the youtube vid is the same as the one im looking at.

Since my first post I have been searching the net for a parts supplier. There are a few around for the newer models but for the 7000 and 7010 series I could only find one in Australia, Global Tractors, and most parts would have to be airfrieghted from Kirovets in Russia at great expense. Suprisingly, seeing as most where sold over here, the tractor wreckers in WA dont have any.

If any tractor dies during harvest time its a pain, a week or 2 down is bearable, but any longer its a problem.
I have been looking at a few John Deere 8430 articulated (the late 70's models, not the newer ones) and some MF1155's at least parts are available for them but getting harder to find.

For me the Belarus is still 'just' on the radar as it is in a lot better condition and newer (and the wife likes it) than the older JD's and MF's, the main criteria is that I need a Cat 3 TPL.

Unfortunately there are a lot of broad acre farmers around my area in dire straights due to lack of rain so there will be some upcoming clearance sales and probably some bargains to be had.

norcoast those reliabialty ratings dont really reflect true I think that most tractors in the book score quite low if it ever breaks done it scores against it sow AC packs up it scores against it so I wouldnt be to fussed about that and I would think it wouldnt cost much to get parts on airfreight as I get a lot of mine from the states and they still end up a whole heap cheaper and quicker than buying them here.
Paul

belarus ..isnt it the biggest tractor manufacturer in the world .. those big 7000 series were sold here and all over europe as well ..im sure there are spares

but any tractor that size i wouldnt want to be buying new tyres to often

I run similarly old MF with V8 Cummins 903. Issues for me with the V12 Russian were the lack of ROPS/usually expected Australian safety features, cost of and unusual size of tyres, general unavailability of dual tyre setup, oil leaks, parts availability and non English language support. Also consider the cost of freighting parts for these machines. Suggest that they are a good toy, or perhaps a backup machine, but definitely would not be my only tractor to use when income depends on it. That said, some swear by them and not at them.

Hey Norcoast.

Never run a Belarus nor ever been that fond of them but a friend of mine bought one (7000 i think) cheap many years ago that apparently had clutch issues. It only ended up being an operator issue and once the correct operation was understood he had years of good service out of it, reckoned it had great pulling power and was good on fuel.
There was one in a sale down here late last year also with a 903 powered Versatile and one of those 4 wheel steer Cases that a contractor had towing gas lines in WA or something. All were pretty tidy and brought under 8 grand.

Apart from that I will quote what I know and have proven works. We have run John Deere's since the seventies on farm and contracting and had excellent service. 8430, 8630, 8440 and 8450's. Our 8440 is up to 24,000hrs and only had the engine rebuilt at a tad under 17,000, nothing else! Both 8450's are over 18,000hrs.
These tractors continue to work and earn a living for us, even by modern standards they are good on fuel, comfortable, have excellent air con and seats and are rebuildable. Most parts are avail overnight out of Melbourne, the rest are ex USA. This gets done to the smallest nut and bolt.
Like anything there are good ones and bad, the older series suffer from electrolysis and liner issues if they have run wide duals on undulating ground. I have seen a number of 30 and 40 series around ten grand and under, the 50 series are the pick for comfort but they are sticking around 15 grand upwards depending on your budget.

I do have green blood, but am speaking from experience.

Good luck with your decision.