looking for a wheel loader to load chicken manure into spreader (BBI) . I have come across an A64 and A66 within 70 miles. I know Ford stopped making wheel loaders back in mid 80's but if the price is low enough in relation to scrap value would you get one. Might load 1000 to 1200 ton a year with it . What are the specs on them. Any place online to get info on them? How about parts for trans and axles? Do they use same trans and axle as other brands. How reliable are the brakes, etc. thanks.
They would load your chicken manure, no worries at all, it really depends on what condition they are in, after all, they are old loaders now. The biggest problem with the brakes, is that the discs are in the centre of the axles and the seals can leak, then the brake oil goes into the diff. We did get around this for a while, by using the same oil in the brakes, as in the diff and draining the excess oil off. The engine is the basic Ford 401 and the transmissions are Allison and as far as I can remember, the axles were Ford. Parts would be very hard to get here, but if there were a lot of them in the US, some parts may still be available. A lot of operators here did not speak very favourably of the Fords, but I ran two for quite a few years and quite liked them. RnR.
Apparently height clearance isn't an issue? Sounds like a pretty good semi retirement job for an older machine, wear would be more from rusting away than any hard work. If it starts and runs right, I wouldn't worry too much about replacement parts on something like this. It's not like you're planning to run it 24/7 and rebuild it every couple years. This is all I could find, mostly more advice from RocksandRoses