Looking at an old 1845B for general purpose work around the homestead. Wouldn't be doing a ton of hours a year, mostly round bale handling short distances, general dirt work, etc. It's got aux hydros and I wouldn't say no to attachments down the road. Anything in particular to be worried about or to look at when I go kick the tires? I'd have to check so see if it's got a standard SSQA, at that age I'm guessing not. I know the 1845C is an absolutely legendary machine, not as sure about the B. Also potentially interested in a NH LS160. Newer, has a standard SSQA. Roughly the same ballpark price. Definitely more rusty and used hard. Anything I should know in particular about this machine? Thanks for your time!
Keep looking out of the 2 Id go for the farmer special (newholland) as I absolutely hate case style controls. But if it's a rust bucket you are probably best forgetting that one
We had a 2002 New Holland LS160 that we used for 17 year on our small farm primarily for snow removal and round bale handling. The LS160 had an Operating Load Capacity of 1500 lbs (manufacturer rating) / 1750 lbs (SAE rating). Handling a 1200 lb round bale on the flat was relatively easy and it could handle a 1500 lb bale (again ... on flat ground) if you were extra careful but it was pretty tippy. But going down a hill was another story and the LS160 became tippy even with a 1200 lb bale. A few years ago, we upgraded from the open cab LS160 to an enclosed cab CAT 242B which has a rated lift capacity of 2000 lbs. We moved 1550 lb round bales with it this year and really noticed the increased safety margin with this size of bale. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish that I would have bought a 2000 lb rated lift capacity skid steer 20 years ago for handling round bales and for snow removal. For the size of rounds that we handle (1200 to 1550 lbs), the LS160 was too small of skid steer from a safety and performance perspective.