3 ms·

Nice, I wish such old service manuals were more freely available for other equipment too. Car ones are generally easy to find, but for some like certain tractor

Nice, I wish such old service manuals were more freely available for other equipment too. Car ones are generally easy to find, but for some like certain tractors, despite being over 50 years old, aren't freely available and require paying like $120 for a loose leaf copy. A friend of mine bought a Case 830 gas tractor that stalled out randomly while driving it home and it refused to start again, and another friend came over and tried to "help" by randomly turning all the carb adjustment screws. I thought I could just look up the manual online to reset them properly since it was old as shit and half the people who ever bought them also got manuals for them. Figured it would put us in a good position to diagnose the original problem at that point. But no you gotta pay an extortionate amount for some company to print off a loose paper copy, a free copy of the digital file for printing it was nowhere to be found.

jethro_tell 3y ago
huh, I've never had a problem finding online manuals. Usually $20 ish dollars which I feel is fare for someone to go and find the manual and digitize it. I usually have better luck searching for parts manuals or shop manuals which is what you really want anyways. I basically buy the manual before I'll buy anything, other than the family daily driver which is the only machine i own that I don't work on. I know I have a couple case shop manuals and I own a couple old case machines, never had an issue pulling manuals and wiring diagrams for them.
- doubleg72 3y ago
  That's been my experience as well, not much I can't find online with a little digging.
- fargle 3y ago
  > Usually $20 ish yup. $29 here: https://farmmanualsfast.com/products/case-730-830-and-930-series-tractors-service-manual https://farmmanualsfast.com/products/case-730-830-and-930-se.... There's also ebay, steiner, and of course yt. And if the same or similar model was ever used by the military, and awful lot of those mil manual are available free. $20-ish dollars for a well written 800 page manual is worth well worth it for stuff like this. old tractors are simpler, 100% hardware, but not really ever easy to work on. i wish it was free, but it's way better than a > $100 paper copy. i think there's just not enough people needing and sharing these to create a market that competes with the $20-ish price point.
bombcar 3y ago
Often you can find something by finding the right forum that quietly shares files.
NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
The old JD manuals are the same, and I can't tell if it's opportunists who just managed to snag a paper manual off ebay and scan it, or if it's some policy of the manufacturer. It's a pain in the ass. I keep thinking there might be copies on some private torrent tracker, but I wouldn't even know which.

jethro_tell 3y ago

huh, I've never had a problem finding online manuals. Usually $20 ish dollars which I feel is fare for someone to go and find the manual and digitize it. I usually have better luck searching for parts manuals or shop manuals which is what you really want anyways. I basically buy the manual before I'll buy anything, other than the family daily driver which is the only machine i own that I don't work on. I know I have a couple case shop manuals and I own a couple old case machines, never had an issue pulling manuals and wiring diagrams for them.

doubleg72 3y ago
That's been my experience as well, not much I can't find online with a little digging.
fargle 3y ago
> Usually $20 ish yup. $29 here: https://farmmanualsfast.com/products/case-730-830-and-930-series-tractors-service-manual https://farmmanualsfast.com/products/case-730-830-and-930-se.... There's also ebay, steiner, and of course yt. And if the same or similar model was ever used by the military, and awful lot of those mil manual are available free. $20-ish dollars for a well written 800 page manual is worth well worth it for stuff like this. old tractors are simpler, 100% hardware, but not really ever easy to work on. i wish it was free, but it's way better than a > $100 paper copy. i think there's just not enough people needing and sharing these to create a market that competes with the $20-ish price point.

bombcar 3y ago

Often you can find something by finding the right forum that quietly shares files.

NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago

The old JD manuals are the same, and I can't tell if it's opportunists who just managed to snag a paper manual off ebay and scan it, or if it's some policy of the manufacturer. It's a pain in the ass. I keep thinking there might be copies on some private torrent tracker, but I wouldn't even know which.