Recent threads about old tractors vs new tractors made me reach out to my dad and ask for a list of the tractors he and my grandfather had on our two farms when I was a little kid to teenager. He horse traded tractors from time to time so we didn't have all of these at the same time, normally only 3-4 at a time. Here is the list, some big, some small:

Ford 8N
Ford 641 Workmaster
Ford 5000 w/ front end loader (I used this one the most)
Ford 8000. I vividly recall my grandfather riding on just the rear wheels row after row pulling a 20" ripper chisel plow behind a big blue tracotr...so I'm assuming it was the 8000. I was little.

John Deere 4020
John Deere 4640
John Deere 5020

Oliver 1800
Oliver 1700

Case 930 Rice Style

International Harvester 706 w/ turbo (pre Case merger) My dad bought it after someone had modified it for a pull tractor. Stock was 75 HP but had a turbo charger and ended up 125 HP after pulling modifications, converted to propane because it was a gas hog.

We always had 2 fords and 2 big John deer tractors the best I can remember....other ones would come and go. My agricultural and farm boy past is far far in the rearview mirror now...anyone have any comments on this list or any of your old favorites?

Case 706 Pull Tractor for reference

I bought 2 allis chalmers b models and fixed them up and sold them with the help of my Paw Paw when I was 18. I wish I’d kept one of them. I bought them for $250 each with belly mowers and sold them for $1500 and $1800 each.

I have never been to a tractor pull....on my bucket list

I never have cared for old tractors. I like the modern comforts of the 4230 to 4430 series and above.

Well back in the late 60's through early 80s, some of those were fairly modern for the time. The first curse word I ever heard my papa say was when he got in the first a/c cabbed tractor he ever owned...."Why the hell didn't we do this sooner?!?"

We had a JD 50. Those things had a sound you will never forget. Late in the day hearing that think pop, pop, pop down in the bottoms. Brings back fond memories.

Old tractors can't compete on today's real working farm, just like a 71 Chevelle isn't a very good commute car today. But you have to admit, they have a certain Cool factor.

You ain't been to a tractor pull till you've been to an antique pull. Nothin' like the sound of a G John Deere counting them off pulling a sled. I've seen 730's out pull tractors with twice as much HP.

Also had a Farmall M, super C and Cub still have all those but only the Cub runs. IH 574, 706, two 1066's and a 1266. Two JD 4020's couple more can't remember. Still have one 1066 and a 4020. Still run great.

I'm with 257 on comfort and convenience of modern tractors.

That being said, I don't think I have ever seen another tractor as pretty as a 4020 John Deere. My uncle Charles, a HELL of a man, had his repainted, with new sheet metal where needed, and new decals, in the late 80's. He bought it new in 1969.

When deere launched the 30 series with the soundguard cab in the late 70’s they left IH in the dust and never looked back

JD left IH in the dust when they launched the 10 series in 1960.

If you ain't ever spent 16 hour days in the set of a cabless tractor you ain't farmed 😉

We have a Massey 1155 at the farm. Loud is an understatement. Big V8 diesel and ended up taking the big chrome pipe off and putting a muffler on.

I like open stations at times but it’s not summer time for sure.

Cat, think about those old boys spent daylight till dark on a tractor with a metal pan seat.

Now that's one I ain't done LOL

But I have killed many a rabbit off the cab roof of a combine or platform of a picker as well a tractor seat cutting stalks. Wonder I ain't dead or in jail. Weird looking down on that head pulling in beans holding on with one had and a shotgun on the other. LOL

Yep. Rope around my waist so I wouldn't fall in a chewed up dead...killed tons of rabbits.

Rope.... naw 😀

I cultivated or plowed cotton in the early 90’s on a 4230 open cab all summer. Makes you appreciate the cabs way more

Wus

There's a lot of history in the seat of this old Ford 860. Unfortunately I don't know that history as I only bought it a few years ago. I am getting a small dose of it though when I bushhog, scrape the driveway, or disk with it.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/GINKsX8.jpg?1[/img]

Well, the first time they let me I was 8 Rope probably a decent idea.

I'm with you on this those old tractors were sure enough work horses with very little creature comforts. But it's hard to beat a row laid off by a farmall with cultivision. There still a bunch of those tractors from the cub on up still being run all summer long around here. I have a 1964 model cub me and my brother use in the garden it was my grandpas he used in his garden. John deere improved the offset tractor with the 900hc and those tractors bring a gold brick

The bigger 40 series JD tracs are a definite step up from the 60's models,in more ways than one. They for sure require a bit more effort to climb on & off of, will make an old man sore after a day of it. But they are some good old tractors. Wouldn't trade one of em for 3 new models.

I still say in my opinion the 4560,4760,4960 were the best most user friendly and stout ones they made. The powershift made field work fun. The 4960 I ran was like a Cadillac

I like a powershift tractor, but ain't ever owned one. The 40 Trac we have running around here is quad range- will have to settle for the partial.

if I could buy a brand new Massey 265 4x4 identical to those from the late 70's id buy one tomorrow.

I wish I could buy a new Massey 135. That was my favorite tractor ever.

I like em all

Those old spring seats were tough on the behind and we usually had a pillow in it. Love to hear the old John Deeres run. My great uncle run a sawmill from an Farmall M with a belt. Used a Massey 135 but it's tough sitting on it. I think you can still get a new engine for those.

Growing up, we had a 6 acre piece of pasture down in a low area that was the hottest, sultriest part of our place. I was sent to mow it one September on a diesel MF35. I kept thinking the tractor sure seemed hotter than normal and that the engine smelled hot. Per the gage, it was running hot, but not too hot. On the way back up the hill to the barn, I passed the fan belt laying in the trail. Man, that old iron was tough.

I still have the 8N grandpa bought new in 1950. I bought another to use as a parts tractor. It runs too good to tear down. They're fun to tinker on, but I'll jump in the cab when it is time to do serious work.

my first tractor at 10yo on the farm...did a lot of bushogging and 2 row cultivating that year. took foreeeeever to get across those 100ac fields 2 rows at a time! mid-summer I finally got an umbrella and thought I had been upgraded to a canopy tractor...for few minutes, anyway.

dad said they bought it brand new in mid-60's when they came out and I started driving it in 1980. had a hole in the muffler right where it runs under your feet, and of course it was a gas burning smoker. still fired it up to mow around the shop up until the shop got hit by a tornado...shortly after rebuilding from a total loss burn in the early 2000's.

Have one. The little 3 cylinder Perkins fires up every time I'm ready to work it.

I bought another, bigger tractor with 4wd and a bucket last year for bigger jobs, but that little MF135 still has a special place in my heart.

We still run one with the perkins in it. That little tractor just flat out works.

I get the creature comfort aspects of a new machine. They are nice to operate when they are not in the shop getting fixed. If I had an unlimited supply of money or I could drive someone else's machine I would have the King Ranch edition of whatever tractor I wanted.

All that aside:

I'm kind of speechless that someone would think an older machine can't compete with a newer machine?

Doing what? For making money on a $20 million dollar farming operation.... Yea, probably not. Who on here besides 257 and maybe 2-3 others is even exposed to farming at that level or would even need a machine like that?

For cutting hay, feeding cows and doing food plots? Completely different scenario.


You can get an older machine that will run complete circles around a brand new 4x4 tractor of any brand all day long every single day. Why... very simple you can get a bigger machine for a fraction of the cost of one new.

You can spend $30,000 on a new 50hp tractor that could do... well, pretty much nothing real well but maybe move a small hay bale.

I can spend $10,000 and get a tractor that will run complete circles around it dragging 20ft wide implements.

Larger = faster and more efficient. Cost = Price, Fuel and Repairs.

Older machines cost a fraction of a new machine, many will run all day on 20 gallons and they never break. There is nothing on them to break. Something like an old Ford will run without any electronics. Doesn't have to have an alternator, battery.. nothing. It will still run and do it's job.

That's why there are so many Deere 4020's, 3020's, Ford 3-5000's, Massey 100 series, etc. still running and doing work today at 40+ years old. As long as there are parts they can be repaired and will never stop.

Can they compete? Yea. Having A/C so you can hop out of it and go to Church is a completely different concept.

^^^ dad's favorite tractor through the years was an ih 1466...it was a torque monster! and truth about newer, more computer driven machines...great when they're working, expensive when they're not.

incorporation of gps driven equipment made a mockery of a planting game dad used to "play" with me...either "see how straight you can plant the rows" across the field, or "see if you can straighten out these rows", replanting. we were out of the farming before gps drivens came along, but have friends that use them exclusively and tell me they get an extra set of 12 rows in a field (or an extra round in big fields - 24 rows) in fields that they've thought for years they were squeezing the most rows possible into.

My grandfather bought our 135 in 1968. I was still using it until my uncle decided to borrow it, run a stick through the radiator and not get it fixed. He ran it completely dry of coolant and kept on bush hogging until it just stopped running.

I loved that tractor. Of course, it was the first one I ever drove. When I sold it in 2012, the hour meter had 6,800 hours.

The only things ever replaced on it were tires, hoses, belts and the battery.

If he didn't crack the block when he ran it dry, it would have been a cheap and fairly easy fix if you're remotely mechanically inclined.

My brother and I completely broke ours in half (we went in together and bought it about 20 years ago), pulled the engine, and did a complete rebuild on it (new crank, pistons, rings, injectors, gaskets, bearings, seals, etc) for under $1000. First time either of us had ever worked on a diesel engine, and we had nothing other than a MF135 shop manual. Rebuilt it, put it back together, and it fired right up the first time. Been working the hell out of it ever since.

Cracked block. I even got a second opinion to confirm it.

Yeah, when you said he ran it dry, then ran it til it quit, that was a pretty good hint.