Top Three Vintage Tractors

[RobertN]

I would have to vote for the Farmall "Letter Series", A, B, C, H, and M. Especially the C, H, and M.

And the Allis B.

I think the Ford N series became so well known because of the standardized 3pt. Although, seems the IH hitch was not bad, at least from what I have read.

I do not know how the Fords sold so well early, given the tranny gearing. My Dad has a beat up 9N. To get PTO speed, that tractor is FLYING even in 1st gear.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. fords have pretty darn tall gears on the 3 and 4 spd trannies. gets better on the 5 spd.. but still not awesome even on the 6 speed. 8 speed is great.. and the 10 spd gear selections are ok.. but the trans scares me.

DP models are fine.. and in many cases depending on what you are doing the aux trans are ok.. again.. depending on what you are doing. underdrive and max rpm's give you pto speed and ground speed in a different power band for the engine .. etc.. for example..

soundguy

 

[deereman75]

#1 the first tractor

#2 fordson

#3 farmall

 

[BoFuller]

1) Farmall H

2) Allis Chalmers WD45

3) Fordson

I wish I still had my Dad's Farmall F-14!

 

[Joel888]

In no particular order...Waterloo Boy...the tractor that put Deere in the tractor business....JD 720 held the record for a long time in best fuel economy at the Nebraska test...JD 4020 the tractor of that era and to some degree still today all others are compared to.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I do not know how the Fords sold so well early, given the tranny gearing. My Dad has a beat up 9N. To get PTO speed, that tractor is FLYING even in 1st gear.

They were cheap.....They were simple.....Ford already had a vast dealer network in place (w/ existing auto/truck dealers) and the timing was right. And that hitch.....Harry Fergusons 3-point hitch had everything to do with the success of the Ford N series. Ford might not have even built his tractor had the hitch not been made available. And the 9N/2N/8N would have came and went in relative obscurity had it not had that hitch.

By the late 30's, even the small farms of the southeast were mechanizing. The N replaced many a mule and/or horse. The vast majority of new N's sold to first time tractor buyers back in the day. (My father was one of those!)

 

[Soundguy]

i agree.. without that hitch.. 9n may not have been.. or it it had been.. wouldn't have done what it did.. IE.. if it was drawbar only.. it would have been an 'also ran' in the history books.

very much a goot timing issue with the correct people involved.

soundguy

 

[Michael a h]

allis chamlers model B all the way

 

[pjbci]

The farmalls, The 8n, and the fergusons. I gotta pick another though, the JD 4020 has got to be the handiest tractor to have around on a cattle farm, even compared to todays tractors.

 

[Hollow]

Ford N series - They were reliable and easy enough for anyone to use. One could make the point that they single handedly made horse drawn equipment obsolete.

Ford 3000 - Made a diesel engine and live PTO's the norm for small tractors.

Cat Crawlers - Where would we be without dozers?

 

[professor]

Oliver 88
JD 4020
Farmall Cub

 

[buickanddeere]

I would have to vote for the Farmall "Letter Series", A, B, C, H, and M. Especially the C, H, and M.

And the Allis B.

I think the Ford N series became so well known because of the standardized 3pt. Although, seems the IH hitch was not bad, at least from what I have read.

I do not know how the Fords sold so well early, given the tranny gearing. My Dad has a beat up 9N. To get PTO speed, that tractor is FLYING even in 1st gear.

You missed the JD B which was the first tractor on many farms. An antique collection is not complete without one.

 

[DABSGT]

Have to go with Farmall F12 Farmall M and the Allis B Tractors I grew up with and are still running Today. Hope to Rebuild Allis soon needs just a little TLC.

 

[ccride]

Great thread, brings back memories. My Dad was a Farmall man, as were most other farmers around us at the time. My earliest memories were of an H and an F12. I was always pestering Dad to let me drive, but my legs were too short to reach the clutch on the F12, so he finally traded it and got a B, which was just right for me. Tough little tractor, I couldn't tear it up. The only bad thing about it was the so-called power-lift, which worked (rarely) off of exhaust gas.

Dad finally had to give up farming when I was in junior high so I worked several summers for other farmers driving their Farmall 400's pulling combines and hay balers. These tractors were like Cadillacs to me, first I'd ever driven with power steering and live PTO's.

 

[Turbys_1700]

They were cheap.....They were simple.....Ford already had a vast dealer network in place (w/ existing auto/truck dealers) and the timing was right. And that hitch.....Harry Fergusons 3-point hitch had everything to do with the success of the Ford N series. Ford might not have even built his tractor had the hitch not been made available. And the 9N/2N/8N would have came and went in relative obscurity had it not had that hitch.

By the late 30's, even the small farms of the southeast were mechanizing. The N replaced many a mule and/or horse. The vast majority of new N's sold to first time tractor buyers back in the day. (My father was one of those!)

My dad worked for the local AC dealership from 59-83...
The brother of that dealership had the Ford dealership started by his father I think in 46...
At that time, there were over 300 dairy's in Catawba County and his father set him up with the Ford tractor dealership when he returned from the war...
Talk about falling into a gold mine...

 

[JasG]

For me it's too close to call, Ford had the 3pt and Deere had many 1st like the powershift trans in the 4020. For years that was the gold standard of trans.

I liked my grandfathers WD with the foot clutch and the hand clutch.

 

[whodat526]

For me it's too close to call, Ford had the 3pt and Deere had many 1st like the powershift trans in the 4020. For years that was the gold standard of trans.

I liked my grandfathers WD with the foot clutch and the hand clutch.

the fords had the first powershift it was called the selcto speed the man that designed it for johndeere first worked for ford and had it in the 600/800 series he quit ford because ford rushed preduction on it before it was ready

 

[Soundguy]

the fords had the first powershift it was called the selcto speed the man that designed it for johndeere first worked for ford and had it in the 600/800 series he quit ford because ford rushed preduction on it before it was ready

wasn't int he 600/800 but rather the 601/801 series from 59. but yeah.. same guy..

 

[PapaPerk]

1. John Deere D
2. Ford 8N
3. John Deere 4020

 

[JasG]

the fords had the first powershift it was called the selcto speed the man that designed it for johndeere first worked for ford and had it in the 600/800 series he quit ford because ford rushed preduction on it before it was ready

I didn't realize Ford came out 1st, but wouldn't they have top work to mean they did it? I've never seen one from that far back, only heard about how they didn't hold up. I know many 3020 and 4020,s from that era with un-touched trans still going today. Yet the Fords I read about on YTM and some other sites the comments about not working and junk come up all the time.

From what I have read the 2 trans were different and the reason Harold Brock left Ford was he felt he could build a better transmission and he did IMO.

Harold Brock - Designer of the Ford 9n Market to Market Iowa Public Television

Harold Brock, Waterloo, Iowa: I was holding it up, wouldn't approve it and finally they came to me and said, we want to put it in production and I said, well, you better get yourself a new chief engineer and they did. When I went to Deere a new generation of tractors, they said well Ford is going to come out with a power shift transmission and we won't have one on our tractor. I said, well don't worry about it, it won't work and so I said, we'll design a power shift transmission that really works."

I do like Ford, spent time on several over the years from 8N up to TW-15, and one newer I don't remember the model about the same HP as a TW-15. Like I said though, never seen a powershift from them that worked built by Ford. The one I did see, that I can't remember the model was a mid 1990's with a Funk trans, which now is a division of Deere.