What tractor do you think is the quietest ever?

[JRH02]

My wife is noise sensitive and our diesel 3 cylinder is too loud for her. My brother has an old Allis 170 gas that is a lot quieter. What tractor do you know of that made you amazed of how quiet it was? Just lookin and reflecting…

My first 'real' job before and for a while after high school in the mid '70's was at a good sized small engine shop. I worked as a mechanic but ended up mainly on the sales floor and running the parts dept. One of the distributorship items we sold was the General Electrak lawn and garden tractors.

The Electrak was ahead of its time. 6 large, deep cycle batteries for a 36vdc system. 800#. Of course, very quiet.

 

[Dizno]

I should have said - currently I have a 1030 John Deere and a John Deere 1020 loader tractor. I use the loader for a few tasks and the rotary cutter John Deere 609.

 

[fatjay]

My ferguson TO30 sounds like a car. It's by far the quietest tractor I've owned.

 

[mo1]

My wife is noise sensitive and our diesel 3 cylinder is too loud for her. My brother has an old Allis 170 gas that is a lot quieter. What tractor do you know of that made you amazed of how quiet it was? Just lookin and reflecting…

Most gasoline tractors with more than two cylinders are noticeably more quiet than most diesel tractors.

In general and with other things being similar for diesel engines, indirect injected engines are often quieter than direct injected tractor engines, a EFI direct injected engine with multiple injection events per cycle is quieter than a mechanically direct injected diesel with the fuel introduced in "one shot," engines with smaller cylinders are quieter than larger cylinders, a four-stroke engine will be quieter than a two-stroke engine (ever listen to a screaming Jimmy?) and a six cylinder engine is smoother than and will sound quieter than a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 8 cylinder engine. Fours in particularly can sound very buzzy and grate on you after a while.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Is wifey's complaint about the TRACTOR or the MOWER on the tractor? Is there a particular piece of the noise spectrum she hates? Some high-pitched squeal you can't hear anymore - like a hydraulic overpressure valve opening, belt slippage, or a bearing on its way to the great beyond?

My mower is especially noisy if the blades aren't well balanced - the deck will vibrate. Brandy-new blades are usually well balanced but if your sharpener doesn't do a decent job balancing it's going to be noiser.

Anyway, if you're headed to get another tractor, take her shopping! What's her favorite color?

This one right here ^^^

This is the question she needs to answer. Which part of the tractor operation is the "noisy" part to her? As someone with severe hearing defects myself (thanks Uncle Sam) it sometimes surprises me as to which specific noise is bothering me at any given time.

As a kid, our Ford 8-9N was probably the quietest tractor I remember. Even with the sickle bar mower on it. But with the rotary mower, it was noisier due to the blades. Not as bad as the racket of a finish mower (faster blades), but you could tell when it was running the brush cutter, it made more noise than the tractor did.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Them tractors that don't run have always seemed the quietest to me. Buy her some ear plugs and head phones.

 

[Doughknob]

One with a cab.

Or one with an aftermarket quiet muffler….

 

[Hay Dude]

Now thats funny! I just use earplugs for that (for the noise reduction).

I just leave for work before they get up and come home after they go to sleep

 

[beenthere]

My wife is noise sensitive and our diesel 3 cylinder is too loud for her. My brother has an old Allis 170 gas that is a lot quieter. What tractor do you know of that made you amazed of how quiet it was? Just lookin and reflecting…

Check your 455 muffler. My 455 is not loud enough to feel I need ear protection, but do use foam inserts. Looked at a used 455 a couple months ago and it was VERY loud and figured the muffler was shot or had a serious exhaust leak.
Get ear protection for your wife. Sounds like an excuse, to me, so she doesn't have to mow.

 

[Dizno]

Believe me, it’s no easy situation. She has TMJ which is in close proximity to the ear. She is very noise sensitive and even small noises like the drone of a furnace can cause tension. I did put a new aftermarket muffler on the 1030 and she still hears it very very easily.