Is this a sore subject?

This is concerning the integration of David Brown Tractors into the Tenneco owned J.I.Case corporate profile. My experience was rather biased due to having to purchase metric tools. In the early years, were there dealerships reluctant to service them due to lack of tooling and inexperience with the somewhat different but well proven design of the Browns? My feeling is improvements to the 30 series tractors should have continued, but Perkins engine's are hard to argue against.

Anybody else have an opinion?

Beagle

There is nothing "Perkins" about a DB engine. I don't know where that info comes from, but there is "NO" truth to it. Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes looking at both would realize it.

Metric was coming whether it was with a DB or not. Only the tin, cab, and some 4x4 front axles were metric on even the latest DBs. What about the few places where they still had a Whitworth fastener/fitting/thread hidden.

Many are sore that the 1210 and 1410 replaced the 770/870. The simple fact is that the 770 and 870 were too expensive to produce as they were way overbuilt.

Cost difference from building a 770 to an 870 was virtually nothing. 870 to the 6 cylinder tractors was very little as most of the parts/subcomponents were the same or only slightly improved/added to.

Not a sore subject at all. The DB line of tractors was a great asset to the Case tractor lineup, especially in the NE and SE states. DB tractors were quite well accepted here before they became part of Case. (By the way, DB built their own engines-- they wern't Perkins)
At the time Case was having issues keeping up with production of the 580 CKs and most all the chassies were needed for the construction side. Secondly, Case was locked out of the Common Market Countries. The aquisition of DB solved that problem.
As for performance issues, DB tractors were a real plus. Their engins were extreamly fuel efficient, They had lots of power and a great gear selection, a simple and very dependable PS transmission, a superior 3pt hyd system, and a 2spd PTO. They were much heavier than the Case 4-570s and had a much stronger front axle for loader work. At the time we had a lot of older farmers and older buildings that the 7-830 tractors couldn't fit into, and the older farmers didn't like climbing up on them.
The only DB tractors that didn't live up to expectations, was the 1690s.
All and All the DBs were a great feather in our dealership hat, especially the 990-12&1390s
Loren