Oliver 1655 turned into the White 2-70, then what???

JD Seller

Well-known Member
I have 1975 Oliver 1655 that my Uncle bought new. I love the tractor. I have been watching to find another for years but just never found one that was exactly what I wanted. There is a White 2-70 at Red Wing MN. That is appealing. It is an 1982 model with 3800 hours. Supposed to be a one owner tractor too. I am going up this week to look at it.

I just got to thinking about how the different tractors evolved under White. The 1655 became the 2-70. The 1855 became the 2-85 and then the 2-88 in 1982. Did the 1655/2-70 end in 1982???? I thought that they went on but I can't find a model that would be correct. It seems they stuck the 2-75 that is an Iseki tractor.
 
White came out with the American series in 1989. They were 60 and 80 horsepower with the transmission and rearend of the 60 based on the 1555 and the 80 on the 1655. I had a 2-70 and still have my American 60 and 1555. The 60 and 80 both have 4 cylinder cummmins and mine only does a little brush cutting and loading now. Handy little tractor and only made for a couple years with less than 2000 made in red ,yellow green and silver. Pic was the other day when I moved my tractors to mow the lawn. LOL, The other pic is the Whites headed to the Walton fair in 1991.
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1855 became both. Only difference was the turbo. BM has answered that one in detail when folks have insisted that the 2-85 was an 1855 and 2-105 was a 1955.
 
Yes. If they had stayed with the Perkins in the 1855 instead of that 310 Waukesha,Deere probably wouldn't have gotten such a big market share with the 4020.
 
rrlund: I will agree that the Oliver 1855 with a Perkins would have been a good tractor. How much market share it would have gained depended on the dealership network. Around here Oliver just was not represented at all. Closest dealer would have been 30-40 miles away.
 
It wasn't that they would have lured Deere owners over to Oliver,but those lemons sent many an Oliver owner over to Deere. There are stories of those things ventilating the block the first day in the field.
 
Oliver and Waukesha were in pretty tight with Oliver casting parts for Waukesha, I would bet "good ole boys" club went back many years
 
I'd say the main thing was cost. Unfortunately it cost them more in the long run to go back to the 310.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
The 1850 ended in 69 and the 2-85 came out in 75. The trans./diff and hyd. system is differen't between an 1850 and a 2-85 so the 1850 definitely did not become the 2-85. The 55 series was a pretty sharp tractor, the 85 and 105 not so much.
 
I know what you are saying, but there are 3 1855's within 5 miles of our farm with the original motor still in them. One hasn't had an easy life either.
 
If you think about it, the "1655" is one of the longest tenured tractors of its time. A late direct injection 1650 is basically the same thing as a 1655. Check out the production schedules below:
1650: 1964-1969
1655: 1969-1975
2-70: 1976-1982

That is a long time for one tractor to be made basically the same way with minimal changes.

Just my 2 cents, but I would stick with a 1655 over a 2-70 if you are buying it more for sentimental / collector / resale reasons. The 2-70's don't hold their value like the Oliver's do.

Only problem is a good looking 1655 does not last long when they come up!
 
Not disagreeing with your point at all rrlund, the 310 was the nail in the coffin. I blame Oliver's downfall more on White's management and decision to use Oliver as a cash cow to keep their truck line afloat.
 
True,but it was White's management that went to the 310 in the 1855s. There were dealers who literally felt that they didn't have a "big" tractor to sell when the reputation of those 1855s started to come out. They lost a lot of sales to Deere because of it. I'll grant you there were some 1855s that survived,but I know personally of a guy who bought one new and couldn't use it because it was in the shop almost from day one with engine trouble. He ended up buying a Massey to replace that one.
 

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