Ford TW 20

NMfarmer · Jan 18, 2013

Hi guys. Anybody have any experience or opinions about Ford"s TW20? Are they good tractors? How do they stack up against a comparable JD or Case? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

DeltaRed · Jan 18, 2013

Never personally owned one.But the ones I've been around are good tractors,just as good as their counterparts.And they will use HALF the fuel as the others.I would have no reservations about owning a Ford...

sd pete · Jan 18, 2013

I had a 9700 That I bought used with 7000 hours. I had to overhaul it but I ran it up to 15k hours with no engine problems. It had a clutch change around 10 or 11 k hours. That old 401 is a good engine. No rear end or transmission troubles with it.

ford farming · Jan 18, 2013

good tractors, that being said if it was taking care of. my first tractorwas a 1981 ford tw 20. pulled 6x 16 plows , 21 ft disk and packer, 24 ft field cutivater and packer, 3 shank m&w earthmaster (double disk v plow). and last 2 years before i traded a kinze 12 x 30 2600 corn planter w/ liquid fert. great power and very good fuel economy.

Tom in TN · Jan 18, 2013

NM,

I don't know anything about a TW-20. It's WAY out of my class. But just for grins, I looked at tractor house dot com to see what they are selling for. Man, the prices are all over the board!

Hope you have great success if you buy it.

Tom in TN

JDB · Jan 18, 2013

Have no experience with TW20 but spent a week on neighbors TS15 and loved it. Good tractor, great visibility, easy to operate, comfortable, easy on fuel, and nearly bullet proof. Neighbor has only had a small wiring issue with his in 7+ years. You will fall in love with the foot throttle if you use it for many chores. I liked his TW15 so much I bought a Ford 7710 and put my International 886 up for sale.

jm. · Jan 18, 2013

All over the board is really right. When we trade for one have to use the low figures. IF and I say IF it is real nice and clean seems it will sell fast for decent price but the leaking dog ones just won,t even bring anything at auction much less retail. Not a big demand for them as parts tractors so a wore out rough one really get cheap.

NMfarmer · Jan 18, 2013

Thanks everybody. I really appreciate the info. I'll report back and let everyone know how it turs out

Anonymous-0 · Jan 18, 2013

I plowed with a TW30 once. It was economical on fuel and had torque like a Case engine Neighbor has had a 20 for several years so it must not give them much grief.

JayinNY · Jan 18, 2013

a good friend of mine has a tw5 4wd with a cab, he bought it new in the 80s, the 1980s, he still has it, he never said a bad thing about it. Sad part is he used it to plow snow for the town, and the salt did rust damage to the cab, he wanted to trade it for a cat challenger, but they wouldent give him what he wanted for it. I said your better off keeping it., if the tw20 was not abused, it should be a great tractor.

JD Seller · Jan 18, 2013

Well I guess I will have to be the odd duck here. There where 4-5 of them around me here. They all had engine problems at relatively low hours. Then they are a non sleeved engine. So you have to have the block bored to over haul it.

Non of the original guys still have them. Only two of them went on to the Ford Genesis series. The rest have other brands now.

They sell for about half what the same size JD or CIH does. So that kind of tells you what the market thinks of them.

se neb farmer · Jan 18, 2013

if you check Nebraska test results they were NOT any more economical on fuel than a 4640 or1586

paul · Jan 18, 2013

Been the main puller around here for, um, 12 years now?

They aren't painted green, so they are a good affordable machine to get some work done.

Ford was having troubles and so they were not putting too much money into tractors at that time, so they are 'little gremlin' machines, have a few issues, but I got mine is over 6000 hours, only big problem I've had a hose busted, bled out the hyd fluid and locked up the hi/lo bearings. As long as they were in there, had them do a good job fixing stuff and also had the power steering rebuilt - a weak area.

I really haven't run it much the past 4-5 years, wife does all the plowing and a fair amount of the field cultivating, so probably need to ask her....

--->Paul

RodinNS · Jan 19, 2013

At full power they were not any more economical. Perhaps a bit less so statistically....
What one ought to realize is that while the fords were tested for power at rated engine speed their rate PTO speed is generally several hundred rpm less than rated engine speed. They do make a bit less than rated power at PTO speed... but running a Ford at 18-1900 rpm saves a considerable amount of fuel over running it at rated engine speed. The Deere's often had their rated PTO at rated engine speed so they made full power at 540... but then you've got to run them full tilt to keep up their speed... so they burn the fuel... and they don't have the torque to throttle back anyway.
That's why you continously see anectdotal evidence of Ford's that burn a lot less fuel than Deere's....

Rod

Ford TW 20

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ford farming

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