Biggest tractor companys

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Back in the mid 1950s International Harvester was the number one company followed by John Deere as being number two.
Does any one know who number three and four and so forth were?
Its been said that in 1959 John Deere passed IH in sales of tractors, and that was when they still built the two cylinder tractors.
 
John Deere did not pass IH until in the mid 1960s. The two cylinder tractors just about took JD out of the market place. They where losing market share. They sure did not "pass" IH in 1959. The "new generation" tractors where what save JD from being an after thought in the tractor market.

I know there are a lot of Two cylinder collector that love their tractors but the fact are that JD just about rode the two cylinders too long. The two cylinder design was limiting them in the horse power they could get out of the tractors. They where starting to have reliability issues with the larger horse power two cylinders.

I know many of us cuss the JD bean counter that are currently running JD. The fact is that the management is what has made the company what it is today. The engineers have made good products but the management has made the company.

Look at IH as an example. They where a much bigger company in the mid to late 1950s. There management did not get the job done. They where going broke/out of business if Case had not bought them out.

Oliver is another example of a company that management lost. They had good equipment and innovative designs in the 1950 and early 1960s.
Then the corporate people lost the company.
 
JD seller:
Thanks for the comment.
What I was wanting to know was the line up of tractor companys by their market share.
 
China has basically 3 manufacturers, and they would win if there were open global numbers, tho most are going to be 15 hp tractors....

Agco wins on a global stage, counting companies with semi-public books.

If you are just looking for North American companies, you will have to restate your question, as to the units manufactured, or the total sales volume, or the total units out there, etc.

Every company has a way of skewing the numbers to put themselves on top, so you likely can have your favorite color on top no matter which one you are cheering for. ;)

Paul
 
Mr. Paul,"
Please read the question. I stated the companys in the 1950s.
Back then China and the other countrys in the world except Canada weren't in the playing field.
 
(reply to post at 07:02:10 08/21/13) [/quot

I can't tell you what two years but it is my understanding that Ford sold more 8Ns for two years than all the other manufacturers combined.
 
good question:
my GUESS would be Allis Chalmers or maybe Ford. Alot of WD/WD-45s out there. Then maybe Oliver or Case

High wage contracts did alot of companies in. Hit both Oliver and Studebaker hard in South Bend in the 1950's. Studebaker never recovered.

Management does make a difference.
By the 1950's the Oliver kids didn't seem too interested in the company any more & they sold to white. (disappointed the oliver mansion in South Bend doesn't have more company history)

Management either by luck, pushing distribution and marketing, allowing engineering to design a good tractor, keeping costs down ect helped some survive longer. But in the end (IH, AC White) the sales versus costs still did them in. I think if Allied Signal (destroyed most companies they bought) hadn't bought white and they had gone to Cummins a few years sooner they would have lasted longer too. < management
 
I know I've read that before in Oliver Heritage or Hart Parr Oliver Collector,but can't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure Oliver was number 5 in the 50s. Seems like AC was three and Case was 4,but could be the other way around.
 
Just guessing but given the demand for tractors after WW2 I would think a Russian company probably built more tractors than any single US company in the 1950s. The Soviet Union hardly built any (none?) tractors in the late 1930s and 1940s - then they were trying to catch up with the US.
 
1950s? gives some time leeway there. In the IHC history at the Wisconsin Historical Society summary book the sales post war has a ranking with IHC with 35%, JD with 25 to 30% of sales of tractors and agricultural equipment, Ford with 15 to 20% with note that related equipment records from Dearborn equipment, etc contractors had some discrepancies due to sales under both Ford and private names. AC was about 8 to 10 %, Masey Ferguson in later 50s was getting 8-10% and beating AC while Oliver was 5% but strong in Midwest market, minimal in southeast, case with also varying regional records. The IHC, JD, Ford sales were across the country with less variation. Some tractor only records for a couple years, some Equipment sales markets had notes on AC combines, Gleaners, JD balers that were at times better than the competing IHC products. Book close to ends with the 1984 sales, combining with Case after purchase by Tenneco, split of truck line to Navistar. One point to be made was that JD was mainly tractors and related farm/industrial equipment while IHC had some other industrial interests from the trucks, refrigerators/home appliances and even made some very good M1 rifles in WW2. IHC diverse product lines meant management had lots of other market interests and a wrong guess meant less money to invest in tractors, borrowed money meant interst payment, loan schedules to meet that Ford didn"t have with their own capital- but ford had less management interest in tractor late 1950s so things slid for the tractor line while the management concentrated on cars. JD stuck to the farm and industrial/construction market and management focused on their product line improvements. The later 2 cylinders got detail features to keep them partially competitive up to the large power markets wher the 2 cylinder limitations became big market problem- but for the 40 to 75 hp market the hydraulics and live power takeoff, adaption of 3 point hitch made them strong in the farm market. Ford had a big market share in the 25 to 40 hp market with a weakness in the midwest corn belt because of percieved and actual limitations for cultivating inherent in the designs lack of ground clearance in Ns and follow ups. AC,Case, Oliver had good products competitive with the JD and IHC in the mid range/large range/some small range at the time along with the Molines-but the 3 point hitch implements were becoming the standard and the other designs to avoid the Ford-Ferguson patents like the IHC fast hitch, AC quick coupler, Eagle hitch meant limited customers base. Massey-Harris got partnered with Ferguson to get the 3 point patents, JD adapted and paid license for the 3 points and that gave them some market advantage compaqred to the others who had to wait for a federal court to declare 3 point a public domain safety feature. RN
 
Actually, Deere did find itself passing IH in tractor sales in the latter 50's. This was talked about extensively, along with industry wide sales records, at the most recent Gathering of the Green conference held in 2012.
By the late 50's the tractor market was a mature one and the tractors sold were replacement tractors for farms that were getting bigger. Deere sold about the same number of tractors but all other companies sold less due to the changing conditions. The two-cylinder tractors did keep Deere in the tractor market. When the New Generation tractors came out they took it a step further. I believe it was in 1963 that Deere overtook IH as the sales leader in ALL agricultural equipment, not just tractors. Mike
 
total domestic farm machinery market share in 1948
for full line manufactures.

International Harvester 22.8%
John Deere 15.3%
J I Case 7%
Allis Chalmers 6.9%
Oliver 4.2%
MM 3.6%
MH 3.8%
Dearborn Motors 10.2

from Changing market structure of the farm equipment manufacturers and dealerships<i/> 1967 KSU
 
(quoted from post at 13:26:13 08/21/13) One point to be made was that JD was mainly tractors and related farm/industrial equipment while IHC had some other industrial interests from the trucks, refrigerators/home appliances and even made some very good M1 rifles in WW2. RN


The IHC Garands are all post WW2 production.
 
Nebraska Cowman, that is the answer I was looking fur.
Where in NB. are you located?
In the year of 1900, there were several of my uncles went to Nebraska and settled in Custer county around Arnold and some of the other villages in the area.

I thank the others that had something to add.
 
I just happened to come across this,thought it was interesting. Doesn't break it down by brand,but by year total.
a125917.jpg
 
Studebaker was a profitable company when management decided it would be more profitable to shut down the company and steal the pension fund than make cars. The Avanti was serious competition for the Corvette. They were going to have to put money into modernizing the plant, something all manufacturers have to do occasionally.
 
Deere was going to introduce the four & six cylinders sooner. However they waited until the design was improved and Deere provided customers with good tractors.
Where would Deere be today if the 10 series had been introduced in 1957 but they were turkeys and turned customers away from future sales.
Not completely true as the 2010 did it's part to annoy customers.
 

I just checked serial numbers which of course is easy with Ford. 103,000 in '49, 104,000 in '50, and 99,000 in '51.
 
In 1949 Fords only tractor offering was the 8N. IH had ten wheel type tractor models to select from. The Cub, A, C, H, M, MD, W6, WD6, W9 and WD9. In addition to those they had almost as many track type tractors being built.
 
(quoted from post at 07:21:17 08/21/13) John Deere did not pass IH until in the mid 1960s. The two cylinder tractors just about took JD out of the market place. They where losing market share. They sure did not "pass" IH in 1959. The "new generation" tractors where what save JD from being an after thought in the tractor market.

I know there are a lot of Two cylinder collector that love their tractors but the fact are that JD just about rode the two cylinders too long. The two cylinder design was limiting them in the horse power they could get out of the tractors. They where starting to have reliability issues with the larger horse power two cylinders.

I know many of us cuss the JD bean counter that are currently running JD. The fact is that the management is what has made the company what it is today. The engineers have made good products but the management has made the company.

Look at IH as an example. They where a much bigger company in the mid to late 1950s. There management did not get the job done. They where going broke/out of business[b:a21764f2d7] [i:a21764f2d7]if Case had not bought them out.[/i:a21764f2d7] [/b:a21764f2d7]

Oliver is another example of a company that management lost. They had good equipment and innovative designs in the 1950 and early 1960s.
Then the corporate people lost the company.

One correction, Case did [u:a21764f2d7]not[/u:a21764f2d7] buy the IH Ag division. Tenneco, who owned Case at the time, made the purchase and then merged the companies.
 
I read somewhere that Massey sold more tractors to other countries than anyone else. This would be Europe, Great Britain, Asia and mainly Brazil and the rest of So. America. This would be in the fifties and sixties I think.
 

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