Real Yesterday Tractors

rusty6 · Sep 23, 2018

This is way back yesterday. About the summer of 71 when my dad was cutting hay with the Cockshutt 40 and 15AS mower and got stuck in a slough. I had been working summerfallow nearby with the 50 and we were getting it hitched up to try and pull the 40 and mower out of the mud. We ended up having to unhitch the mower and pull both out backwards as I recall. Somewhere I have a picture of the tractor after it came out of the mud.

SVcummins · Sep 23, 2018

Now that?s a nice picture almost thought it was a painting at first . I?ve done lots of what I call swamp hay even bales in standing water wait until about October and it never even heats up

Bruce from Can. · Sep 24, 2018

You fellas had a real nice pair of tractors. In my opinion, about the best tractors built in their time.

sms · Sep 24, 2018

Nice tractors, nice picture.

Charlie M · Sep 24, 2018

A Cockshutt 50 diesel was the largest tractor my Dad ever owned when we farmed in the 60's. It did the heavy work of plowing and working ground and running the belt on the ensilage blower. Didn't bother it to pull 3-16 plows or blow silage up a 40 ft silo. Took a while for it to warm enough to run smooth in the winter.

rusty6 · Sep 24, 2018

(quoted from post at 03:06:50 09/24/18) You fellas had a real nice pair of tractors. In my opinion, about the best tractors built in their time.

Thanks, I still have them both and you have likely noticed them in my youtube videos. Both are red now though.
In this later picture from about 1979 you can see my dad's 50 is now painted red and we have changed it to the smaller 16 inch front wheels and lighter axle. The yellow 50 on the right belonged to a neighbour and we were doing some repairs on it. That one still has the heavy cast 18 inch front wheels and axle.

Dave Sherburne, NY · Sep 24, 2018

My son in Wi has a 50,a 40, at least one 30 and he did have a 20 til he moved to Wis. He got a call last fall from a Mennonite neighbor whose tractor quit on him and he needed a tractor with a belt pulley to run his thrashing machine.
He finished thrashing with a Cockshutt 30

rusty6 · Sep 24, 2018

(quoted from post at 07:15:00 09/24/18) MHe got a call last fall from a Mennonite neighbor whose tractor quit on him and he needed a tractor with a belt pulley to run his thrashing machine.
He finished thrashing with a Cockshutt 30

The 30 was very popular here too. My uncle had one when he started farming with my dad in the post WWII days. Dad started out with a DC4 Case but had moved up to a John Deere D by the time this photo was taken (about 1950).

Donald Lehman · Sep 24, 2018

Yup, no doubt about it. You've all heard the story about the 30 we bought for $125 with a hole in the block. Drove a wooden plug in the hole and used the thing for years. Sold it to another gentleman and he used it until he passed away.

rusty6 · Sep 24, 2018

(quoted from post at 09:14:07 09/24/18) Yup, no doubt about it. You've all heard the story about the 30 we bought for $125 with a hole in the block. Drove a wooden plug in the hole and used the thing for years. Sold it to another gentleman and he used it until he passed away.

No, I had never heard that story before. But it reminds me of a W4 McCormick tractor . I worked for a guy setting up rural telephone lines in 71. It was late fall with cold nights so at the end of every day he would pull the wooden plug out of the McCormick's engine block drain and dump the water. Next morning fill it up with new water and go to work with the post hole auger. Just wish I had taken pictures at the time.

Whiskey Bent · Sep 24, 2018

(quoted from post at 09:21:34 09/24/18)

(quoted from post at 09:14:07 09/24/18) Yup, no doubt about it. You've all heard the story about the 30 we bought for $125 with a hole in the block. Drove a wooden plug in the hole and used the thing for years. Sold it to another gentleman and he used it until he passed away.

Click to expand...

No, I had never heard that story before. But it reminds me of a W4 McCormick tractor . I worked for a guy setting up rural telephone lines in 71. It was late fall with cold nights so at the end of every day he would pull the wooden plug out of the McCormick's engine block drain and dump the water. Next morning fill it up with new water and go to work with the post hole auger. Just wish I had taken pictures at the time.

ove the Cockshutt tractors, how did the 40 compare to the 50 day to day on the farm?

rusty6 · Sep 25, 2018

The biggest difference between the 40 and 50 was weight, and therefore pulling power. The 40 had 14.9x38 rear rubber while the 50 had 18.4x34. Thats a big difference and the bigger tires held a lot more fluid weight. Most noticeable was in winter with the blade or snowplow attached. The 40 would just spin it's wheels on ice and snow if the going got tough. The 50 would go a lot further before getting stuck as the extra weight gave much more traction.
Engines were the same as somebody had replaced the 40's engine with a 50 engine. At some point we replaced that with another original size (230 c.i.) 40 engine.

Real Yesterday Tractors

rusty6

Well-known Member

SVcummins

Well-known Member

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member

sms

Well-known Member

Charlie M

Well-known Member

rusty6

Well-known Member

Dave Sherburne, NY

Member

rusty6

Well-known Member

Donald Lehman

Well-known Member

rusty6

Well-known Member

Whiskey Bent

Member

rusty6

Well-known Member

Similar threads