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Most Popular Tractor Models Ever Manufactured?

M

MR58

New User
Hello,

I am doing a project for school and need some help.

I am trying to find out what the five most popular tractor models ever produced are. I don't need actual numbers or stats, it can just be a general estimate.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John
 
The D John Deere was so popular that they had to continue assembly of them in the alley behind the plant after production ended.
 
CRS says the Ford 8N, 1947-1952, with around 440,000 tractors. More recent years, maybe the JD 4020.
 
Ford N series by a large margin it is number one.
Farmall H and Farmall M are probably 2-3, followed
by the John Deere B and A.

My guess is that is the top 5.
 
Ford N series, tho that is the 9N, 2N, and 8N all wrapped together.

The John Deere 4020 is still one of the most popular tractors ever, enough power to still be useful, very fuel efficient, and has nice features.

Those Farmall H's and M's were real popular too, made for a long time, good cheap power back in the day.

Allis Chalmers WD was probably their front runner.

I hear a lot of good about the Massey 35, tho that brand was never very popular 'here' in my neighborhood so can't say much. Massey likely would win for global sales if you include other countries, they have some very popular models and huge sales around the globe.

--->Paul
 
The original Fordsons are apparently at the top of the list. MF 135's would easily be in the top 5 and probably higher. N series Fords and Fergusons of the same era also had high production numbers. JD 4020's would be quite a ways down the list. I think it shows about 264,000 4020's were produced. The models above numbered over 500,000 units. Dave
 
(quoted from post at 11:28:27 06/02/10) JD 4020's would be quite a ways down the list. I think it shows about 264,000 4020's were produced. ........Dave
Click to expand...

184,879 total 4020's built.

http://www.external_link/farm-tractors/000/0/6/64-john-deere-4020.html
 
(quoted from post at 04:17:42 06/02/10)
(quoted from post at 11:28:27 06/02/10) JD 4020's would be quite a ways down the list. I think it shows about 264,000 4020's were produced. ........Dave
Click to expand...

184,879 total 4020's built.

http://www.external_link/farm-tractors/000/0/6/64-john-deere-4020.html
Click to expand...

Tractordata is well known for mistakes. If one takes the starting SN of 4020's which is 65,000 and subtract from Tratordata's published ending SN of 270,288 that ends up with 205,288 4020's. So which amount does one care to believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Fordson 'F' I believe was the most prominent, followed by the 8N... or the 'N' series in general.
The Farmall 'H' and 'M' would probably fill the next two spots. I'd not be surprised if the Deere 'A' was next...

The important thing to keep in mind is that those things were sold in the days when horses were being replaced. Nearly every farm had at least one of those tractors.
By the time the MF135 and Deere 4020 came along the sheer production numbers had tumbled so far and the number of models increased so much that no one model ever had a hope of selling as many units.
The 4020, 135 and Ford 4000 and 5000 were arguably all very popular in their day and all would be much higher on my list as the best tractor ever built (I say 4000)... but none were ever produced in such numbers as the 'F'.

Rod
 
We need to look at how popular the tractor was at the time it was sold new. Looking at total production numbers is not an accurate way of judging popularity during the entire period tractors have been available to us. The management abilities, distribution and manufacturing capacities and number of dealers often play a big part in how many tractors one company sold throughout the US.

Fordson sold more tractors than all the others put together for awhile but it was only because they were cheap and had a large dealer network, not because they were an overall good tractor. When the farm economy improved and farmers could afford something more relaiable, the Fordsons went to the scrap heap right and left.

Most of my travels have been in the central and western US, so my view is kind of narrow, but the most popular tractors from the 30"s,40"s and 50"s era that I"ve seen sitting around are the Deere A&B, the Farmall M&H, and the N series Ford, in that order. The most popular tractor from the 60"s is the 4020, hands down. Jim
 
As the years went along, the number of farms (and farmers) steadily decreased. Farm size made up the difference. The Fordson outsold everything back in the day. It was cheap hp made abundantly available at a time when mechanized farming was in it's infancy. Some folks will roll ALL the "N series" Fords into one lump sum total. 9N and 2N were in essence the same tractor, and the 8N should be counted as a separate model. They were cheap hp for the small farmers who were still making the change to mechanical power. Ferguson produced TE20,s TO20s, TEA20, TO30, TE30, ect..., on through to the TO35. Count all them in one count, and consider their worldwide sales numbers, and you get a strong argument to put them in the top 4 or 5. But, they were separate models... There were several variants of the MF135. Lump them together and you have a shot at top 5 numbers. H & M Binders, A & B Deere's have a strong case. 4020's were the most popular tractor in their class, in their era, but as mentioned, total sales numbers had decreased by that time.

You'll get 4 or 5 brands claiming to have the #1 selling brand and/or models now. Not sure who holds that distinction. Consider US sales only represents a portion of total worldwide sales now days, and that really muddies up the water.
 
Farmall H ; Farmall M ; Allis-Chalmers WD-45 ; Ford
8N ; John Deere 4020 ; International 1066.
 
I'm usually a Deere guy, but I think it would be unfair to over look the Farmall Cub. That that was in production so long that it outlived the Farmall name.

If you're not being particular to North America, the Lanz Bulldog should probably be on the list.
 
I don't recollect the number built right off hand,but there were one HECK of a bunch of Oliver 70s built between 1935 and 1948. Way too many of them for them to have any value today,that's for sure.
 
So if you can group all the N series fords together why not the F series McCormicks, you know the one that set the standard for row crop tractors for decades to come.
123,442- F12
27,401 -F14
134,650- Regulars
154,398- F20
28,902- F30

468,793 tractors

And if you put the Regular and F20 together since the 20 is the same tractor they surpass the 4020 with 289,048 units and a bunch were sold during the depression. These old girls put alot of ponies out to pasture
 
I thought I read 264,000 somewhere. What ever the number is, is still a lot lower than other models of tractors. Over 500,000 8N's and similar numbers for the Ferguson model sold in the same period. 4020's were mostly a N. American tractor but some people don't consider that world wide is a much bigger market. 4020 production from 1964 to the end of 1969 is 157,159 according to this website. That's not enough to be the most popular tractor from the 60's. MF 135's just built in the UK numbered 141,324 from 1965 to 1969. U.S. and France production numbers a would add significantly to the grand total. I don't know about other makes of tractors but the 4020 was not the most popular tractor from the 60's. It may have been the most popular in its size though. Dave
 
(quoted from post at 12:21:28 06/02/10)
(quoted from post at 04:17:42 06/02/10)
(quoted from post at 11:28:27 06/02/10) JD 4020's would be quite a ways down the list. I think it shows about 264,000 4020's were produced. ........Dave
Click to expand...

184,879 total 4020's built.

http://www.external_link/farm-tractors/000/0/6/64-john-deere-4020.html
Click to expand...

Tractordata is well known for mistakes. If one takes the starting SN of 4020's which is 65,000 and subtract from Tratordata's published ending SN of 270,288 that ends up with 205,288 4020's. So which amount does one care to believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

this website has mistakes too. it says there were only 2522 Super MTAs produced and i know there was pleanty more than that
 
With most tractors you cannot simply subtract the last serial number from the first to determine how many were built. The model 600 industrial shared the same serial range with the 4020, I think the 4000 and 4025 may have also shared that range.
 
Oliver built a total of 85,509 model 70's


16,928 Hart-Paar 70 row crops
1,802 standards
2 industrials
50,941 Streamlined row crop
13,618 Streamlined standard
2,221 Streamilned industrial

They were more modern than the others and quite popoular to boot.
 
There were about 390,000 Farmall H s built. about 292,000 Farmall M s built. The longest running production of a tractor was the JD G. (The green guys on here should be able to get the exact dates on that). There might be an exception to that one though. the Farmall A was built in 1939. it was remaned the super A, then the 100 then the 130 then finally the 140 and was in production until about 1978.
 
Well, if we're going to combine models with similar chassis, then why not

706 + 806 + 1206 + 756 + 856 + 1256 + 1456 + 766 + 966 + 1066 + 1466 + 786 + 886 + 986 + 1086 + 1486 + 3088 + 3288 + 3688

Omitting hydro models, 2+2s, V8s, and 15XX tractors with the planetary final drives, just to be fair. Just 6-cylinder gear drive conventional tractors.

The differences between all these models is arguably minor.

I'm not serious about this, but as you can see you can go totally nuts combining similar models together to make the numbers do anything you want.

It would be best to keep the discussion limited to individual models.
 
I too find this comical at best. Popular for what? I would never consider the 8N a Farm tractor because of where I'm from. You couldn't do second cultivation with one, barely high enough for the first. The MF 135 would be the same. No farmers farmed with utility type tractors in the middle of corn country, I don't think I ever saw a MF tractor growing up. Lots of ford N's for auger and elevator duty and hobby farmers. Yea they bought em by the thousands and soon replaced them with more capable machines for what they needed. And most of theses production numbers are questionable at best.
If you believe everything you find on the net, IH built 783,249 Titan 10-20's. We should be tripping over em in every fencerow!
 
Well, according to the production number information this website:

1. Ford 8N - 524,076
2. Farmall H - 391,227
3. John Deere A - 300,000
4. John Deere B - 300,000
5. Farmall M - 397,717

It's interesting to note that these tractors were all produced at about the same time. For many reasons it's unlikely that production numbers will ever get as high as they did in the 1940's.
 
Even with them added together they still don't equate to 8N production, let alone all N production. Seems to me that there were the better part of 1 million all told?
Ford was closing fast on 6 million tractors by the time of the sellout. I'm sure if you added in the tractors of Ford lineage built into the mid 90's it would top 6 million... ofcourse the biggest part of that is Fordson 'F's, 'N's and thousand series tractors.

Rod
 
John Deere D was made for 30 years,Ford 8N,Farmall H, JD 4020,JD A,Fordsons were produced faster then anything else,Farmall M.
 
Not sure on production #s but the farmall cub was
produced from 1947 to 1979.

As productions runs go not to many can compete
with this production run of thirty two years.

I think you will find that the cub was one of
the most successful tractors ever made.
 
Fordson Major must be a contender, considering it was sold around the world.Some of the other tractors listed were only sold in any great number in North America. MF 135 would also be in the top five.
 
The Ferguson equivelant to the 8N also sold over 500,000 units. MF 135's would be over the 500,000 mark but it's hard to get an exact number because of later serial numbers for U.S. models. Dave
 
So, by YOUR standards, it's all about what tractors we see? I hate to break the bad news to you, but in certain parts of the country, back when they were still in production, those 135's N Fords, ect, were EVERYWHERE. And they were used as the primary tractor on small farms. That's why there were so many built. Just because YOU have a limited scope of experience doesn't change history.
 
While the Cub had a nice long run the A is the really winner when it comes to length of production. The first A rolled out in '39 and that chassis died with IH as the 140, that's like a 50 year run!

Yeah, it's a different name but it's pretty much the same tractor.

I also don't think it's fair to group all the Ns together. I could see the 9n and the 2n since they're sort of the same monster, but the 8n in my book is different.

I don't know the order off the top of my head but I do know the Farmall H is up there.

K
 
Don't forget the AC WD and WD45, and the diesel. in 11 years from '47-'58 AC made 236,899 of essentially the same tractor. Cheap horsepower, then and now!
 
(quoted from post at 09:51:30 06/03/10) While the Cub had a nice long run the A is the really winner when it comes to length of production. The first A rolled out in '39 and that chassis died with IH as the 140, that's like a 50 year run!

Yeah, it's a different name but it's pretty much the same tractor.
Click to expand...

If that's your criteria, then anything that's red with 4 wheels should be lumped in together, making IH the most popular tractor of all time.
 
(quoted from post at 10:42:10 06/03/10)
(quoted from post at 09:51:30 06/03/10) While the Cub had a nice long run the A is the really winner when it comes to length of production. The first A rolled out in '39 and that chassis died with IH as the 140, that's like a 50 year run!

Yeah, it's a different name but it's pretty much the same tractor.
Click to expand...

If that's your criteria, then anything that's red with 4 wheels should be lumped in together, making IH the most popular tractor of all time.
Click to expand...

Um...I don't see how my criteria is broad at all. The A, SA, 130 & 140 are all pretty much the same basic tractor. There were some upgrades, hydraulics and the C123 engine being the big ones but the overall design stayed the same.

I wasn't even throwing the a A-140 into the mix for "Most Popular", just pointing out that the chassis had a very long life as some on brought up the Cub with the same thought.

Like I said I'm only "lumping" one very specific line of red tractors together.
 
JD 4020, Ford 8N, Allis Chalmers WD45, Ford 3000, Massey Ferguson 135, IH 1066

those are a few that i know they made a bunch of. I guess being popular would mean a lot of people liked them which would mean a lot of people bought them so a lot were made. Sorry if i confused you..
 
If you will look up data you will find the Ford then the H FARMALL then probably the M FARMALL. The answers you are getting on this site sure arent very up to snuff on how many were built
 
sammy the red has the correct answers. There were almost 750,000 Fordsons built, close to 500,000 8N's, about 391,000 Farmall h's, almost that many John deere b's. I don't know what is next.
 
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