Posted by LenNH on January 17, 2013 at 12:42:30 from (75.69.100.76):
In Reply to: First IH or Farmall posted by Ed Junior on January 14, 2013 at 17:45:00:
Might's well add something, if only to reminisce. Started "driving" my father's '32 Chevrolet 1-1/2 ton in the fields when I was 7, in 1938. Couldn't reach the pedals, but could steer in the fields picking up hay with the loader. Somebody jumped on the running boards to reach a foot in to step on the clutch! Then "graduated" to my father's almost-new '38 F-12 on rubber. Same story. I was "bound, bent and billy-be-damned" to drive (that's the way my father put it). In a year or so, I could slide down and reach the pedals, and after that I couldn't be kept off the tractors. I even helped the hired man shovel out the barn by hand, just so I could go spread the manure. One time, there was snow on the ground and I didn't see a hole made by a washed-out underdrain. Naturally, I was going full-bore, like most engine-happy kids, I guess. Bam! Front wheels in the hole and the entire stalk just snapped off. Lucky I didn't get thrown off, because the front of the tractor dropped like a rock and skidded along until it stalled.I went back to the barn and said to my father, in a very quiet voice, "I broke the front wheels off the tractor." He never said a word, but the next afternoon, I came home to school to find a new stalk on the tractor. My grandfather had a 30-something F-12 on full-steel, and I got to drive that in the summer, disking up potato fields after the harvest. What a difference rubber tires make! A neighbor of ours had had a steel-wheeled F-12, and once borrowed ours (mostly, I think, because I had the nerve to go borrow his "Regular" a couple of times, just to get to drive a "big tractor"--that's another obsession of tractor nuts, I suppose).The neighbor was amazed at what our '12 could do. We pulled a 2-12 Little Genius in heavy sod in second, with no trouble. A low-compression H my father bought later wouldn"t do much better. "Graduated" at the age of 10 to our steel-wheeled 10-20. Music from those big cylinders--at a 1000 rpm, you could almost count the explosions. A hard-steering beast, but I loved it. We used it for 22 years, with no trouble and very little maintenance. The ride on pointed lugs on a gravel road was so awful that you couldn't stand to go much faster than a low idle in second gear, but on sod or plowed ground, it wasn't too bad. For its day, it had pretty good operator comfort--a platform, room for the feet, steering wheel in a comfortable position, good visibility. Other tractors used over the years: An F-20, two H's, a Super M, an A and a B, a Ford 2N, and an Oliver H-P Row-Crop (about 1930--now THAT was a real beast to steer). Had no real use for farm tractors for years, but three years ago I noticed a "need" for a tractor to cut a good-sized plot of grass. Saw a Ford 1100, complete with a nice King Cutter rear-mounted deck. Ran great, still does. It's tiny, but it's definitely a real tractor, with independent hydraulics, PTO, 10-speeds forward. PTO is not independent, so the tractor is a little behind the times, but so am I and I don't mind. Once a week, it let's me play farmer, just enough to satisfy the craving to drive a tractor again. My wife doesn"t quite understand, but she smiles tolerantly. I"m sure you folks understand.Right? Or maybe I shouldn't talk about Fords here?
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Today's Featured Article - History of the Nuffield Tractor - by Anthony West. The Nuffield tractor story started in early 1945. The British government still reeling from the effects of the war on the economy, approached the Nuffield organization to see if they would design and build an "ALL NEW" British built wheeled tractor, suitable for both British and world farming.
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